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Hamilton is developing a list of venues it wants constructed for the Pan Am games:
Hamilton setting Pan-Am priorities
Four venues on the table today
January 12, 2009
John Kernaghan
The Hamilton Spectator
[i]It's getting closer to crunch time in terms of Hamilton's Pan American Games role, the point where city councillors will have to make some big financial decisions.
That will be set up by today's report to the city's committee of the whole. It identifies four venues Hamilton could submit to the Toronto 2015 bid bosses, and asks for council's direction so staff can report back next month on financial implications of winning new and improved facilities in the bid process.
The facilities are:
* A 24,000-to-27,000-seat stadium to replace decaying Ivor Wynne Stadium. It would have a 400-metre track, 400-metre training track, retail space and training space indoors, as well as perhaps house The Canadian Football Hall of Fame.
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A 50-metre pool that Toronto 2015 has earmarked for Hamilton as a training facility.
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An improved Copps Coliseum to house volleyball.
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A permanent velodrome, if the bid board decides on that option versus a temporary venue, to build on Hamilton's legacy from the 2003 world road championships.
The report, prepared by Tourism Hamilton executive director David Adames and to be presented by Tim McCabe, general manager of planning and economic development, identified four possible areas to house a stadium.
It listed the West Harbourfront, East-end Gateway at Confederation Park, downtown Hamilton and the airport lands.
If the $1.8-billion Games were won and Hamilton was awarded the four venues, 70 per cent of the capital costs would be handled by the provincial and federal governments, the remainder by Hamilton. But the city would receive credits for any land donated to house the facilities. The province has agreed to cover any cost overruns. And the Hamilton Tiger-Cats might contribute to the stadium bill.
Toronto 2015's bid book, a detailed blueprint of how a regional Games spanning the Golden Horseshoe would be staged, must be submitted by late April, in a competition that includes Lima, Peru, and Bogota, Colombia. A decision on the 40-nation showcase is expected next fall.
jkernaghan@thespec.com905-526-3422[/i]