Asper to buy Big Blue?

A Story coming out of Winnipeg has David Asper, a well known Winnipeger, making plans to make a bid to purchase the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The story which first appears to have been mentioned on CJOB radio, has Asper looking at some kind of public/private partnership to run the main sporting attraction in the Manitoba Capital.

That would make for quite the change in direction for the Big Blue which have been a community owned fixture in the CFL for many years, it will be interesting to see how this progresses as the Bombers season moves along. All discussions were supposed to be held off until after the Grey Cup, but it seems that things are still being talked about behind the scenes.

Will it be a distraction as they strive to secure a playoff spot and possible Grey Cup appearance at home? And one wonders if it will increase or decrease the chances of a new or remodeled stadium for the years to come.

CJOB has two audio files for listeners to explore on the issue
1. Community ownership of Bombers coming to an end?
2. Katz not commenting on Bomber proposal.

The text of the story from the mayor is provided below.

Katz not commenting on Bomber proposal
CJOB Radio Winnipeg
September 7, 2006

Winnipeg's Mayor says he's not talking about a proposal for the Blue Bombers from former Bomber board member and executive vice-president of CanWest Global Communications, David Asper...

Mayor Sam Katz says he's seen a package from Asper about a public-private partnership for the football club, but can't give out any details.

As for whether the team should stay community-owned, Katz says a public-private partnership could be the same thing, but adds what 'community-owned' means should be defined first.

Katz says as far as he's concerned, the real issue as Mayor is to make sure the team is around for another 200 years and continues to prosper.