MONTREAL - There is no joy for those anxiously awaiting the possibility of a Montreal franchise in the Lingerie Football League.
The 12-team league has announced that it will be cancelling the upcoming regular season to expand the sport on distance shores and to re-market the indoor game as a warm-weather sport.
The three-year-old LFL features all-female, seven-member teams playing in lingerie and football pads on 50-yard indoor fields.
A spokesman said the league will play again in April 2013 on a spring and summer schedule and suggested that the league would be concentrating on expanding in Canada.
The league made news in Toronto when the Toronto Triumph briefly recruited Mayor Rob Ford's niece Krista Ford for its squad last year. However she quit after one game, apparently in protest against several teammates being cut.
On March 24, the BC Angels seasons ticket went on sale and the Regina Rage were to become the league's third Canadian team.
There had been some mention in 2011 that Montreal could also get a franchise to join other teams, which have included the Baltimore Charm, Cleveland Crush, Orlando Fantasy, Philadelphia Passion, Tampa Breeze, Toronto Triumph, Chicago Bliss, Green Bay Chill, Las Vegas Sin, Los Angeles Temptation, Minnesota Valkrye and Seattle Mist.
Previously, the New York Majesty and Denver Dream had folded and the mayor of Oklahoma took a stand against the possibility of locating a team in the city.
In spite of the suspension of the season, many of the players will continue playing in a promotional All Star tour.
According to the Associated Press, the league will concentrate on an "All Fantasy Tour" starting in Mexico City in May, followed by dates in Sydney and Brisbane, Australia, and possibly cities in Asia later in the year.
The league said it will concentrate on relaunching in Canada in the fall of 2012 and will launch a league in Australia in 2013.
