With reports of a conditional expansion franchise being granted to a Ottawa as early as the 2010 season surfacing earlier this week, CFL commissioner Mark Cohon sounded positive about the possibility during a stopover here Thursday.

“I’m working hard to get this done,” Cohon said after speaking at a sports business conference at Scotiabank Place, home of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. “I think we’ve got the right (ownership) group and we’re working hard to bring this back to Ottawa and we’ll have an announcement very soon.”

An ownership group led by Jeff Hunt, owner of the Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s, and backed by Ottawa businessmen Roger Greenberg, chairman and chief executive of Minto Developments, John Ruddy, president of Trinity Development Group, and William Shenkman, chairman of Shenkman Corp., are in talks with the league.

Ottawa has been without a CFL team since the league suspended the Renegades franchise following the 2005 season.

Hunt was part of a previous group, Golden Gate Capital, that was interested in bringing the team back last year before it was forced to withdraw from its pursuit when one of its major financial backers became seriously ill.

Hunt told the Ottawa Sun in its Thursday editions that he believed the new group would be successful this time around.

“Are we close? Yes, I believe we are,” said Hunt, who believed the announcement could come as early as next week. “There are a lot of components to any conditional franchise.

“We’re just going through all the details that need to be dealt with.”

Cohon seemed to support those words.

“I was joking before (that) I’ll probably have to change my suit, because you guys will recognize because I will be back soon,” he said. “Very soon.”

When reached last night at an OHL board of governors meeting in Toronto, Hunt said he preferred to remain tight-lipped over Cohon’s comments or the possibility of a 2010 start-up until they get past this stage.

“I really can’t even add anything to that, it’s too blue sky to think about those kind of details,” he said.

The franchise fee as well as a lease agreement and the condition of Frank Clair Stadium, home of the Renegades and the old Ottawa Rough Riders, have previously been stumbling blocks for the CFL’s return.

Hunt said his group was “comfortable” with that aspect.

Cohon didn’t have offer any comment on the financial details or the state of negotiations with the city regarding the stadium, but sounded positive that a solution would be worked out and appeared to be a supporter of Hunt’s group.

“I’m smiling so …,” he said. “I think it’s really important that people know that my job as a commissioner is to make sure that we find the right local owners and then empower them to make sure that they do have a (good) relationship with the city.”