Can a winning team & increased attendance heal wounds?

Wow, there’s no end to the amount of work you think should be done here, just so long as somebody else does it.

Not at all, I just believe Capt’s got what it takes and strongly and passionately believes in the WH, I offered him to PM me and Id be willing to help any way possible, are you?

Just tryin to save my Cats is all. Sorry

I personally feel the walk up fan will be effected this and all next season if something isn't done to keep the team around. The biggest way to heal wounds now is keep the team around or announce they are building very close by. Anything short of that I don't think winning will help. The mayor has done damage to an already crappy image of the city and Bob has done damage to sports franchise. I wonder how players feel right now about job security etc and how this team will attract free agents to resign or sign next season. I think how Bob anwsers with his future plans will be the tell tale of how wounds are healed. This mess he cause does little to attract new fans. Who knows the wounds maybe unhealable. It is quite possible him stepping down and Mitchell maybe the only way this can be fixed.

Mitchel could be the Fallguy :wink: :stuck_out_tongue:

I’ve seen Kirk’s been in action on that front already!

8) Good one "Cartman" !!! :lol:

great I hope he keeps us posted his passion for the WH is awesome and he should be the one speaking. I can admit defeat in any thing but I cant stand insults to a man who without his 30 million there would be no team or new stadium at all.

Its only fair that a list of ticket holders and supports emerge from the WH down town area that show support for the plan and support to the man whos 30 million made it possible.

Ive read how this is going to do wonders according to many of these folks, if thats true then its time they invested alittle to and help those who have helped them.

8) Yeah, we will help you out now Caretaker they cry out, while we didn't give a rat's ass about helping you or the team,
 right up to last night !!

 Unreal !!

Well, the ball is in Bob's and Mitchell's court. If they want to come to the table, work with the city (who has said they are perfectly willing to subsidize the team and give them back parking revenue on game days) and come to us fans and say "We need to sell x amount of season tickets for next year for us to even have a chance" I'd be happy to double my season ticket purchase next year.

The CFL also could institute revenue sharing to help out the Cats, Bombers and Argos, so the millions of profits the Riders and drawing in, could assist their rivals, instead of saying if one of our owners wants to move from an established market that is over 141 years old, and indeed 1 of only 12 potentially viable markets (of which 8 are spoken for) in Canada, we are never coming back.

The one thing we all agree on is our support of the Cats and you express you views eloquently, justafan. Sorry if I misunderstood your direction. Go Cats!

Come on guys let's get real. There are no businesses downtown that could afford to buy the Cats --- even as a group. The reason P.J. Mercanti and Carmens pulled out of the downtown was because they were losing their shirts down there. A bunch of two-bit downtown businesses couldn't even put enough money together to buy one box. A season ticket maybe. :lol:
The downtown is what it is. Real, successful businesses like Carmens, Ticats etc don't want anything to do with the downtown. No one goes down there to spend money so why would you plan your business model around that location.
Unless, of course, you are the City of Hamilton and have unlimited cash flow from taxpayers who have very little say in how their money is spent.
Saying that however, I do think the WH would be a lovely place to sit and watch my favourite CFL team. But if Bob can't make money I won't be watching them there for long.

No way.

I'm very angry!!!.

I live downtown, I think the potential is huge and I think progress in certain areas has started.

This decision set us back 10 years.

Please someone answer a few questions for me because maybe I'm not too bright and I don't get it;

  1. How can a big concrete structure that will take up most of the land spur development? Development where? There will be no more land to develop. Do we force more people out of there homes and who will pay for this? This stadium will be land locked.

And please don't tell me garbage about development going up a mile away. If your stating that you are either lying or not too bright.

  1. Page 80 of the staff report says that this stadium is not viable without an anchor.

So, let me get this straight, we give our report to HOSTCO where we say this site is not viable and then we say to them please give me your money?

It's the Hamilton way.

I wonder how different things would be if the Cats had a winning record like the Als? Would things have turned out differently? Doesn't part of building a successful sports franchise hinge on being successful? Shouldn't there be some acknowledgement of the fact that a teams difficulties may have a lot to do with what happens on the field... not in a city council chamber?

I've sat through a decade of mediocre play down at Ivor Wynne... the good will of Ticat fans has been tested. And now to dangle the franchise from a string and threaten to leave seems kinda callous. How about winning some football games!

But fans show up to the games. Usually terrible teams see a drop in attendance, but it’s not like there are only 12,000 fans in the stands. The team gets routinely between 22-25,000/game. Performance doesn’t matter if fans still show up.

Look at the Leafs. A terrible, non-playoff team since the lockout ended, yet they have absolutely no financial troubles. Team performance is not always indicative of financial success.

To be honest Blogskee Wee Wee it’s been many a time my buddies and I have been sitting in the stands and hear the attendance announcement and wonder how the heck they came up with the number. They might announce 25 and it looks like you’d be lucky to count 18. (do they count tickets they give away as promotions… I don’t know). The Leafs continually sell out games… the Ticats rarely come close. They do, however, get more bums in seats when they’re successful.

I don’t know how they count tickets, but even if the attendance figures based on what you see seem off, if they sell 24,500, that’s all that matters. It’s not simply about who shows up. I went to a Leaf game two years ago where they said it was a sellout, but I had room all around me. So while all the seats were sold, not all of them were sat in.

I probably shouldn’t have made the Leafs comparison, because that really is apples to oranges, but my point still stands, that despite nearly 10 years of abject failure, the Cats still get a healthy crowd for most games. So the on-field performance, I believe, has little effect on the team’s financial success. It wouldn’t hurt, that’s for sure, but it hasn’t seemed to hurt that bad. Of course, someone who knows more than me could come on here and disprove me, but this is how I see it.

Good call. And understanding that whole dynamic is almost impossible. Think back not too long ago, during the McManus years, when we had successful teams. The good crowds then (save for Labour Day) would be embarrassing today.