Comment 78252

By RenaissanceWatcher (registered) | Posted June 09, 2012 at 14:57:21

According to a February 22, 2012 London Free Press article by Norman DeBono titled "Touchdown London? Mustangs turf in Tiger-Cats spotlight", the Tiger-Cats had been in talks with the City of London four months earlier (i.e. October, 2011) about hosting several Ticat games at Western TD Waterhouse Stadium in 2013. http://www.lfpress.com/sports/football/2...

This makes the Ticats' signing of former Western and current CFL standout wide receiver Andy Fantuz to a four year contract through 2015 a move to attract a London football audience as much it was for the Hamilton football fans.

This will also give the Tiger-Cats a London "threat to move" option. The Tiger-Cats' first threat to move in July, 2010 coerced the City of Hamilton to relinquish the main Pan Am athletics stadium (and its share of the interest in the Pan Am Legacy Fund) and later its preferred west harbour location when, in January, 2011, it adopted the joint Bratina/Young "plan" to demolish and rebuild Ivor Wynne Stadium. That "plan" has already added an unforeseen cost to the city of demolishing and relocating Brian Timmis Field. Will the Tiger-Cats use the London "threat to move" card if the City of Hamilton votes against paying the team up to $1.5 Million per game (at which time the team may still be playing some or all of its games in London) if the new stadium is not constructed by July, 2014? Or will they play the London "threat to move" card sometime after 2015 to extract from Hamilton a rewrite of the new Ivor Wynne Stadium lease at a significantly reduced rent because they claim they are not making enough money at the new venue? Time will tell.

Comment edited by RenaissanceWatcher on 2012-06-09 15:00:08

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds