New Hamilton Stadium May Never Be Built

The idealized new home of the Hamilton Tiger Cats, as shown in the above photo, is a thing of the past.

Politicians, bureaucrats, and CFL owners and officials have made the proposed project cloudy, if not dead, before it ever got off the ground.

To recap, Hamilton got attached to Toronto's 2015 Pan American Games bid by agreeing to build a stadium for the track and field events, usually the showcase of any major summer athletic games.

It was then decided that after the Games were over, the stadium would be expanded and become the new home of the CFL's Hamilton Tiger Cats.

What should have happened to make this idea a smooth sea to sail on was that the location, size, and other details about the stadium should have been settled LONG BEFORE the bid for the games was ever submitted.

Instead, since Toronto was awarded the games, every politician, bureaucrat, owner, and official has crawled out of the woodwork to virtually kill the project.

The city envisioned the new stadium in a location to spark a downtown revival.

Instead, TiCats owner Bob Young claimed that the chosen location would kill the franchise and opted for a site on the east side of the Hamilton mountain.

A website and a Jim Balsillie-like campaign have been started to gain support for Young's position.  The CFL is advertising it at its website.

To placate the city, Young proposed donating money to build a new velodrome and amphitheatre at the city's chosen site.

Now comes the news that the track and field events are being withdrawn from Hamilton, the reason being that the journey from Toronto to Hamilton was too long for the athletes.

Why such a fundamental decision should be made AFTER the games were awarded only highlights the ugly truth that politicians, bureaucrats, and officials only want these games to draw attention to themselves, reward friends and supporters, and find new ways to loot the till.

Such policies are the reason why Ontario has become a "have-not" province, why Toronto is now called the "Poverty Capital of Canada," why there are crushing new taxes that will push more people into poverty, and why over one million people in the GTA alone have to use food banks.

But the decision to relocate means the reason to build a new stadium is gone.

To salvage something, Young now proposes to combine the new football stadium with a soccer field for the Pan Am Games and for a future MLS franchise.

Young has since been joined been Commissioner Mark Cohon in an open letter to the Hamilton city council on July 30.

While Commissioner Cohon has little choice but to back scarce, committed CFL owners like Young, this letter is a startling reversal of policy by the commissioner and the CFL.

Gone is the vagueness, and bureaucratic language that many Bleacher readers commented about during my recent Bleacher interview with him about CFL expansion.

The letter is an ultimatum, full of bribes, threats, and dire consequences.

A league that went on its knees to Ottawa to get a team back there, that is willing to accept a design that only seats 24,000 in a much larger city; a league that for years has accepted Montreal playing in a stadium that only had 20,000 seats, and only this year surpassed the CFL's stated minimum of 25,000; now objects to a new 25,000 seat stadium in Hamilton at the city's choice location.

The letter states that the CFL had wanted to award Hamilton the Grey Cup many times in the past, but always backed off because of the size of Ivor Wynn Stadium.

It holds out the bribe of many Grey Cups in the future for Hamilton, if Young is given his way.

It also unveils a new CFL policy that states that the Grey Cup MUST be played in a venue that seats a minimum of 45,000 (can the new Winnipeg and Ottawa stadiums be expanded that much?).

Then come the threats.

The letter goes on to state that if Young were forced to move the team, the CFL would never return.

That would be ironic—Hamilton would be left with the CFL Hall of Fame and no team.

If I were a Hamilton taxpayer or city official, why would I want to spend money on a new stadium, now that the main reason for building it is gone?

Hamilton has already been slapped in the face by the NHL over a hockey arena.

Now it is being slapped again by the CFL over a football stadium.

If I were a Hamilton taxpayer, I might be tempted to reply with two words that I won't write to end this article.