Good article here from a Buffalo perspective:
Nice to see such a flattering review of the old barn. The writer summed up IWS quite nicely.
Thanks for sharing the article.
Yup , it was falling apart and was a dump BUT it was our dump .
I always felt there wasn’t a “bad seat? at IWS. Great sight lines from every seat, even the old 2 x 6 benches, numbered in Magic Marker. Washrooms? Not so memorable.
It definitely was our dump . 
Seats (benches) and rows were jammed together . Harold Ballard
added an elevator to the press box but common folk still had to mount the stairs . Our new stadium is
a palace in comparison . I didn’t shed a tear when the stadium was razed . For this Cat fan, newer is
much, much better .
Pat Lynch (I still have fibre glass bits stuck in my a**)
Sure it was dumpy
but after my first game there as a young kid and seeing my favourite dB Harold Woods up close that place seemed magical. I was hooked. Beat the heavily favoured Rough Riders with Condredge Holloway that night (of course they destroyed us the following week but why let that ruin a good memory). I thought all this place needs is a good concourse
IVOR WYNNE had a very rowdy tough atmosphere. Those labour day Argo games were like an Octoberfest drunk fest full of cops and fights on and off the field. That was when the Toronto fans used to come to the games in the thousands and actually cared about the Argos and the CFL.
I am born in Hamilton and have lived in Toronto since 1988 and I can see the interest in the CFL and the Argos dwindling in Toronto every year. They get about 15, 000 fans to games and many of those are people over 50. The under 40 crowd is not into the CFL or the Argos. I recall 45, 000 fans to games at exhibition stadium in the 70’s and 80’ with Terry Greer and Condredge Holloway.
Now , Toronto has a successful NBA team in the raptors that have grabbed the interest of the millenials and genx’ers …The Maple Leafs are still the number one team in town though and the Blue Jays are 3rd…These are all all top notch teams playing in the top league in their sports. Toronto fans expect the top league in the sport and there are more NFL fans than CFL fans .
TFC generates more interest than the Argos in a 2knd rate league.
I think Tennis, Golf, UFC, NFL, American College Basketball and Football and Lacrosse and Rugby draw more interest than the Argos in Toronto.
In Hamilton, the Ticats are the face of the city. Sure they have a revolving door of junior or minor league hockey teams and now have a soccer team but that’s about it.
I like Tim Horton’s field with upgraded seats etc but it sure lacks the rowdy atmosphere of the old Ivor Wynn games. Part of the reason is about 5,000 less seats and less rowdy steel workers. Hamilton is not as much of a Blue Collar town as it was when Stelco and Dofasco employed so many people.
Great article! I saw many great games in Ivor Wynn. Great sight lines, fans close to the field, and besides who can remember the 34-34 tie vs. The Eskies who had Warren Moon and the Ticat coach was Frank Kush.
We saw Ferragamo crash and burn in Hamilton too!
The Ticats all time team being honoured at IWS was amazing too
I miss that old Dump I knew ever spot in that place