Canada issues Ottawa RedBlacks football stamps June 19

The return of the Canadian Football League to the city of Ottawa will be celebrated June 19 with two new stamps from Canada Post.

The new Ottawa RedBlacks CFL expansion team held its first exhibition game June 14. The regular season starts July 3.

The team will play at its new stadium at Lansdowne Park. The first home game is set for July 18 against the Toronto Argonauts.

Ottawa has been without a CFL team since the Ottawa Renegades were disbanded prior to the 2006 season.

A coil stamp in rolls of 50 depicts the Ottawa RedBlacks team logo. The commemorative stamp in a booklet of 10 shows a Canadian football hero, according to Canada Post. Both are nondenominated (85¢) permanent-rate stamps.

The stamp designs will be revealed June 19, but Canada Post provided a teaser graphic, shown here, on its website.

The stamps are believed to be similar in style to those honoring eight Canadian Football League teams that were issued in 2012 (Scott 2558-2576).

The new stamps were designed by the firm Bensimon Byrne. Additional details about the printer, print quantities and design were not made available by Canada Post as of mid-June.

The coil of 50 is Canada Post item 403937117, and a strip of four from the coil is item 403937118.

The booklet of 10 stamps is item 413937111.

The official first-day cover will bear a postmark from Ottawa, Ontario, and is Canada Post item 413937131.

Canada Post products are available at www.canadapost.ca/shop. Stamps and FDCs are available by mail order from the National Philatelic Centre, Canada Post Corp., 75 St. Ninian St., Antigonish, NS B2G 2R8, Canada; or by telephone from the United States and Canada at 800-565-4362, and from other countries at 902-863-6550.

Canada’s stamps and stamp products are also available from many new-issue stamp dealers, and from Canada Post’s agent in the United States: Interpost, Box 420, Hewlett, NY 11557.