Tim Hortons Field | 40m | ? | Complete

[Berklon]

I agree... Hamilton taxpayers shouldn't be subsidizing the Hall of Fame.

IIRC, the HOF is very poorly attended - something like 1 or 2 visits a week. It's obvious there isn't enough interest in it in Hamilton. Let them move it to another city that cares more about it instead of letting taxpayers pay for something they care nothing about.

[ScreamingViking]

Aerial pic of the stadium set up for Pan Am soccer, from a Globe and Mail story: The high cost of Pan Am: What legacy will Hamilton’s new stadium leave behind? (which outlines the saga of completion issues most of us know about from living through it, as well as potential for post-Games lawsuits)

Anyway, nice view:

Source

[thistleclub]

No finished stadium for Christmas
(Hamilton Spectator, Matthew Van Dongen, Dec 23 2015)

Work on Hamilton's never-quite-complete stadium will not wrap up in time for Christmas.

In fact, last-minute fixes could continue until May.

Contractor Ontario Sports Solutions, which was supposed to deliver a completed $145-million stadium about 18 months ago, is still "whittling away" at a list of 68 construction deficiencies as well as recently identified problems covered under warranty, said city facilities director Rom D'Angelo.

The remaining deficiencies — down from an initial list of hundreds of problems — are probably only worth about $75,000 in repairs.

But the city is also still holding back more than $2 million in stadium payments as negotiations continue between the contractor, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and provincial project overseer Infrastructure Ontario over more serious construction disagreements — like alleged obstructed seat views, rooms that are too small, and faulty audiovisual equipment.

D'Angelo said it's possible the contractual tug-of-war could be settled as early as January, but added it's up to Infrastructure Ontario to "sign off" on the finished stadium.

"We've been having a lot of closed-door meetings to that end, in terms of reaching a settlement," he said.

At some point, the city may choose to bring in its own workers to fix remaining issues in the facility, which has been in use since shortly before the Pan Am Games in July. But the original builder has the right to fix identified deficiencies and newer problems until at least May, D'Angelo said.

Coun. Lloyd Ferguson, who chaired the city's Pan Am subcommittee before it was disbanded earlier this year, said he's hoping for a relatively quick resolution to any wrangling over project disagreements.

"I think everyone would have preferred to see this wrapped up much sooner," said Ferguson of the long-delayed stadium project, which the province maintains will not go over budget. "But I'm confident the major issues will be resolved well before next (football) season."


Read it in full here.

[ScreamingViking]

• Video Link
(sorry for the low res)

Even better... if they do finally finish odds and ends by next May, it will be nearly TWO whole years of giving

[SteelTown]

Soccer entrepreneur pitches “bubble” dome for Tim Hortons field

http://www.thespec.com/news-story/62...hortons-field/

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are backing a local pitch to "bubble" Hamilton's outdoor stadium field during the winter.

John McGrane, a former professional and Olympic soccer player, has asked to present his idea for a seasonal soccer dome at an upcoming meeting of the general issues committee.

It's unclear from his letter how much it would cost to install the bubble, but McGrane says in a letter to Mayor Fred Eisenberger there "would not be any city capital" needed for the project.

He also suggests the project would end up giving back $100,000 a year for a "turf replacement fund" for Tim Hortons Field and up to 500 "full field bookings" would be reserved for use by the city's recreation department.

An accompanying letter from Bob Young identifies the Ticats owner as an investor in the project.

"The Dome will also enable our group to develop a soccer academy which is an integral part of our long-term strategy for growing soccer at all levels in Hamilton and our region," wrote Young in the letter now posted online.

The football team, as part of its long-term lease of the stadium from the city, is required to make efforts to bring a professional soccer team to the city and develop youth soccer training opportunities in the coming years.

[SteelTown]

City ponders dome at Tim Hortons Stadium

Hamilton Spectator
By Matthew Van Dongen
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/62...rtons-stadium/

An unsolicited bid to build a winter dome over Tim Hortons Field is key to the long-awaited arrival of professional soccer in Hamilton, city councillors were told this morning.

Retired professional soccer player John McGrane pitched a plan to build the $3.5 million, 90,000-square-foot dome with the help of majority investor and Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young.

McGrane told councillors a long-planned Canadian professional soccer league is about to be announced with a Hamilton team owned by Young. "This (dome) would not go ahead without a professional soccer team as a cornerstone," he said.

Councillors seemed keen on the idea of making the stadium a year-round proposition — but several expressed concern about accepting an unsolicited, noncompetitive bid without exploring other options.

Owners of existing indoor soccer fields told councillors there isn't enough local demand to handle another large facility. "That represents a 40 per cent capacity increase in the current market," said Tasha Mazza-Kelton of Player's Paradise. "As a collective group, we all have prime time availability (for field rentals)."

If council decides a dome is necessary for a new professional team, the city should go forward with a competitive request for proposals, added Duncan Macintosh, who owns Soccer World Hamilton. "We would consider participating in that kind of process," he said.

A representative from a rival dome builder also urged the city to build, own and operate the dome itself. "The city would have the best interest of Hamiltonians at heart," said Adam Archer of air dome maker Broadwell.

McGrane said he understood the concerns of other dome owners, but added he doesn't view the proposed field bubble as a competitor. "We have a different business model," he said, pointing to the use by professional teams like the Ticats and proposed soccer team.

He also suggested if he wanted to build a for-profit dome that relied more on community players he would choose a higher-income area of Hamilton.

Councillors asked staff to come back with a report on how the city could pursue a winter dome for the stadium as well as the lease implications with the Tiger-Cats.

[christmas]

Is construction underway for revitalizing Scott Park?

[christmas]

Here's the proposal for the school next to Scott Park. Didn't know in which thread this should go..

http://www.hwdsb.on.ca/revitalizatio...hool-Flyer.pdf

[thomax]

Originally Posted by christmas

Is construction underway for revitalizing Scott Park?

Not yet, it is still in the planning stages. There's more info and renderings in this thread ---> Pan Am precinct

[christmas]

Originally Posted by thomax

Not yet, it is still in the planning stages. There's more info and renderings in this thread ---> Pan Am precinct

Awesome! Thanks so much thomax!

[thomax]

Originally Posted by christmas

Awesome! Thanks so much thomax!

No problem

[thistleclub]

Tim Hortons Field to remove speakers as one plummets 30 metres
(Hamilton Spectator, Steve Milton, June 8 2016)

The city is removing the speakers lining Tim Hortons Field after one of them fell more than 30 metres to the ground.

Reports say inspection of the speakers around the stadium found them to be faulty.

Scott Mitchell, CEO of the Ticats, confirmed that a speaker had fallen. He referred other questions to the city.

Mitchell says that "there will be sound, absolutely," for next Friday's pre-season home game against the Ottawa Redblacks, "and the goal is that the fans wouldn't notice any difference. We'll have to see exactly what the situation is.

"It's a city facility and we will defer to the city to make sure everything's being taken care of."

Mitchell said that the Tiger-Cats have continually been sinking money into the stadium — including remedying some sound system shortcomings--- in order to make the game-day experience more viable and pleasant as the various parties involved argue about who will pay for the hundreds of deficiencies in the stadium construction.

"The reality is that we've spent millions of dollars to continue to address the deficiencies toast quite frankly the average fan doesn't see, because of the investment we continue to make," Mitchell said after Wednesday's Tiger-Cat practice at McMaster's Ron Joyce Stadium.

"We've augmented and mitigated some of the concerns around the audio system the past couple of years: things like the LED board. And there are various things we've had to invest in while the city deals with the issues with Infrastructure Ontario and ONSS.

"Our commitment to the fans is to have this incredible experience that we consider to be the best in North America and in order for us to deliver that through this process it's a major, major investment and this is another example of that as we continue to move forward.

"If there's issues with the audio visual system, which there are obviously are, we'll invest against that in order to make sure that the fan experience is exceptional.

We'll have to see what's impacted exactly, but what we can say for sure is that if it is impacted we'll continue to invest and mitigate the deficiencies.

"The goal would be that the fans wouldn't notice. But we can tell you that there are a lot of things that the fans haven't noticed that have cost us millions of dollars to address."

[thomax]

Just saw this on twitter...

@TheGeneratorCa - Big concert @TimHortonsField this summer, to be announced soon! #HamOnt

[NortheastWind]

Pink Floyd ??

[SteelTown]

City and Ticats reach tentative settlement in Tim Hortons Field stadium lawsuit
The lawsuit stems from construction delays and ongoing problems with the stadium after it opened.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilt...city-1.4667955

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats have tentatively settled a lawsuit with the province and city over Tim Hortons Field Stadium over who should pay the team damages for construction delays and months of problems with the stadium after it opened.

CBC News learned Thursday that the team has settled its two-year, multimillion-dollar legal dispute with the city, Infrastructure Ontario, the 2015 Toronto Pan Am organizing committee and the consortium that built the stadium.

Details of the settlement were not revealed.

It's considered tentative, city hall sources say, because while the essential issues have been resolved, the remaining sticking point is how the settlement will be conveyed to the public in the coming days.

The Ticats sued after the stadium opened months late in 2014, forcing the team to play elsewhere for part of the season. The stadium has been fraught with malfunctions since then, and the city is still doing repairs.

Infrastructure Ontario oversaw the stadium construction, and hired the Ontario Sports Solutions consortium to build it. The city only took ownership when construction was substantially complete.

The city and Infrastructure Ontario all filed their own court actions in 2016. The city's claim asked for $35 million in damages for breach of contract, negligence and misrepresentation when it came to the planning, procurement, design, construction, project management and other aspects of the stadium. Of that, $14 million in damage awards would be passed on to the Ticats.

A settlement would be good news for local soccer fans, who have wanted to see a professional soccer team at the stadium for years. In the fall, city council swore off soccer talks with the Ticats until the lawsuit was settled.

The Ticats signed a stadium lease with the city in 2014, and that included a one-year rights for a pro soccer team. Last May, Ticats owner Bob Young announced that Hamilton would be a founding city for the new Canadian Premier League (CPL).

In September, someone filed trademarks for the Hamilton Steelers and Hamilton United. The proposed league is a Tier 1 FIFA-sanctioned league.

CBC is pursuing comment from the city and the Ticats.

[drpgq]

Well at least we can bid for a Grey Cup now.

[mishap]

CHML covered the stadium lawsuit debacle last year. There are some interesting twists in the suit.
Firstly, the Ticats didn't want to sue the City, but they can't sue the Province, as they they never dealt directly with the Province. So the Ticats had to go through the City, who in turn had to pursue the Province for restitution.
The City then enforced a policy where they will not undertake any new business with a party they are "battling" in court. So that meant no discussions on a soccer team with the Ticats, even though the City was not the intended target of the suit. And even though the soccer team would be a sister organization of the Ticats, not the actual litigant.
Yet while the City was ignoring the soccer talks and suing an agency of the Province (the stadium group), they were eagerly talking LRT plans with another agency (Metrolinx). When questioned about this hypocrisy on CHML, one councilor said, "that's not the same thing." By that, I guess he means that only one is a big freebie for the City.

[Berklon]

Originally Posted by drpgq

Well at least we can bid for a Grey Cup now.

I suspect we still aren't going to bid on the Grey Cup.

[ScreamingViking]

Originally Posted by mishap

CHML covered the stadium lawsuit debacle last year. There are some interesting twists in the suit.
Firstly, the Ticats didn't want to sue the City, but they can't sue the Province, as they they never dealt directly with the Province. So the Ticats had to go through the City, who in turn had to pursue the Province for restitution.
The City then enforced a policy where they will not undertake any new business with a party they are "battling" in court. So that meant no discussions on a soccer team with the Ticats, even though the City was not the intended target of the suit. And even though the soccer team would be a sister organization of the Ticats, not the actual litigant.
Yet while the City was ignoring the soccer talks and suing an agency of the Province (the stadium group), they were eagerly talking LRT plans with another agency (Metrolinx). When questioned about this hypocrisy on CHML, one councilor said, "that's not the same thing." By that, I guess he means that only one is a big freebie for the City.

I don't see the hypocrisy here -- the issue of Pan Am infrastructure is very separate from the Regional Transportation Plan (under which the LRT is still in play politically, at both the provincial and municipal levels... despite all of the city council votes for it and the province's/Metrolinx's advancements)

[realcity]

Tim Hortons field is crap