Commissioner of the Canadian Football League Mark Cohon commented, “Congratulations to the City of Hamilton, Toronto 2015 and the Tiger-Cats on completion of the stadium project plan. As a league, we're very excited that the Tiger-Cats will be the anchor tenant in a wonderful, brand new facility, beginning in 2014.?
"An intimate but modern new venue promises the best of both worlds: the sight lines and proximity of Ivor Wynne plus the comfort and convenience many of today's consumers expect. A stadium of this size can be expanded through the use of temporary seating, paving the way for us to work with the community and the team to bring Grey Cups back to Hamilton, and all the excitement and economic benefits they consistently deliver," added Cohon.
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CALGARY -- The economic impact assessment of the 2009 Grey Cup Festival was released today by Tourism Calgary. The festival, featuring a number of events leading up to the 97th Grey Cup game, ran from Nov. 26 to Nov. 29, 2009 in Calgary, Alberta.
The four-day festival saw over 121,000 fans in attendance with 46,020 attending the Grey Cup Classic at McMahon Stadium. An estimated 32,000 fans in attendance over the course of the festival were from out-of-region, and their spending, in combination with expenditures made by the 2009 Grey Cup host committee totaled $35.3 million. These expenditures generated an estimated $81.0 million in economic activity for the province of Alberta, of which $61.0 million occurred in the city of Calgary. The total net economic activity (GDP) generated by the event was $39.5 million throughout Alberta, with $28.4 million occurring in the city of Calgary.
Considerable tax revenues were also supported by the event, totaling $13.0 million. Federal tax revenues of $7.3 million were supported by the event, while also supporting provincial tax revenues of $3.7 million and municipal revenues of $2.1 million, of which $1.8 million were in the city of Calgary.
A survey, conducted by EventCorp, found that the 32,000 out-of-region visitors stayed over for an average of 3.6 nights in Calgary. Of this group, 20,000 used commercial accommodations and collectively spent $4.3 million on lodging. Excluding on-site spending at the game, the survey found that the aggregate spending in the Calgary area by out-of-region visitors was $28.8 million. A total of $5.1 million was spent in restaurants and bars, $3.3 million in food and liquor stores and $3.1 million was spent in retail stores. Personal vehicle expenditures totaled $2.6 million while $1.6 million was spent on transit and for-hire transportation. Net expenditures on Grey Cup souvenirs reached $3.4 million while $2.4 million was spent on other types of recreation and entertainment. Total spending on other festival-related activities at the Grey Cup reached $3.1 million.[/b]
"Do the Tiger-Cats hope to host a Grey Cup in the future?
The Tiger-Cats are working with the City of Hamilton on a business case with the goal to hold multiple Grey Cups in the future. The new stadium will be expandable to host a Grey Cup."
The only problem with Hamilton hosting a Grey Cup is a lack of hotel space for the 20 to 25,000 fans coming from outside of Hamilton. A large part of the economic spin-offs would likely be lost, if the fans are staying in a Toronto or Niagara Falls hotel and not spending money in Hamilton hotels and restaurants.