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January 26, 2011
Hamilton stadium reno plan has budget gap, too
Those of you who questioned whether there would really be no funding gap for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' stadium renovation plans, give yourself a prize: The latest cost estimates for rebuilding Ivor Wynne Stadium came in at $159.1 million, which leaves a gap of $38.6 million.
Hamilton city councillor Lloyd Ferguson insists to the Hamilton Spectator that the inflated price tag is the result of overly cautious provincial estimators; city recreation director Diane LaPointe-Kay retorts that to rebuild a stadium to Pan Am Games specs adds more costs.
Either way, city officials are now turning to the province for more money — so far Ontario says it will help, but won't issue a "blank cheque." Which leaves the question of why this plan is any better than all the other stadium plans. Also, whether this can possibly all get worked out by that February deadline.
Hamilton is just not an attractive city for investors because of the image of it being a dirty steel town. I think the owner of the TigerCats actually wouldn't mind moving the team to another more image-enhancing locale or folding the team. Only one team in the Canadian Football League is needed in Southern Ontario IMHO. And Toronto is a more important market than Hamilton in so many respects.
Posted by Turin Braker on January 26, 2011 11:36 AM
if ppl think that u turn your back on your biggest asset is smart raise your hand THATZ WHAT I THOUGHT ! listen the Ti catz bring 31 million of revenue into economic stress city and yes Hamilton aka the Hammer AKA STEEL TOWN is blue collar city because it 's filled with hard working citizens and proud to have Ti-Catz and rich hertige of the franchise which is older then argo's by long shot and u fans 142 yrs old not many teams can say they been around that long in all of sports
ARGO FANZ JUST SUCK AND WE ENJOY DESTROYING U EVERYTIME WE PLAY YOU YES U BEAT US BUT WE WILL BE BACK STRONGER THEN EVER HEAR US RAW WE ARE COMING FOR U EAT'EM RAW !!!
HONOUR & Proud to support the BOLD BLACK n GOLD
TIGER-CATZ 4 LIFE!!!!!!!!1
They need to focus on reconstruction of the south stands only. The north stands are newer and not in need of any major reno's. Those who overestimated the costs of the reno may not be properly equipped to do that job and may only be city employees who are not engineers or number crunchers. I believe they made an error and estimated for rebuilding north and south stands.
Posted by Len on January 27, 2011 10:30 AM