Hamilton - Pan Ams Games 2015

[SteelTown]

2015 games chief says permanent velodrome ‘could transform the image of Hamilton’

By KEVIN WERNER, NEWS STAFF
http://www.stoneycreeknews.com/news/article/229316
Feb 09, 2011


Toronto 2015 chief executive officer Ian Troop proposes that any savings from renovating Ivor Wynne Stadium could be used to pay for a permanent velodrome.


“We are looking at our monies,” said Troop in an interview.


“The city should take responsibility (for the cost of the velodrome.) If the stadium is under budget, we could use that for the velodrome.” Hamilton politicians last week approved a motion to ask the federal government for $22.5 million to help cover the cost of a permanent velodrome. It’s the same amount the provincial government kicked in at the last minute to help cover a $25 million funding gap on the $152 million stadium construction. Both governments are contributing $70 million to pay for the stadium.


“I guess it would be nice (to have the federal government provide the money),” said Troop, who recently talked to city officials about the project. “We need to find ways to come up with the money.” He suggested local businesses, or generous residents would help to contribute some money.


Another idea is to sell the naming rights to the velodrome to raise cash.


Troop agrees with a city consultant’s report released last August that recommended building a $25 million permanent velodrome, rather than an $11.4 million temporary facility. A permanent facility would seat 3,500, with the government providing $13.4 million, and the city increasing its share from $5 million to about $5.9 million.

The report recommended the West Harbour as the preferred location for the velodrome.

“I would rather see a permanent rather than temporary facility,” said Troop. “This facility could transform the image of Hamilton. I have always said this could be a real jewel for Hamilton.”

City officials said that a report about the velodrome, including a business plan, will be presented to councillors sometime later in February.


By creating a permanent velodrome, it could have a more important legacy impact on the city than any other Pam Am 2015 facility. Hamilton would become a national centre for cycling, with its history of cycling culture.


“It would help youths embark upon new sports careers,” said Troop. “There is a lot of potential for Hamilton.”

[bluevue]

Do you think the city should be contacting people like Bauer, Harnett, Sydor and Hughes to get them in on the promotion and get their names behind it? I think it would be a good idea...Sydor (although a mountain biker) could promote it from the legacy aspect as well...not to mention, we have some of the greatest trail rides anywhere for mountain biking.

If we could get Harnett involved, maybe Pert Plus (P&G) would throw their name at it....since they have a history in Hamilton already.

Thinking big outside the box. I know most people will oppose the velodrome, but it could be good for Hamilton from a uniqueness for training....elite Olympic training in an city is a good moniker. I don't think it will make us rich, but would be good for sport in general.

Hell...Call Lance Armstrong...his connection to the sport and Hamilton having a major cancer center (his triumphant victory over testiclar cancer) could spark a visit....Yellow wrist bands for all....and a Michelob to wash it down afterward.

You miss 100% shots you never take. Just do it.

[pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce]

Well, one thing's for sure, the City needs to start getting more enthusiastic about having a permanent velodrome. I'm sure that the province would be interested in helping [or would have been prior to the IWS bail-out]. At this point the problem seems to be on our end.

Interestingly, London's Velopark [2012 Olympics] has cost over $150M to date. I wonder what we'd get for $25M?

[SteelTown]

I hope when they build the velodrome it's two storey with an indoor track on the second level much like Braley Athletic Centre. From what I heard this is the plan.

[SteelTown]

Hamilton’s Pan Am chances looking bright

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...looking-bright

Pan Am officials are quietly sending positive signals about the future of Ivor Wynne stadium and a permanent velodrome.

Infrastructure Ontario, the province’s arms-length construction agency, has put out a call to contractors and builders who are interested in bidding on Hamilton’s stadium, the velodrome, and an athletics facility at York University. The document, called a request for qualifications (RFQ), is the first step in the construction process for the 2015 Games.

One of the encouraging elements of the RFQ is the description of the velodrome. Hamilton hasn’t yet learned whether the velodrome will be permanent – the option favoured by both the city and key stakeholders – or temporary. However, the RFQ doesn’t specify that the velodrome is temporary and emphasizes the lasting benefits of building a permanent facility.

“Post-games, the facility will become a significant training component for the Canadian, provincial and local cycling associations as well as supporting community and recreational use,” it reads. “The Velodrome will provide a significant legacy in terms of a new world class cycling facility.”

“It really does appear that the planning is for a permanent velodrome,” said Andrew Iler, president of the National Cycling Centre of Hamilton. “That’s just based on what I’ve seen thus far. I don’t want to jump the gun on anything.”

David Adames, the city’s Pan Am point person, says the city is still working out how to pay for a permanent velodrome. The velodrome was budgeted for $11.4 million in the 2015 Pan Am bid book but another $10 to $15 million is needed to get it up to international standards. There are two indoor velodromes for bicycle racing in Canada. One of them is in London.

“We’re still working on the project to get a permanent facility from a funding perspective,” he said.

Adames says staff will be coming to council with recommendations about locations for the velodrome in March. About 20 sites are currently on the table.

Pan Am officials were unable to comment about whether the city will get a permanent or temporary facility. The RFQ’s specifications state the details of the final project are yet to be determined.

“While the final scope of the Pan Am Games Hamilton Velodrome is still being defined, it should be assumed that the facility will be required to be designed to accommodate … cycling track, necessary sport participant amenities as well as approximately 1,500 and 2,000 temporary seats,” it reads.

TO2015 is expected to issue a statement Tuesday.

If a permanent competition-size facility is built, it will be the only one in North America outside Los Angeles.

The RFQ also includes plans for Ivor Wynne stadium – even though the city has yet to officially hear whether its proposal to renovate Ivor Wynne will be approved by Games officials.

“The new Pan Am Games Hamilton soccer stadium will provide a significant legacy in terms of a new world-class stadium,” it reads. “The soccer stadium will be a renovation of the existing Ivor Wynne stadium that will host Pan Am soccer matches during the 2015 Games.”

The official announcement about the stadium from TO2015 is expected imminently.

[SteelTown]

A push for velodrome upgrade
Pan Am Games organizers want to build permanent structure

THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...odrome-upgrade

The board of directors of the 2015 Pan Am Games is looking at upgrading its Hamilton velodrome to be a permanent, year-round facility.

At the moment, the velodrome is proposed as a temporary facility and would not be a four-season site.

"Toronto 2015, Sport Canada and the City of Hamilton are ‘stretching' for a more lasting legacy, " Ian Troop, CEO of the organizing committee for the $1.4-billion Games, said in a conference call Friday.

Troop said Games organizers and planners are discussing the idea of a year-round, legacy venue because, if built that way, it would be one of only two permanent velodromes in North America. The other is in Los Angeles.

"We are working with our partners with the hope of creating a permanent four-season legacy that will serve the community for years to come, " Troop said.

The Pan Am organizing committee has already budgeted $11.4 million for the track, but creating an international-calibre velodrome will cost more, said David Adames, the city's point person on the file.

It's still not clear how much an upgraded facility will cost over and above the existing budget, said Adames, but the city and Toronto 2015 officials will work together to come up with a strategy for breaching the funding gap.

The Canadian Cycling Association is also involved in the talks and has offered to cover some of the operational costs should the project move forward, he said.

Though the city has yet to pin down a site for the track, Adames said the options still on the table – as many as six – are all located within city limits.

"We're hoping that we'll have a permanent multi-use facility that will be available for community use, " said Adames, noting the importance of accommodating sports other than cycling, such as basketball, volleyball and badminton.

Nonetheless, the central focus is on creating a world-class training facility that Adames hopes could bring the national cycling team to Hamilton from Los Angeles, where it currently trains.

Troop, too, sees the need for a permanent track.

"There is no such facility in Canada. There is no such facility in the eastern United States, " he said.

Because the committee and its partners are still working on funding and facility specifications, Troop said he couldn't put a timeline on a decision.

"I would say we would like to get some things settled in April, " he said.

"I am not going to let timing get in the way of a good decision."

Whether the velodrome ends up being a temporary structure or a permanent facility, the International Cycling Union has already pledged that world championships and other elite cycling events would be staged in Hamilton if the indoor cycling track is built to international standards.

The pledge was made by union president Pat McQuaid in a letter to city council last fall.

The cycling union is familiar with Hamilton after awarding the 2003 Road World Cycling Championships to the city in a rare move out of Europe. It was impressed with the way the worlds were staged and how Hamiltonians responded.

[SteelTown]

The City should make a bid for the world indoor cycling championship. From that the Feds and province would have to give more money for the velodrome.

[djlx2]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

The City should make a bid for the world indoor cycling championship. From that the Feds and province would have to give more money for the velodrome.

I agree 100 percent. I spoke to the City about this multiple times last week. It seemed like they are one hundred percent behind bidding, but got confused about the process.

[TinnitusClock]

Really? It doesn't seem like it should have been hard for them to just make a bid, you contact them and say, "I would like to make a bid." Does this have to do with inability to use telecommunications? Buy a plane ticket? Is this because they're high-density?

[djlx2]

Originally Posted by TinnitusClock

Really? It doesn't seem like it should have been hard for them to just make a bid, you contact them and say, "I would like to make a bid." Does this have to do with inability to use telecommunications? Buy a plane ticket? Is this because they're high-density?

I think the fact that any prior attempts to make bids have been carried out in a horribly miserable fashion might have made it difficult for them. I also think they'd probably gleaned that that virtually all of their difficulties have created solely amongst their closed office with arguments about how much they want a bid somehow knocking them out if they lose it. Yes, they should have turned off that noise, gotten their act together, and focused solely on getting this bid. I don't know why it took them so long, but trust me, last call I made, that's all they're doing in there 24-hours for as long as it takes.

[realcity]

I hope one of those 6 locations is downtown

[djlx2]

Originally Posted by realcity

I hope one of those 6 locations is downtown

This article has a lot of misquotes, I don't know where these reporters got their facts. First, the "6 locations" thing must have been some weird rumor or a misquote. The velodrome wouldn't go anywhere but downtown. I mean, they want cycling championships, for sure, but the reason they're competing for the bid is because of the velodrome, and they only want the velodrome downtown. The three things are wholly interrelated. The city has basically been sitting around for years thinking about how they wished they had a velodrome in downtown and now the championship gives them a chance to do that.

The sudden frenzy they've been going through on the bid has partly to do with the fact that they didn't know there would be an opportunity and I don't think their dimmed brains knew what to do with it. Partly it has to do with now they've been studying downtown like crazy, trying to figure out how to get the velodrome going as fast as possible. "How can we put this into the landscape?" "Where does d-town want it?" "What's the right design?" etc. Hence all of this activity after years of ridiculous torpor has them screwing up all over the place.

I'm really hoping for their sake and downtown's that their bid proposal drafting goes through. We won't talk about how devastated city council will be if it doesn't happen, but building the velodrome is the most important thing, if it does. Another misquote in that article: "temporary." Who said that? They're in it to win it because they want it permanently. "Not a four seasons site"? The city wants that going twenty-four hours a day, nonstop. And so obviously if this does go through, the focus is going to have to be on d-town and what it wants for the velodrome, so we'll need some major surveys.

[SteelTown]

The West Harbour is still the preferred site for the velodrome.

[SteelTown]

Mohawk in the cycle for velodrome

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/ar...-for-velodrome

The city is talking to Mohawk College about the possibility of hosting the Pan Am velodrome.

“We’ve had very preliminary discussions with the City of Hamilton around the possibility of locating the velodrome at our Fennell Campus,” said college spokesperson Jay Robb of the indoor cycling track.

It’s one of the few sites to surface publicly as a possible location for the multimillion-dollar facility. The west harbour – initially proposed for the location of both the Pan Am stadium and velodrome – is still technically designated as the city’s preferred site for the cycling track.

However, Mohawk stresses that it’s still too early to say whether the velodrome will be built on its west Mountain campus.

“No decisions have been made to date on the velodrome, and the ultimate decision rests with the city in consultation with Hostco,” Robb said.

Current plans for the velodrome call for an $11.4-million temporary facility. However, the city hopes to build a permanent velodrome, a facility that’s rumoured to come with a price tag as high as $50 million.

The possibility of partnering with Mohawk College offers new ways for the college to bring some much-needed cash to the project. Plus, it could offer up new avenues for the project to gain more funding from the upper levels of government.

“Partnerships are important,” said Councillor Terry Whitehead, whose west Mountain ward includes the college. “If the variance and the gap can be closed through partnerships, that obviously is advantageous.”

Still, there are questions about how partnering with the college would affect the legacy aspects of the facility. While Pan Am organizers say venues for the 2015 games must have a long-term legacy use for the community, Mohawk says the project must enhance campus life for its students.

“For Mohawk, our number one priority is to have our students benefit from any new capital projects, including a velodrome,” Robb said. “The velodrome has to make sense from the perspective of our students.”

“I’m glad they’re in the fold, but the devil’s in the details — because it has to be in the best interest of the community as well,” said Whitehead.

If Mohawk partners with the city for the Pan Am Games, it will be the second post-secondary education in Hamilton to do so. McMaster University is scheduled to host a training pool for the Games and cover $20 million of the $45-million cost.

However, the scope and details of the training pool at McMaster have yet to be finalized by Games officials. Mac spokesperson Andrea Farquhar said the city has forwarded its plans to TO2015 staff and has yet to hear back.

Mac’s pool, which needs extensive upgrades, is used by community groups during about 70 per cent of its operating hours.

Council was scheduled to hear a staff presentation and location recommendation for the velodrome this past Wednesday. However, that meeting was cancelled because staff said more time was required to finalize the location, cost and scope of the project.

It’s not clear whether the negotiations with Mohawk contributed to that delay.

[SteelTown]

Rumour has it that the COC will announce a bid for 2020 summer Olympics in late July.

[CaptainKirk]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Rumour has it that the COC will announce a bid for 2020 summer Olympics in late July.

Wanna bet, if it's T.O. that any olympic stadium is really a wannabe NFL stadium?

[pEte fiSt iN Ur fAce]

If we could build a decent velodrome, we could play host to some Olympic action! But knowing our luck, Toronto would build something awesome leaving our lame velodrome to rot.

[DC1983]

Oh God this is stupid. If we can't land a third rate international event w/o Toronto's Corporate name behind the bid, what makes these closed-minded old men atthe COC think Hamilton can land THE International Sporting Event to our city? We can't even agree on a NEW stadium!

If TO bid for the 2020 Olympics (which SHOULD be deemed too expensive by Rob Ford if infact he were an actual Conservative; but alas he's actually just an asshole rather than a Conservative).. so wave the words 'NFL Calibre' infront and watch the fat bastard drool!!

[SteelTown]

Rob Ford was a supporter of the 2008 bid.

[SteelTown]

Got a family member hoping to qualify for the 2011 Games (boxing), fingers crossed.

http://www.thespec.com/localprofile/...the-fight-game