To be honest I wasn't thrilled with the Sunday morning interview slot I had arranged with Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk.

As it turned out, neither was he.

Both of us had made individual plans to settle in and watch the match between Manchester United and its archrival Chelsea. My plan went off swimmingly but Melnyk, who I can attest is the busiest man I have ever tried to arrange a Q&A with, was drawn away from the television, and United opened the score whilst he was gone.

"I'm sorry to do this to you, but I missed the first goal when I stepped out," Melnyk said.

So after discussing the missed goal and the mutual admiration for the product on the field we got down to discussing when and how the idea to bring professional soccer to Ottawa was forged.

"We started looking in to it very early this year," Melnyk explained. "We began to examine what was involved, who we needed to speak with and what were the economics involved."

After five months of telephone calls and research, Melnyk spoke with MLS officials at the All-Star Game in Toronto and the bid was born.

I first heard the Melnyk rumour during the ASG festivities but with Steve Nash in attendance and so much attention being paid to the Vancouver bid, the Ottawa news was quickly buried in the headlines.

Now a celebrity endorsement will trump hard work every time so I asked Melnyk if resident Senators' soccer expert Daniel Alfredsson might have a role in bringing a team to town.

"I casually mentioned it to him," Melnyk said, being careful not to officially link the Sens' captain to the current process. "I want him focused on hockey. I am sure we will have a few conversations when we get to Sweden and will have a little more time together to speak about it, but right now the focus for Alfredsson is on hockey."

It is this type of cross-promotion that Melnyk aims to use to his advantage. The proposed stadium will be built right next to ScotiaBank Place in Kanata, ON, and will not be a single-entity stadium like BMO Field in Toronto, but rather a soccer complex designed to grow the game.

(Note: Five fields will be built, including the stadium where the proposed franchise will play its home games. Three of the five will be real grass.)

"The whole idea is to develop players," Melnyk said. "Our plan is that you need land to support the amateur development of players and you need a lot of land. It is as simple as that. We want to put five additional soccer fields right next to the stadium."

In Toronto the MLS was an instant success because of cultural diversity and the generational bonds most fans have to the game of soccer. But in Toronto time-restraints also capped the process from developing. With 2011 being the earliest possible date for Ottawa to enter the league, Melnyk believes his bid has a distinct advantage.

"The stadium in Toronto was built to accommodate a schedule. But we have a bit more time to think a lot more things through," Melnyk said before divulging what he thinks will be the best part of the Kanata complex. "If you look at the renderings of our facility and compare it to what Toronto's looks like, it is very different. We want to make a state of the art on the inside, but the outside will be very European with the ivy on the walls and it'll be a place you want to go to just to be there."

Problem is, being there has been a problem for Ottawa-based sports franchises in the past; with the city limits often resembling a revolving door. And as the Canadian Football League enjoys a renaissance in several of its cities, local groups might be calling for someone to bring the game back to out country's capital.

Melnyk understands the sentimental value attached to the century-old league, but is not about to change his priorities.

"There is always going to be people who would like to bring back the CFL," Melnyk said. "If they can figure out a way to do that successfully in Ottawa then God bless them. At the end of the day I know that MLS soccer will be sustainable and it is the way of the future."

The deadline for expansion applications is October 15, with a formal announcement of which cities will join the league in 2011 to come shortly after. Aside from the interest in Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver, U.S.-based cities like St. Louis and Portland are also considered front-runners to land a team.

"I recognize that we are one of the latecomers and we're talking about 2011, but if it is 2012, who cares? I think it is going to happen; it is only a matter of time."

Before ending the chat and finally getting back to the original plan of watching the Sunday EPL clash, Melnyk finished by echoing what was being displayed on the television in front of us:

"It is going to be the place to be. People will come out."