CFL commissioner Mark Cohon is warning that if the Tiger-Cats leave the city over the location of the proposed Pan Am stadium, "it will be the end of the CFL in Hamilton."
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/817573The halifax tiger-cats has a nice ring to it...lol
I kid I kid!
The ticats are the soul of Hamilton, and without the tabbies, Hamilton is just another city in southern ontario.
Are you even a fan of the Cats? You wear a lions avatar and have edmonton and calgary helmets in your signature.
I am a CFL fan first and foremost!
I pay money to see good football, be it Hamilton or Toronto....and this past Thursday, Montreal!
I watch every televised CFL game regardless of which teams are playing.
Which team i support is not relevant, but I support them all, as the CFL would not exist without all 8 of them.
Hamilton is just not a city that is high on priorities for the NHL, of course as we know, and the CFL as well, which doesn't surprise me.
Gee, I wonder why? Cohon is doing the right think telling it like it is, agree onknight.
This was needed I am Glad The CFL Lay Down the Gauntlet
Hamilton City All Could it be ???
Mayor Fred Eisenberger -- who supports the west harbour site -- could not be reached for comment, but two councillors were miffed at Cohon's letter. Councillors Bob Bratina and Scott Duvall believed it was inappropriate for the CFL commissioner to weigh in on the issue and also believed it was unnecessary as council may well support the east Mountain site.
Who "got" to Bratina all of a sudden?
A report on the financial viability of both sites is expected to be in council's hands Wednesday, giving councillors a week to study it before they vote Aug. 10.
"The first thing is that when you go to bargain, threats don't work," said Duvall, a former union president. "(The east Mountain) site, we don't even know if it's feasible. We haven't seen the report yet."
This is a stupid statement........there is no bargaining, the Commish is being honest about the CFL's position....a privately owned league which Duvall does not own a piece of.
Mitchell, however, believed it was "absolutely" appropriate for Cohon to send the letter.
"He's got one of his eight franchises that is struggling to get a venue built that is going to allow the franchise to survive and thrive," he said, adding that he was aware of the letter. "I think it was appropriate for him to get involved, particularly in light of comments around town, 'Well, if the Ticats leave, we'll just go and get another team.' That's just not going to happen."
Mitchell is 100% correct
Cohon could not be reached for comment, but is expected to be in town Thursday for a pro-east Mountain stadium rally at Carmen's Banquet Centre.
Duvall said some residents are starting to tell him to support the west harbour site in the face of the Tiger-Cat onslaught because they don't like the city being told "it's their way or no way. People are very, very upset. People are telling me this is ridiculous."
Onslaught?..........well, if he's talking about Mayor Fred, I would agree with the term
Bratina and Duvall also expressed concern the letter may exacerbate divisions over the issue and the Tiger-Cats and the CFL could face a backlash.
And you two would love to lead the charge to get some more face-time....shame!
Bratina said he took Cohon's comments seriously, but said if the Ticats did choose to leave the city over the stadium issue, he couldn't see the league not giving the city another football franchise and said it would "probably go right to the Senate," a reference to Hamilton senator David Braley who owns two CFL teams.
"If this debate was to go nationwide, it wouldn't shed a good light on the Canadian Football League because the city's position is that there is a community building aspect to (this)," Bratina added.
Puhleaseeeeeeeeeee........who "got" to you Bratina?..........the Serbian boys?
Except that Halifax doesn’t have a stadium, no proven CFL fans, and most importantly NO OWNER or anyone in that area that has expressed any interest in owning a CFL team.
With the lack of interest in the CFL in Southern Ontario, I could see one team moving out of here and possibly to Ottawa to maintain the 8 team CFL. Toronto is in terrible shape, 12,000 fans at their first game and 19,000 at their last.
The writing is on the wall for the Bills at Rogers center, you can guarantee over 40,000 will attend an NFL preseason there.
I think Braley would be happy with a suburban team in Mississauga or Oakville.
Cohon is an absolute fool for making this statement.
Realize he makes this statement while a group in Ottawa is pre-approved for their 3rd kick at the can. But if a stadium issue makes a single owner want to leave Hamilton after 140 years....he says that's it....never again.
This is fear mongering at its best. He is supporting one of his owners, which is fine...I just don't like how he is doing it. Making threats (a la Mitchell) doesn't look good during a process like this. He knows the people making the decisions rely on votes for their jobs....so he is attempting to scare as much of Hamilton into agreeing with the EM that politicians will choose the EM because it has now become, after fear is introduced, the site the people want.
I hope these guys are around in 30 years if the East Mountain isn't the financial success that one business seems to think it will be.
Good work Deerhunter I will pass this along to Games CEO Ian Troop. He's got an I-Pad. I guess when Duvall used to hold a gun to his employer head, when he was a union man, that was ok. Duvall will vote east mountain, or suffer the wrath of the 60,000 mountain residents he represents when we go to the ballot box this fall. The west harbour Titanic is going down, with Mayor Fred firmly lashed to the wheel. Glug.
Mikem,
I clearly said I was kidding after jokingly suggesting the cats move to halifax.
Then you post some bogus attendance figures for the argos, who have had 2 home crowds of 20,000. No clue where you got the 12,000 figure, unless you were posting the pre season number.
Then you mention the bills drawing 40,000 at the Rogers centre, when the bills in Toronto series has been a total disaster and hasn't come close to having that type of paying crowd ( some reports saying less than 10,000 paying customers ).
Mikem, if you are going to post, please be factually informed, or don't post at all!
The only reason Hamilton is still getting any events at all from HostCo is because of the hard work by the Tiger-Cats, Michael Fenn, the ORC, and the patience of Games CEO Ian Troop while the legacy stakeholders put forth their vision. I like Bob's vision, the Pan-Am Park with Valodrome downtown and the Soccer stadium with a legacy of excellence in juniour sports like soccer and football is a dream come true for ALL of hamiltons children for generations to come. If Troop likes it, we are good to go.
Why did Cohon decide to come out now?I don't agree with him doing this.
Confidence in your position is why these statements can be made, its clear that the TiCats and their partners have a back up plan in place and IMO will not leave this City and will not fold.
They are simply allowing the City to be the owner of a New Hamilton landmark that they (Bob Young) strongly believes in. If the vote goes WH on the 10th I believe Bob Young and his partners will forge ahead at EM as planed one way or another.
The Ticats are united in their stance while council is not and they are fully prepared to deal with any such backlash because they are 100% confident in their plans and in no way shape or form are they bound my any law to disclose information to any one about their private business intentions.
To much is being read into this and IMHO any one who believes that Bob Young is not committed to those who are fans and those who are not really need to take a longer look at what this means to our City and to our future.
Bob Young's agenda's are clear as a business owner but his love for this City goes beyond that by miles.
The idea was to clean up brown fields and replace IWS a proposal has been but forth that could accomplish both and needs to be studied long and hard.
Or have we all forgotten why this all started?
I would not want to inherit a team at the expense of great fans like Hamilton's.
I have predicted if the mayor kept skrewing around and pulling strings and lobbying for a WH site that this exact situation would result. I've owned my own businesses for close to twenty years (first incorporation I was 18) and I'm telling you guys in particular those who are fans and are pushing for this WH site that the city will lose the team by the end of THIS YEAR.
Mayor Leblanc in Moncton will show the league in September what Moncton is all about and I guarantee you guys that he can put a deal together and for those like Bratina who think he can senators are going to "save anyone" (a joke in itself) save him. The number two guy from the PC party is an avid supporter of bringing a team in the maritimes and is in charge of the ACOA money, that's the same purse that a 800k cheque was written for the September game.
If Fred and the mayor screw this up you will lose your franchise and that will be it. It is clear with the recommendation this week not to fund a stadium in EM with the future fund what the status of the current situation is.
Thinking like this is the reason the Ticats are going to be pushed out of Hamilton.
Two mistakes I think you are making.
First you are making an assumption that Bob over the last five years has no emotional attachment to his staff and his team. I assume you are dead wrong. There may also be a strong desire to fight a group who is trying to railroad him, in business that is a strong motivator…
Second, who says the team would go to Halifax ? It could be sold to the Ottawa group, or Bob could move it to Moncton.
I think you are wrong. I think he intervened because as I Bob Young feels it has already been determined that the city will not finance a stadium in consort with the Ticats. I agree with that thinking. Cohon intervened because this process is at the end of the road and unfortunately most fans don’t understand this.
Yeah, Fred just wants to deal with Katz, that's becoming pretty obvious now, he's basically almost telling Bob to get lost we don't care about you and the TigerCats, I want Katz and maybe an MLS team here. It seems that way to me at least but maybe I'm wrong. Just seems weird what's going on and the lack of communication Fred is doing with the TigerCats.