Comment 57941

By improvethehammer (registered) | Posted January 25, 2011 at 09:25:17

Let me try and answer some of the questions:

Ticat owner Bob Young has promised two Grey Cup games in Hamilton in the next decade. However, Ivor Wynne Stadium would only have 25,000 seats, with the ability to expand to 35,000 using temporary seating. CFL Commissioner wrote a threatening letter to Hamilton last summer stating that the CFL requires 45,000 seats to host a Grey Cup. The reason they want 45,000 is to guarantee $5 million in gate revenue. So if there are 35,000 seats, they'll just increase the average ticket price to $150. Not ideal, but it will work.

Mayor Bratina and Councillor Ferguson suggested that the renovation cost may be overstated, because Infrastructure Ontario tends to build a 20% padding into its pricing estimates to account for cost overruns. Is it prudent to assume that the IWS renovation won't be plagued by such cost overruns? I think he was just stating a fact. The funding gap will still need to be addressed. But at least we can be (reasonably) confident that there won't be even more unplanned expenditures.

What happened to the corporate sponsors Bob Young proudly trumpeted last week when he and Mayor Bratina announced the IWS plan? They'll step forward eventually. But I wouldn't expect any announcements from them or the team until the final brick is laid and we're ready to play football. Bob shouldn't have said anything so prematurely.

Why does Mayor Bratina believe the City's two main objectives in planning a Pan Am stadium are to retain the Ticats and to avoid tax increases? Whatever happened to city building and economic development - the mandate of the Future Fund being used for the City contribution? Good question. Although a revamped IWS should lead to economic development in an area that needs it.

How can the funding plan be partially dependent on a pro soccer team if Bob Young cannot guarantee that he will be able to launch a NASL team? My reading of the report shows that they cover the expense of renting to the NASL team ($308,000), but they don't cover the revenue. The $600,000 from ticket surcharges looks like $3 x 20,000 seats * 10 home games for the Ticats, and doesn't take into account 18 home games for an NASL team. If we do that, $3 x 8000 seats * 18 home games we get another $430,000 dollars.

What does the Future Fund Board of Governors think about spending $45 million to renovate Ivor Wynne Stadium? Presumably we'll find out. But its not a stretch to say that a new stadium enhances community life and will help increase Hamilton's economic growth. And the plan all along has been to use $55 million. But because there are no land acquisition costs, that $10 million can be spent elsewhere. (e.g. against the land acquisition at West Harbour).

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