TiCats to decide whether to open stadium early

[Lions4ever]

So with the new roof at BC Place do the Riderfans still believe that the Lions pipe in stadium noise during live plays?

I've kinda enjoyed keeping that myth alive.

Persistent football myths that just won't go away.

CJK5H

[TheLionKing]

They should also get a new game clock.

How many 'last minute' Rider drives have the Leos faced at Taylor Field through the years that have taken 68 seconds to play?


DH

Seen too many of those "comebacks" to last me a lifetime.

[WestCoastJoe]

TIGER-CATS TO DECIDE SOON WHETHER THEY CAN OPEN STADIUM

7/3/2014 8:38:13 PM

WINNIPEG -- CFL commissioner Mark Cohon says the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will decide in the coming weeks whether they can open before construction of their stadium is finished.

"What they've potentially talked about is opening with not the full stadium ready but they have to make that decision in the coming weeks," he said in Winnipeg, where the Ottawa Redblacks played their first regular season game against the Blue Bombers.

The Blue Bombers are experts on missing stadium opening dates. Theirs was delayed an entire year.

Cohon said he was in Hamilton on Wednesday and the Tiger-Cats were meeting Thursday and Friday with Infrastructure Ontario to review where they are with the project.

But he also stopped in Ottawa this week and says the Redblacks revamped home field is expected to open on schedule July 18. The Redblacks have brought the CFL back to the nation's capital after almost a decade, a move Cohon started working on in 2007.

Meanwhile, the commissioner admitted only six of the nine CFL teams are expected to break even or make money this season but says a new TV deal and players' contract has positioned the entire league to do better in the future.

"I think what the deal does, and this is important, it creates the foundation moving forward for our teams to prosper," he said of the new CFL contract with the players.

[TheLionKing]

Isn't it a bit premature to be predicting who will be breaking even or make money ? It's only 2 weeks into the season ? A lot can happen in the next 16 weeks

[TheLionKing]

The City of Hamilton announced on Monday that the Tiger-Cats' new stadium will not be ready for the first two games that it was supposed to host on July 26 and 31.

The Tiger-Cats, who are playing their first three games of the season on the road, were scheduled to open Tim Hortons Field against the Ottawa Redblacks on July 26. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers were to visit for the second game five days later.

"After holding our home pre-season game on campus last month, we know that we can deliver an outstanding entertainment experience at McMaster," said Tiger-Cats CEO Scott Mitchell in a statement. In the coming weeks, we will have greater certainty regarding our August 16 game, but the builders remain adamant that Tim Hortons Field will be ready no later than Labour Day. While we are disappointed our fans will have to wait to visit our incredible new stadium, we know the world-class experience provided at Tim Hortons Field will exceed everyone's expectations when it is complete."

The Ticats announced the two relocated home contests will be played at Ron Joyce Field at McMaster University in Hamilton.

Last year, the Ticats played their entire season at the University of Guelph while the new stadium was under construction.

In a statement, the City of Hamilton said the new building "will not be safe and ready for occupancy by (July 26 and 31)".

Hamilton's next chance to open the stadium will be Saturday, August 16 against the Calgary Stampeders.

Tim Hortons Field will also host the Pan and Parapan American Games next summer. In a statement, Infrastructure Ontario noted that the new stadium is 85 per cent complete and that cost overruns would be paid for privately and not by Ontario taxpayers.

http://www.tsn.ca/cfl/story/?id=456653

[sj-roc]

Looks like after being forced into playing their first two home games at Ron Joyce Stadium on the campus of McMaster, the Tiger-Cats will now have to play their third (Aug 16) home game there as the new Hamilton stadium opening has been pushed back to Sep 1 in time for their fourth home game, the Labour Day matchup with Tor. Not too surprising since the wording of the TSN article in the last post offered no commitment beyond being ready for this latter date.

I understand the Tiger-Cats have a 20-year lease with the City of Hamilton to play there and have contributed (are contributing) $30M of their own money to construction costs, with the understanding it was supposed to open at the start of this season. Hopefully for their sake they have some legal recourse to recover the revenues they've lost on this.

http://www.cfl.ca/article/update-on-tim-hortons-field

Tim Hortons Field: August 1 Update

Posted: August 01, 2014 03:10 PM

CFL.ca Staff

HAMILTON -- Earlier today, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats received the following statement from the City of Hamilton regarding construction progress at Tim Hortons Field:

"After a meeting yesterday that was attended by all parties relevant to the construction of Tim Hortons Field, and with further detail provided today, the building consortium of ONSS has presented a plan to have the stadium ready for the Labour Day Classic. We have seen very significant progress in the last month and look forward to continuing to work with ONSS to ensure the opening of Tim Hortons Field for that important event. After playing their August 16th game at McMaster's Ron Joyce Stadium, we will work with the Tiger-Cats and all parties to transition the City of Hamilton and the team into the stadium."

Tiger-Cats President and Chief Operating Officer Glenn Gibson remarked, "We were very pleased to hear ONSS has a plan in place that will see Tim Hortons Field open for the Labour Day Classic. Kicking off the first game at our brand-new, world-class stadium on Labour Day will truly be a memorable day in Hamilton sports history."

Fans that have previously purchased tickets to the August 16 game will be issued a credit or refund for the full value of each game. Season seat holders will be provided with ticket details later this afternoon.

[sj-roc]

It's now looking like THF won't be fully ready for the Ticats' Sep 1 Labour Day Classic:

Hamilton stadium contractor is only targeting a limited Labour Day opening of Tim Hortons Field

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats' plans to host the Labour Day Classic against Toronto at the new Tim Hortons Field are still facing a multitude of challenges. On Friday, Hamilton city councillor Lloyd Ferguson estimated the stadium had just a 65 to 70 per cent chance of being open at all by Sept. 1, and the latest news may not improve those odds. Contractor Ontario Sports Solutions finally turned in an occupancy application to the city's building department Wednesday morning, two days after that was initially expected, but that application was only for partial occupancy. Thus, even if the city's inspection (expected to take five days) goes perfectly, there may be a lot of seats the team can't sell.

In restrospect, perhaps they should have played a second full season at Guelph.

[Ravi]

It's now looking like THF won't be fully ready for the Ticats' Sep 1 Labour Day Classic:

Hamilton stadium contractor is only targeting a limited Labour Day opening of Tim Hortons Field

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats' plans to host the Labour Day Classic against Toronto at the new Tim Hortons Field are still facing a multitude of challenges. On Friday, Hamilton city councillor Lloyd Ferguson estimated the stadium had just a 65 to 70 per cent chance of being open at all by Sept. 1, and the latest news may not improve those odds. Contractor Ontario Sports Solutions finally turned in an occupancy application to the city's building department Wednesday morning, two days after that was initially expected, but that application was only for partial occupancy. Thus, even if the city's inspection (expected to take five days) goes perfectly, there may be a lot of seats the team can't sell.

In restrospect, perhaps they should have played a second full season at Guelph.

I am thinking similarly to you now. They might as well wait until the stadium is fully ready at this point even if it takes into next season.

[sj-roc]

An update on THF in Hamilton... the news doesn't look good, all those pictures taken just yesterday don't show a place that looks like it could be ready to hold a CFL game within a week:

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-5 ... 04600.html

There's also talk that the league is looking into the possibility of moving the Labour Day game to Toronto and playing it a day later.

Because after all, football on Tuesday is a deeply-entrenched tradition in hogtown.

[Coast Mountain Lion]

An update on THF in Hamilton... the news doesn't look good, all those pictures taken just yesterday don't show a place that looks like it could be ready to hold a CFL game within a week:

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-5 ... 04600.html

There's also talk that the league is looking into the possibility of moving the Labour Day game to Toronto and playing it a day later.

Because after all, football on Tuesday is a deeply-entrenched tradition in hogtown.

They could always play a game here. Tens of thousands of BC schoolchildren aren't going to be having anything to do that day, unless Jim Iker and Peter Fassbender kiss and make up very soon.

[sj-roc]

Still a lot of hurdles to clear in Hamilton, logistical and otherwise, before THF gets the green light, and it won't happen until ~24hrs before kickoff at the earliest and even then only for 18k in seating (about 2/3rds of design capacity).

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-5 ... 36355.html

If you're looking for positives, the field itself seems to be fine as the Ticats had their first practice on it yesterday as construction work continued around them.

[sj-roc]

Another bad news story out of Hamilton as a fire this morning at THF caused an estimated $25k in damage. It isn't expected to affect the readiness of the stadium for Monday's Labour Day game but it does fit in too well with the ongoing narrative of the train wreck that THF has become this year.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-5 ... 42068.html

[notahomer]

Another bad news story out of Hamilton as a fire this morning at THF caused an estimated $25k in damage. It isn't expected to affect the readiness of the stadium for Monday's Labour Day game but it does fit in too well with the ongoing narrative of the train wreck that THF has become this year.

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/cfl-5 ... 42068.html

Thanks for posting. Really got lots of good news on FNF, so looked good but then this morning THiS! So, the fat cats in the private suites probably have CRAPPY wiring for their BIG BUCK suites! Oh great!

Read a few of the comments and its another excuse for CFL haters to talk about how 'small' time the league is. Don't know how you are suppossed to plan for a fire days before opening but this kinda stuff isn't easy to pull off regardless. I think a large part of why our renovations went so well, comparatively, is we had another big event (the Olympics) to help it get done RIGHT. And the Bomber stadium had its issues too, IIRC. It was suppossed to open mid-season but they just said "FORGET IT, NEXT YEAR" and IMO, its a palace. purrfect? Of course not. Not enough vendors etc... but its an awesome place to watch a football game. Then again, I do not have to commute there etc... but the stadium itself was one of the nicest I've been in.

[B.C.FAN]

The timeline on THF was probably too tight. If they had kept the temporary seating at Guelph for the first half of this season, the delays would not have been as costly. They've taken 21 months to demolish the old Ivor Wynne Stadium (which took about five months) and build THF from scratch. The post-Olympic B.C. Place renovation took about 19 months and didn't involve much demolition or new construction other than the roof. The Lions played all of 2010 and two-thirds of the 2011 season at Empire.

[Hambone]

The timeline on THF was probably too tight. If they had kept the temporary seating at Guelph for the first half of this season, the delays would not have been as costly. They've taken 21 months to demolish the old Ivor Wynne Stadium (which took about five months) and build THF from scratch. The post-Olympic B.C. Place renovation took about 19 months and didn't involve much demolition or new construction other than the roof. The Lions played all of 2010 and two-thirds of the 2011 season at Empire.

That was my thought too. Was it ever realistic to be able to demolish Ivor Wynne and build a new stadium on the same site all in 21 months which included 2 winter seasons? Seems to me meeting such a tight schedule was only going to be possible if absolutely everything went right and even then a little bit of luck might've been needed too.