Ottawa Rapid FC explained

Upright:0.8
Founded:2024
Chrtitle:CEO
Chairman:Thomas Gilbert
League:Northern Super League

Ottawa Rapid FC (French: CF Rapide Ottawa) is a professional women's soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. It will compete in the Northern Super League, in the highest level of the Canadian soccer league system. The club will play its home matches at the 24,000-capacity TD Place Stadium in Lansdowne Park. One of the last two clubs to join as charter members of the league, the Rapid will play its inaugural season in 2025. The club's primary colour is light blue, with an orange accent, while its crest depicts the native peregrine falcon. Thomas Gilbert serves as the club's chief executive officer.

History

The club's existence was first disseminated at the espnW Summit in May 2024, where it was described alongside Montréal as the last two of the league's six charter clubs.[1] [2] [3] Details were initially scant, with the league's CEO Diane Matheson implying its development was behind the other five clubs.[4] The club's formal unveiling took place at a press conference at TD Place Stadium on 15 August, where their corporate leadership, branding, and venue were detailed for the first time.[5] [6]

Identity

Canadian advertising agency Critical Mass designed the club's branding, which uses light blue as a primary colour and orange as an accent – references to the "water, sky, and the power of nature around us", and the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill, respectively.[5] [7] [8] The club's name, Rapid, was a compromise between traditional North American "mascot" names, viscerality, and geographical context. The geology of the Ottawa Valley, and a "sense of speed and progress", were described by the club as imagery intended to be evoked by the name.[7] [8] While Ottawa is not officially bilingual, the club has an official French-language name: CF Rapide Ottawa, or Club de Foot Rapide Ottawa.[6]

The Rapid's crest prominently features the peregrine falcon, a bird native to Ottawa recognized as the fastest animal in the world, with a four-feathered wing representing the rivers Gatineau, Ottawa, and Rideau in its negative space.[7] [8] [9] The letter "O" outlines the crest, and is decorated with a small tulip on its top – a reference to the Canadian Tulip Festival that takes place annually in Ottawa.[8]

Stadium

The Rapid will play their home games at TD Place Stadium in Lansdowne Park, located in the city's Glebe neighbourhood.[9] [10] The club will share the 24,000-capacity venue, which itself contains the TD Place Arena integrated into its northern grandstand, with five other concurrent tenants: the Atlético Ottawa soccer club, the Ottawa Redblacks Canadian football club, the PWHL Ottawa and Ottawa 67's ice hockey clubs, and the Ottawa BlackJacks basketball club.[10] Owned by the City of Ottawa and operated by the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, the precinct is currently slated for a CA$419 million redevelopment, which would replace the integrated stadium–arena with a new, separate stadium and arena complex, orbited by a number of residential tower blocks.[11] The cost blowout from its original CA$183 million budget attracted controversy to the project, leading to calls for it to be downscaled or scrapped altogether.[11] [12] [13]

Organization

Thomas Gilbert serves as the chief executive officer (CEO) of the Ottawa Rapid, and leads an executive team consisting former Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group executive Stephanie Spruston as chief operating officer (COO), Heidi Bloomfield as chief sport officer, and former national team player Kristina Kiss as a technical director.[6] [14] Gilbert was approached by the Northern Super League CEO Diana Matheson, who he studied for an Executive MBA with at Princeton University, for a role in the league in 2022, when he was running a frozen pizza manufacturing company.[10]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Houpt . Simon . Northern Super League rides the tailwinds of women's sports as soccer goes pro in Canada . . 16 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240528181912/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/article-project-8-shrinks-to-original-six-as-new-northern-super-league/ . 28 May 2024 . 28 May 2024 . In fact, the four teams previously announced [...] will be joined only by Montreal and Ottawa, which were unveiled Tuesday at the ESPNW Summit... . live . subscription.
  2. Web site: . New women's soccer league to be called Northern Super League . . 16 August 2024 . 28 May 2024.
  3. Web site: Gangué-Ruzic . Alexandre . Project 8 Sports names Canadian women's professional soccer league the "Northern Super League" . . 16 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240529041447/https://onesoccer.ca/a/project-8-sports-names-canadian-women-s-professional-soccer-league-the-northern-super-league . 29 May 2024 . 29 May 2024 . live.
  4. Web site: Jaques . John . Everything We Know About All Six NSL Launch Teams . The Northern Tribune . 16 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240530200034/https://northerntribune.ca/northern-super-league-inaugural-teams/ . 30 May 2024 . 30 May 2024 . Matheson seemed to imply Ottawa is much further behind the other teams.... live.
  5. Web site: Ottawa Rapid FC unveiled as name of city's new pro women's soccer team . . 15 August 2024 . 15 August 2024.
  6. Web site: Comtois . Martin . Le CF Rapide Ottawa voit le jour et promet un " coup d’éclat " . . 16 August 2024 . 15 August 2024.
  7. Web site: Jacques . John . NSL Hits Nation's Capital With Ottawa Rapid FC . The Northern Tribune . 16 August 2024 . 15 August 2024.
  8. Web site: Cook . Glenn . Think Fast: Ottawa NSL Franchise Rolls Out 'Rapid FC' Name, Logo . . 15 August 2024 . 15 August 2024.
  9. Web site: Ottawa's professional women's soccer unveils name, home pitch . . 16 August 2024 . 15 August 2024.
  10. Web site: Brennan . Don . First Foot Forward: Ottawa Rapid FC unveils name, badge and colours it will wear in NSL . . 16 August 2024 . 15 August 2024 . ...Ottawa Rapid FC will be [...] the sixth sports tenant at TD Place. [...] When he was approached by NSL co-founder (and former national team player) Diana Matheson two years ago, he was running a frozen pizza company. [...] Gilbert, who was taught what he knows about the game by Matheson when they were doing their executive MBA together. . limited.
  11. Web site: Jensen . Mia . 'We need to finish what we started': OSEG and city press ahead with $419M Lansdowne project . . 16 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231007051113/https://obj.ca/oseg-city-press-ahead-with-419m-lansdowne-project/ . 7 October 2023 . 6 October 2023 . live.
  12. Web site: Porter . Kate . Lansdowne decisions put hockey arena move in spotlight . . 16 August 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230531084026/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/landsdowne-hockey-arena-development-1.6854698 . 31 May 2023 . 31 May 2023 . live.
  13. Web site: Wagner . Richard . Lansdowne 2.0 — some key questions remain unanswered . . 16 August 2024 . 9 August 2023 . ...the City of Ottawa is being asked by OSEG to invest at least $332.6 million into Lansdowne 2.0, which is in addition to the $136 million invested by the city in Lansdowne in 2014. . limited.
  14. Web site: Introducing, Ottawa Rapid FC . . 16 August 2024 . 15 August 2024.