New Stadium Location

by Darrin DeRoches August 5 - 11, 2010

West harbor or East Mountain? Location, location, location.  In every real estate transaction, location is the deciding factor.  The location of the proposed new stadium is the sticking point for our future as a city. The city of Hamilton has allowed a private company (Tiger Cats) to dictate the location of a community stadium.  We have now lost the premier event of the Pan Am Games track and field, and now  we’ve been thrown a bone with soccer. We may lose the stadium altogether if these delays continue, and once again Hamilton will lose out to Toronto. Who the hell is running this city anyway?     The Tiger Cats are saying that they will never play in the West Harbour – fine.  Let them keep playing at Ivor Wynne Stadium and maybe they can start paying rent.  We subsidize the stadium’s rent and we pay for the tickets to keep the team afloat, but we let the Tiger Cats hold us hostage over where the stadium should be built.  If they do not want to play in the new stadium, we can always get a soccer team to play there, with twice the games, which will bring more revenue and exposure to the city.  I have always supported the Tiger Cats.  When they put the first astroturf in Ivory Wynne, my family was there playing football on the field.  I have been going to games for 40 years and will continue to go for 40 more, if the present owners and management remember who pays the bills: us, the community.      The Future Fund is been allocated to help build the stadium downtown.  If they want the stadium on the mountain, then they should pay for it themselves.  They advertised that “[they] know stadiums”; again, if they don’t like, they should build it themselves.  The West Mountain is the worst location for a stadium they could pick.  It’s about government money and subsidies, not location.  Who really cares if you can read the name from the Linc? You will not be able to see it anyways.  Increased traffic on the Linc and Mud Street will cause congestion all the way back to the QEW.  There is road congestion every time a movie lets out with a couple hundred people, not 25,000.  The West End location is no better or worse than the harbor location.     You can argue the fact stadiums do not work in the suburbs, you can argue access, you can argue naming rights, and you can argue pie in the sky commitments on future funding. Stop arguing, make a decision and move forward.  The stadium argument is about the location for a private company to make money.  It is our money building the stadium and the community should make the decision.  Hamilton has to stand up and make the decision, not the Tiger Cats.  If they want to make money in naming rights, they should pay us the rights to put Hamilton in front of their name.  I believe they lost that right in this back door dealing mess they have created. Oskee wee wee .V                           [DARRIN DEROCHES]