The Winnipeg Football Club has asked the City of Winnipeg for permission to put off paying back what’s left of an old bailout loan until 2017.

In 2005, the city allowed the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to use entertainment-tax revenue to pay off $4.5 million leftover from a bailout originally offered by the Winnipeg Enterprises Corporation, the arm’s-length city agency that used to run Canad Inns Stadium.

According to a report heading to city council on Wednesday, $972,000 remained on the loan as of the end of 2011. The football club has asked to put off repayments until 2017 in order to focus on repaying the province’s $85-million loan to build Investors Group Field at the University of Manitoba.