Raise the Hammer

Unfortunately, the only way Mr. Young is going to be persuaded to keep the Ticats in Hamilton is if he can be convinced that there is a business plan which will allow him to, at least, break even at a West Harbour stadium. The plan upon which the Ticat corporation has been proceeding involves increasing their revenue stream in various ways. The most obvious example is being able to take 15 or 20 bucks in addition to ticket prices from drivers parking in the 6 000 spaces at the now-dead East Mountain location. I was a season ticket holder until about two years at which time the price of my tickets was increased by about 40%. I thought it was unreasonable to raise the price so much all at once but prices had been held down during the first years of Mr. Young's tenure as owner. I've been back to games since and, after the first quarter, moved to sit in my old seat, which was unsold. Another problem with increasing the revenue stream is that, just as there is but one taxpayer, so there is but one ticket holder paying for their admission, food, parking and team merchandise. And in Hamilton, that ticket holder may very well not have much disposable income. That person may well walk or take public transit to the stadium and spend not a dime beyond what her/his ticket costs and save their money for beer and munchies at home. This whole business is an enormously thorny problem with stakeholders with very different objectives and points of view. I agree with those who say that the city council must now reach out to Mr. Young and the Ticat organization. There's been far too much name calling and intractability on both sides, in large part because the cultures of the two sides are so different: a city government trying to do its best for the citizenry and a most losing business trying to get into the black. The word "poisoned" has been used in the media and an antidote must be applied immediately because, as other posters have said, Hostco must now be convinced that there is a legacy for this stadium or it won't be built at all.