REGINA -- When Renegades owners glance at today's opponents and venue, it may be a gentle and welcome reminder that this year, Ottawa wins a little sumpin'-sumpin' no matter how its team does on the field and in the stands. This year, the Grey Cup game will be played in the country's capital, and if 2004 revenues from the Great National Party match those of the 2003 Grey Cup held in Regina, the Renegades will make $2 million.

Alas, $2 million may be an even nicer pick up than Matt Dominguez, but it's also only half of what's believed to be the approximate losses endured by the Renegades through the first two years of their existence -- however the hell that's possible.

And common sense alone would suggest that could mean significant ownership changes at the end of the year.

As it is, Kevin Kimsa wants to dump his 15%, if only partly because the Renegades have not been the asset to his private, ticket-distributing business he believed they would be. Kimsa, a great guy who used to travel by train from Toronto with buddies to see his team play at Frank Clair Stadium, has this season been as scarce as a good fish and chip joint in Ottawa.

Now there's talk from different mouths that Randy Gillies could also be eyeing the exit sign. Gillies is a majority owner, possessing about 30% of the team, the same size chunk as retired tire jack magnate Bill Smith.

There are those who believe the Renegades would not only survive but thrive with the departure of Gillies, who does not share the same passion for football as the affable "Smitty." Especially if Smith purchased Gillies' 30%, which he could do without putting a dent in his massive piggy bank.

If Smith decides he's good with what he has, thank you, it's quite possible Brad and Bill Watters (who also own 15%) could find another partner from their vast group of wealthy acquaintances.

The timing will certainly be right to sell a new investor on the Renegades. The pitch could go something like this:

"Now I know we lost $4 mil in our first two years, but that's before we got smart and hired John Lisowski to clean up our mistakes. Today, the business side is very tidy. Next we've just got to make sure we can appease Eric Tillman and Joe Paopao, get their names on new contracts. We've got to allow Tillman to set up shop in Mississippi, partly so he doesn't strangle Lisowski and partly because he can just as easily do his scouting and signing of players from there as here. And we get Paopao back to run the football team in Ottawa. They converse well. They complement each other nicely. They've built a young nucleus that would have done better in 2004 had Kerry Joseph not injured his foot. In the future, we should compete and maybe even win it all some day, especially if we can get the rest of the league play by the damn salary cap rules."

Yeah, it makes sense that anyone looking to bolt from the current ownership consortium do it at the end of this season. The picture may never look as rosy.

A potential new money man should realize he will not get rich from this investment. The $2 million in Grey Cup proceeds Saskatchewan pulled in, combined with a strong net income of $544,000, gave the Roughriders a $27,000 surplus at the end of 2003. It was the community-owned team's first surplus in more than 18 years.

Of course, if the Renegades could somehow figure out a way to convince Ottawa fans to buy the CFL's most expensive tickets -- as it is average attendance at Frank Clair Stadium is near the bottom of the league -- then the team could be sitting pretty.

don.brennan@ott.sunpub.com