Stadium Updates

**AngeloV** · 08-28-2014, 10:50 PM

Originally Posted by ArgoZ

Looks really good. Apparently they are going to make a decision on occupancy Sunday afternoon, which is ridiculous. I am just going to watch on TV, can't be bothered trying to make plans anymore.

Me too..unless the game is moved to the dome on Tuesday....I'm already downtown for work.

**gilthethrill** · 08-29-2014, 05:32 AM

Originally Posted by AngeloV

Me too..unless the game is moved to the dome on Tuesday....I'm already downtown for work.

I think the majority of Hamilton fans will not make the drive to the dome on Tuesday night. Expect THF to be "ready".....good decision Hamilton City Counsel to have the stadium built there....

**ArgoGabe22** · 08-29-2014, 12:03 PM

Anyone else notice Zach Collaros say "We usually pack the Dome pretty good" when asked if a move on Tuesday changes anything. I see nothing wrong with his comments, and it is sadly true but I would sure like to get a good hit on him if I had the chance.

**rdavies** · 08-29-2014, 01:55 PM

The latest on the stadium and a little on the football team too
Drew Edwards The Scratching Post August 29/2014

Ticats' CEO Scott Mitchell seems increasingly confident that Tim Hortons Field will be ready for the Labour Day Classic as scheduled.

“Something would have to drastically wrong for us not to be in there for Monday for kickoff,” Mitchell told TSN radio on Friday morning.

There is, Mitchell acknowledged, plenty of work left to be done at the $145 million facility. City officials said Thursday that the soonest they expect to be in a position to issue an occupancy permit for the stadium is Sunday afternoon — hours before the scheduled start of the game against the Argos, set for 1 p.m. Monday.

Ed VanderWindt, Hamilton's director of building, says a number of tests and inspections still have to take place before the city can sign off, but there's more work to be done before that can happen.

"If all goes according to what I've been told, we'll be ready on Sunday afternoon, but it's up the contractor to finish the work first," VanderWindt said Thursday. "For us to sign off on the project, we need a number of major components completed."

Inspectors tested the fire alarms, sprinkler heads and generators on Thursday, but the installation of guard rails still need to take place. They were slated to be delivered on Friday and installed on Saturday and Sunday.

We don't schedule the games and we don't figure out when the guard rails are done.

"Until they are done, that's going to be the holdup," VanderWindt said.

Paperwork from the various trades also remains a major hurdle, VanderWindt said. Architects, engineers and manufacturers involved in the stadium have to certify their work has been completed in accordance with the design and their specifications in order for the city to issue the occupancy permit.

Mitchell says the team's operational hurdles — meeting the needs of the teams, CFL officials, broadcasters and providing game day staff — have now been cleared.

The Ticats have outlined the three scenarios for the iconic East Division matchup: play the game as scheduled at Tim Hortons Field; move the game to the following night at the new stadium or, if it still isn't ready, play the game Tuesday evening at the Rogers Centre.

A senior official at the Rogers Centre says he could wait as long as Sunday before getting definitive word if the game between the Argonauts and Tiger-Cats needs to be played in Toronto on Sept. 2.

That’s a little later than the Thursday evening timeline put forth by stadium officials earlier in the week.

“We could theoretically wait until the ninth inning of the game against the Yankees on Sunday. It’s not ideal, but it’s doable. We’d like as much time as we can, but we’re trying to be as flexible as possible, given the situation,” Stephen Brooks, senior vice-president of business operations for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre, told the Toronto Star.

If the game is held in Toronto, Labour Day ticketholders will receive a credit toward a future game or a full refund, as well as complimentary tickets to the contest at Rogers Centre.

An official from builder Ontario Sports Solutions said Tuesday there was a "better than 50 per cent" chance the stadium would be ready for Labour Day, while Councillor Lloyd Ferguson pegged the number at 85 per cent on Wednesday.

VanderWindt, however, wasn't willing to set new odds.

"We don't schedule the games and we don't figure out when the guard rails are done," he said. "Once the work is done, we'll issue the permit."

The 24,500-seat stadium was originally slated to be complete by June 30, then in time for the team's home opener July 24. The contractor now expects to turn over a mostly completed facility to the city Oct. 2, but finishing touches could take another month or two.

- with files from Josh Rubin at the Toronto Star.

**rdavies** · 08-29-2014, 01:56 PM

Ticats getting comfy in their new home
Steve Milton The Scratching Post August 29/2014

Second day in and the players no longer seem to be obviously in awe, but their attitude is not one of a team that has managed just a single victory in two months.

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats were almost giddy at Tim Hortons Field Thursday and that can't only be attributed to a 10-day break in the schedule and the return from long-term injury by Zach Collaros, the team's starting quarterback.

There was excess energy during the Cats' second consecutive workout at the Doughnut Box — some of it leading to a spirited fight between a defensive lineman and a series of five offensive linemen — and that's because they can see and feel the future, even if they're not sure that future is now.

Whenever they get in for a real game, the team now has a new practice home and the overwhelming ambience of Tim Hortons Field is taking root. The players aren't chewing on the creature comforts they'll eventually have, because they haven't really seen them yet, but they're already pumped about the stadium assets that will benefit them competitively.

"The stadium looks great," said quarterback Zach Collaros. "It's a fast surface, which is good for us. We're all very excited."

The turf is as smooth as the Bonneville Salt Flats and provides excellent traction despite being soft and easy on the feet. And, veteran Ivor Wynners will notice, there is not the slightest hint of a drainage hump running the length of the field. That creates a sense of greater vastness, as just about every facet of this new building does.

International regulations for the 2015 Pan Am Games soccer tournament have resulted in the walls, which rise 2.6 metres from the field area before the grandstand seating begins, being noticeably farther from the sidelines than at Ivor Wynne. But, quite surprisingly, it is not at the cost of intimacy. The pitch of the stands and the mere height of them, especially on the towering west side, create a cosy, closed-in feeling. And that's without any fans in the seats.

"It doesn't feel like just two open sides," says Ticats coach and general manager Kent Austin. "The south side has that wall and the patio behind it. And on the north side, the two corners are open but then you've got this two-tiered deck under this huge Jumbotron. So in both end zones, there are going to be fans standing above us … the field almost feels sunken."

This makes it even more of a centre of visual attention and, therefore, more intimate. Not Ivor Wynne intimate, but a different kind of intimate, which will have its own impact. You would not, for instance, want to be the first Argonaut who catches a touchdown pass deep in the south end zone, which ends perilously close to the patio wall. There will not be a friendly reception from just two metres above.

One thing longtime Ticats ticket subscribers will notice that might escape players and media is the seating. First of all, it's all seats. There's not a wooden bench in sight. And the chairs are staggered, so that no head is directly in front of the one in the row ahead or behind.

The dominant hue of the stands will initially irk many fans because, other than a narrow band of gold-ish seats running the length of the top of each section, there is no real hint of the primary tenant's iconic colour scheme. Every chair outside of the yellow archipelago is a muted greyish brown.

It's a monochromatic sea but it looks and feels classy, in a gentrified kind of way. It offers no distractions from the stadium's primary visual appeals: the playing field; the scoreboard; the escarpment and the ads, which run the length of the field. Those ads are colour-co-ordinated to match the stadium motif, a new development in Canadian arena advertising.

While the players feel comfortable in all this and have already adjusted just as easily to imminent comfort as they did to the deprivations of Guelph and Mac, they're about to be wowed again on the weekend when they see their locker-room for the first time, Austin predicts.

"It's unbelievable and that's not hyperbole at all," he says. "You have the therapy area connected to the locker-room, connected to the weight room, right across from the players' lounge. The room, the quality, all the detail, the way it's laid out, the convenience for the players. They'll love it."

Clearly, they already do.

**rdavies** · 08-30-2014, 03:52 PM

Courtesy ticats.ca (last week of August/2014)

**rdavies** · 08-30-2014, 03:54 PM

**rdavies** · 08-30-2014, 03:54 PM

**rdavies** · 08-30-2014, 03:55 PM

**argolio** · 08-30-2014, 05:10 PM

Great job with the updates, rd.

**rdavies** · 08-30-2014, 05:49 PM

Well, it's getting near the end for THF. At least now we have a pretty good idea how it will look before the project raps up, likely in the next two months. Here's hoping the final outcome will shut up some of the haterz who have dogged this project. I think it has turned out pretty well, even better than I expected, considering the small budget.

Regina has a pretty sophisticated construction webcam operating now while we wait for the CFL's crowning glory (unfortunately there's a big building in the way, but anyway ...)

Anxiously awaiting the day that I can post updates concerning the Argos' new home.

**Argo57** · 08-30-2014, 06:24 PM

Jealous of all the other teams new facilities, hopefully our day will come soon!!!

**rdavies** · 08-30-2014, 10:29 PM

Sportsnet590 The FAN @FAN590 · 6h

The #TigerCats got the green light from City of #Hamilton for Monday afternoon's #CFL game against the Toronto #Argonauts.

Fan overview for the Labour Day Classic

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have received the following statement from City of Hamilton's General Manager of Public Works Gerry Davis:

"Contractors have advised us that they will be completing all the key construction pieces over the next two days, and getting final sign off this weekend. These assurances give us confidence that the Labour Day game will proceed."

For the bad news, there will be:
No operational elevators and
No access to the club level, suites and upper west stands