It's funny what can happen on the way to find Ryan Dempster.

Almost six years ago, Seattle-based Cleveland Indians scout Tony Riviera travelled north to Victoria to check out the young, right-handed, pitching prospect from Sechelt, B.C.

Dempster ultimately ended up with the Florida Marlins and now pitches for the Cincinnati Reds. But that talent-hunting trip left a lasting impression on Riveria.

Somewhere above his head a light bulb clicked on.

"I thought, 'There's the Canadian Football League -- with all the baseball fans in this country. Why not the Canadian Baseball League,' " the CBL's chair said yesterday in the midst of last-minute preparations for the league's first game tonight at Labatt Park.

"I made a commitment then to make this work."

The viability of the eight-team circuit will be determined in time. The short term is no problem -- Riviera has deep-pocketed cohorts in tech guru Charlton Lui and former Yahoo! president Jeff Mallett, a Vancouver-born, Victoria-raised investor who is also a member of the San Francisco Giants board of directors.

"The opportunity to found something is always appealing," Mallett said yesterday at Labatt Park.

"The fact that it is baseball makes it that much more so."

The CBL has taken its share of publicity lumps. It couldn't put together a stadium deal for Montreal, so the team will play all 72 games away from home. Tonight's opener between the London Monarchs and the "road" Royales is obviously huge -- it will be the league's first (and best) chance to create some momentum and attract fans.

"We plan on delivering a quality product, quality service and a quality image," Riviera said. "People will be blown away by our calibre of ball. We don't expect to send players on to A or AA, we expect to get them ready for the major leagues.

"That's our goal."

The first game will be broadcast on national television by The Score, which also has committed to airing a game every Sunday night throughout the season. Sam Cosentino will handle play-by-play while former big-league scout Tom Valcke, current CEO of the St. Marys-based Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, will be the colour analyst.

The league picked Labatt Park for its opener to pay homage to the world's oldest continuously used ballpark.

As part of tonight's pre-game hoopla, Michael Burgess will belt out the national anthem and the Canadian Forces Snowbirds will zoom overhead. There also will be a pyrotechnics display.

If the league has any luck at all, the weather won't be foul, the game won't be boring and minor production hiccups won't develop into major disasters.

The ball should be of some quality -- former Atlanta Brave Francisco Cabrera is London's big bopper, and the team is managed by longtime Kansas City centre fielder Willie Wilson.

"I haven't (been part of a startup league before)," Wilson said. "In truth, I have been running around just trying to get ready and haven't had time to sit down and think about it, but maybe after (tonight's) game, I will.

"Right now, I'm just trying to get these guys prepared."

Ready or not, Wilson will roll out starting pitcher Todd Etler, a right-handed veteran from Erlanger, Ky., who was originally signed by Cincinnati (Dempster's current team) in 1992. The 29-year-old has pitched as high as the AAA level, but has also endured major arm surgery during his career.

"It will be something to remember that I threw the first pitch in the history of the league," Etler said. "As players, we're just excited to get started. It is a job and a lot of us are married. We're away from our families. You do think about that a lot.

"But for that time that we are on the field, we can just forget everything and play the game. That's the best part."

Monarchs notes

The CBL's brass -- Riviera, Lui, and Mallett -- are all in town to watch the opener. . . . Over the weekend, Wilson released Londoner and infielder Jeremy Hudson, who has resurfaced with the visiting Royales. That leaves former St. Thomas Storm catcher Andrew Mercier as the Monarchs' lone Londoner. . . . Wilson plans on starting the season with a four-man pitching rotation, starting with Etler, Edward Cabrera, Toronto native David MacPherson and Ramon Royce.

ABOUT THE CBL

Schedule: Each team plays 73 games, typically four per week Thursday through Sunday.

Quirks: Montreal will be a road team after the league failed to secure a lease with a facility in the city.

Salaries: Teams are under a salary cap of $60,000 per month. The minimum salary is $1,125 per month.

Rules: Teams will have a designated hitter and have at least five Canadians on the roster.

TV: The Score will televise a game of the week on Sunday evenings.

CBL OPENER

Royales vs. Monarchs

Tonight: Pregame program begins at 7:05 p.m. First pitch scheduled for 7:33 p.m.

Tickets: Available at Labatt Park box office or phone 667-9653.

Web site: www.canadianbase ballleague.com

CBL TEAMS

West Division

Calgary Outlaws: Burns Stadium, capacity 8,000

Kelowna Heat: Elks Stadium, capacity 2,000

Saskatoon Legends: Cairns Field, capacity 4,000

Victoria Capitals: Royal Athletic Park, capacity 3,655

East Division

London Monarchs: Labatt Park, capacity 5,400

Montreal Royales: None. All games to be played on the road.

Niagara Stars: Welland Sports Complex, 3,000

Trois-Rivieres Saints: Le Stade de Trois-Rivieres, 4,500