Comment 28945

By arienc (registered) | Posted February 22, 2009 at 01:03:36

Definitely we need to think long and hard about the potential business plan for this stadium.

We know the Ti-Cats will be the prime tenant. What other events will we hold in a 25K+ seat outdoor stadium?

Concerts? Doubtful there will be more than 3 or 4 big name touring acts a year that would need a venue of larger size than Copps. Most acts of that size would prefer to perform in Toronto. Maybe we could host a Palooza or something.

Other Sports? The only one that I can see working is minor league baseball, which would bring about 80 home games a year. But Hamiltonians are not known for fantastic support of minor league sports, nor are they known for being big fans of baseball. What about an MLS franchise? Based on the success of TFC, there may be enough demand for a second team in Southern Ontario.

Community events? What kind? How will they pay the bills?

The business plan needs to provide a reasonable estimate of the financing costs, the operating costs, the costs to de-commission Ivor Wynne, the revenues, and the spin-off benefits. Proponents of the stadium have NOT come up with such a plan. They are simply believing in the Field of Dreams - build it and they will come. Sure that stuff works in the movies, but real life requires hard choices to be made.

Yet committing scarce capital to building a new stadium for Pan Am and later the Ti-Cats could prevent the city from realizing other important goals, like getting an LRT system running. When your financial options are limited, you need to make priorities. As far as I'm concerned, LRT comes first. Until funding is in hand for that, you just don't fund stadiums, especially if we are in fact heading into a Depression.

"First they built the road, then they built the town. That's why we're still driving around and around, and all we see. Are kids in buses. Longing to be free." - Wasted Hours, The Arcade Fire

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