The Cumberland Panthers received $15,000 from the city to help install a new electronic scoreboard at Millennium Sports Park.
EMC News – The Cumberland Panthers will be able to keep pace with their provincial rivals with the announcement of an investment from the City of Ottawa towards a new scoreboard.
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The football club participates in three leagues, one of which is the Ontario Varsity Football League, which has some requirements as to having the time visible during a game.
“It gets to be extremely (competitive),” said Michel Charron, president of the Panthers. “Most of the clubs in Toronto that we compete against have their own scoreboard. We’re the only club in Ottawa that doesn’t.”
The club has been fundraising for an electric scoreboard for the past two years, and in August, they received word from Cumberland Coun. Rob Jellett that they would be receiving $15,000 towards the project.
The total cost of purchasing and installing the equipment at Cumberland Millennium Sports Park is between $25-$30,000, Mr. Charron said.
“The Panthers are coming to the table with funding and sweat equity,” Coun. Jellett said, explaining that the club has volunteers who are willing to build and engineer the scoreboard’s installation.
While they would like to have the equipment in place this month, Mr. Charron acknowledges that a more realistic estimation is that they will have it by October.
“We might have a chance to use it (by the end of the season).”
The city’s contribution comes from cash-in-lieu of parkland funds, which is a 5% charge on the total cost of a development that the city collects from developers if there is already green space adjacent to the area where they are building, or if green space cannot be accommodated in the plans.
Although the Panthers are funding the project, the scoreboard will be available to other groups who use the park.
“We thank Rob Jellet for all the hard in acquiring the grant and he’s been a big supporter of football and amateur sport in Orléans and we’re grateful for that,” Mr. Charron said.
The Panthers recently lost the OVFL championship title in triple overtime to the Essex Ravens Aug. 21.
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