Raise the Hammer

Three recent decisions made in Toronto do not bode well for the long term future of the new Hamilton football and soccer stadium:

1. A press conference has been called for today to announce a joint venture purchase of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment by Rogers Communications and Bell Canada Enterprises with the approval of minority MLSE shareholder Larry Tanenbaum: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-inv...

2. A Toronto bid is being assembled to apply to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The Olympic Committee will announce the winning bid city in 2017: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/nati...

3. In September, 2011, Infrastructure Ontario and Toronto 2015 selected Dundee Kilmer Developments Limited to "design, build and finance" the Pan Am Athletes Village which will consist of approximately 6,000 residential units near the Toronto waterfront to accommodate 8,500 athletes and staff during the Pan Am Games and sold after the Games. One of the partners in the consortium is Kilmer Van Nostrand Co. which is "..the private investment and holding company of leading Canadian business leader and philanthropist Larry Tanenbaum." http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/835291/p...

How do these three decisions affect the future of the new Hamilton football and soccer stadium?

a) The "Toronto NFL Dream"

Since 2006, Rogers Communications and Larry Tanenbaum have demonstrated a desire to bring an NFL franchise to Toronto. http://www.cbc.ca/news/story/2006/09/06/...

the missing component right now is an NFL sized stadium.

2017 could be the watershed year for moving the "Toronto NFL Dream" to the next step. The 6,000 residential units in the Pan Am Athletes Village should be sold by then, allowing Mr. Tanenbaum to partner with Rogers and BCE in attempting to buy an existing or expansion NFL franchise. A winning Toronto bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic bid will send a message to the NFL that Toronto will get an 80,000 seat stadium by 2024. A Toronto NFL franchise could temporarily play at Rogers Centre until the Olympic stadium is built.

b) The New Hamilton Football and Soccer Stadium

The projected life cycle of the new Hamilton stadium is about 50 years spanning from 2014 to 2064.

There could be new Hamilton stadium "honeymoon" of up to 10 years including hosting some Pan Am soccer games, the Tiger-Cats, a second tier professional soccer club, and perhaps a few Olympic soccer games.

However, if Toronto gets its NFL team by 2024, it is improbable that the Argonaut and Tiger-Cat CFL football clubs could survive in the Southern Ontario marketplace. If, for example, the Tiger-Cats lasted another five years before folding or moving, they would be gone by 2029 and there is huge risk that new Hamilton football stadium could be devoid of CFL football for at least the final 35 years of its 50 year shelf life.

Copps Coliseum had a five year honeymoon until the NHL and the Toronto Maple Leafs derailed the Hamilton NHL expansion bid in 1990. Similarly, MLSE will probably prevent Hamilton from having a Major Soccer League franchise at the new stadium which could relegate the new stadium to hosting second tier professional soccer throughout its life cycle.

Is the investment of up to $60.5 Million by the City of Hamilton on the new Hamilton football and soccer stadium worth the ten year honeymoon period for the new stadium followed by 35 to 40 years of underutilization?

Mayor Bratina and Hamilton city council need to consider these three recent Toronto decisions and how Hamilton should respond to them.

Comment edited by RenaissanceWatcher on 2011-12-09 08:40:05