Playing in the big league
Hamilton could be a key figure in a Golden Horseshoe bid for the Pan-American Games
The math isn’t good, the city’s two biggest sports venues decayed and outdated. And zero firm answers.
But sundry interests are at work, upfront and in the background, to solve the most pressing problem — the little bit of shelf life the home of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats has remaining.
Ticat president Scott Mitchell put that issue squarely into play recently with a challenge to the city.
The cost to renovate Ivor Wynne Stadium could be almost as much as a new stadium and would remain a limiteduse facility in a residential area.
A new pigskin palace has plenty of obstacles, particularly in the forum of public opinion where it would be seen as $200-million minimum for a place to play nine football games a year.
But there is an ongoing effort at coming up with a plan that would make the City of Hamilton’s financial hit on a stadium much smaller.
Mitchell believes a new stadium can come together either as a stand-alone project or in the context of a big multisport event for southern Ontario.
“Certainly a major Games would really help but I think there’s a case for it in terms of economic development and how this province has fallen behind other parts of Canada in providing sports infrastructure.”
With the current government’s emphasis on health and activity, a multipurpose stadium could be part of that expanded infrastructure.
The Canadian Olympic Committee (COC) is considering whether it should aim Canada toward a summer Olympics and Pan-American Games, the latter setting the stage for the former.
Ontario has not held a major Games since Hamilton’s 1930 British Empire Games (for which Civic Stadium, later renamed Ivor Wynne, was built), so there is strong sentiment by COC officials and national sports organizations to push for either or both in
the Golden Horseshoe.
The COC has quietly pulled together an informal task force to look at the options for southern Ontario.
A member of that task force and a source close to the COC confirmed a scenario like this: A Pan-Am Games could be a southern Ontario event with Hamilton in a central role.
Then, with infrastructure in place, trained administrators and a strong volunteer army, a Toronto-based Olympics would be pursued. But a stadium would be the jewel for Hamilton, with improvements to Copps Coliseum too.
Two sites come to mind, Confederation Park and the past Commonwealth Games bid location, Barton and Bay streets, which was touted as a revitalization project that links the waterfront with the city’s core.
The key to a Games bid this time is that the private sector has to take the lead. Principals in the most recent bids believe the public is exhausted by city efforts in that regard. It will take highprofile business leaders levering money first from higher levels of government to win public favour.
The alternative isn’t pretty. The Ticats would make noises about leaving or worse, suspending operations, and that could prompt the end of the Canadian Football League.
As for Copps, Research in Motion magnate Jim Balsillie could grasp control of an NHL club, and move it here, sparking an overhaul of the city’s entertainment facilities at private expense.
This new look for Ivor Wynne Stadium was an architect's design included in Hamilton's Commonwealth Games bid.