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By hshields (registered) - website | Posted May 28, 2010 at 16:40:46
Wow, amazing response to this story. What is tells me first off is that Hamilton is passionate about the Ti-Cats so that should bode well for ticket sales for the next few years regardless of where (in Hamilton!) the team plays.
Here are my observations on this issue.
The Ti-Cats are a profit seeking business. The current business deal isn't maximizing profits for the Ti-Cats. The football club is a tenant in the building that the City owns. As such, they do not have profit generating ability for naming rights, parking concessions, food concessions etc.. All of this has to be worked out with the City - if at all. Second, the location of the Stadium is not by heavy viewership areas like the QEW which means the Ti-Cats can't flip some extra revenue for advertising space. Of course, this also pre-supposes they could charge for advertising with city-owned land.
Nope, the current business model doesn't maximize profits for the Ti-Cats but, with all the free money (well for the Ti-Cats at least, not us taxpayers), why make a big fuss early in the game? Wait until it becomes pollitically embarrassing and the "train has left the station" to start pulling the strings of influence. As I recall, I haven't heard, publically, the Ti-Cats grumble about the selection process until very, very late into the game. Sure, there are Spec articles about keeping it quiet but, to what end? The end is to keep it quiet, even if you had doubts, until government has committed to funding. If I was a tactician, this is the exact moment I would strike out to start leveraging to change the business model once government is fully exposed and vulnerable.
The Ti-Cats aren't anti-urban or anti-Hamilton. They simply want to tweak a business plan that maximizes their profit-making ability. This means a few things if the City is adamant about staying in the West Harbour locale:
a) Naming Rights - Ti-Cats will want to lease (at a sweetheart rate) the rights to name the stadium and then flip it for a profit.
b) Advertising Space - the Ti-Cats will want some space (on City space near the QEW) to either advertise the Ti-Cats or rent out to other businesses for a profit.
c) Revenue Sharing on spin-offs - the Ti-Cats will want a cut of the concession action, parking action, tail-gate party action if they move downtown. This may mean a wide array of creative things from a cut of special transit fares to the event and back, special consideration in tax assessments, special consideration in revenue from commerical sales related to Ti-Cat events etc...
d) Expansion, upgrades, on-going costs - the Ti-Cats will want the City or Province to play a bigger role in being responsible for the financial care of the site they will use. This may mean Governments at all levels will pay more for upgrades, pay more for transit to make it attractive, pay more for urban renewal in the area, pay more for operating costs of the club.
I feel for Council that they couldn't anticipate this business move by the Ti-Cats and field some much stronger wording to put the Ti-Cats back in their place. Now they are in a position to let the ref call the play and you know what happens when you let video replay decide the outcome - you don't always get what you want.
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