Ok, so IWS isn't as fancy as the Rogers Centre and doesn't have anywhere near the number of events. But doesn't it deserve it's own website? Copps has it's own. More events there than IWS but still. Maybe this is a dumb thread, I can buy that, but just wanted to point this out anyways.
Hey Earl:
Ivor Wynne isn't worth a thread. It's a relic that's seen better days.
Yeah, it's only been voted best football stadium in the country how many times? I'd much rather have the Argo-Dome where the atmosphere sucks unless you're winning football games.
I'd take any football venue in Canada over Ivor Wynne. If it weren't for the decrepitness of this stadium, I'd remain a season ticket holder.
This would be a good time for the team and the fans to approach the city candidates who are up for election to beg, borrow or steal some money and get us a decent stadium.
Ya lets get the city to build a big stadium like the rogers centre.............Than when we have 28,000 fans at a game the stadium looks empty...
IWS is the best football stadium in this country,I love going to games and being so close to the field.....
So what if the stadium is old it still holds alot of history......
Leave the stadium alone
35,000 with same design would be perfect.
or some sort of extension if thats possible,
i'm sure that the endzone seats would work, perhaps connecting them to the north side stands. that'd give us something...
perhaps even an expansion on the south side stands as well, making them go a bit higher.
The thing with Copps & Rogers Centre is that they are venues with the amenities necessary to stage a great deal of diverse events. IWS has amenities for amateur sport & the Tiger-Cats; the latter questionably. It has no selling value otherwise. With nothing to sell, no website.
IWS does indeed have the sightlines to be the best football stadium to actually watch the game. For many fans, myself included, this is all we need. But for the organization itself & to grow the appeal of the club in the future, the Cats will ultimately need to move.
It makes sense too. It would be better, even if the city remained as the main proprietor to have a venue capable of hosting more events for a higher attendance capacity than Copps.
Things like club & international sporting events, larger scale conventions, exhibitions & trade-shows.
For the Tiger-Cats having more infrastructure to attract business groups & sponsorship dollars to the club would probably help over the 10 or so existing tents & 10 boxes along with the Hall-of-Fame club. I'm no so sure how visible those sideline ads are behind all the players at IWS when at other stadia, they're prominently displayed & visible to TV cameras on both sidelines. Thus advertisers would likely pony up more than for what Ivor Wynne can show.
As much as Copps is antequated with respect to its ability to house a permanent NHL team, it still posesses the features to sell itself beyond only amatuer sport & the AHL. IWS does not.
I love the place, but I only wish the club's welfare was supported with a modern venue. Its not out of the imagination to think such a place could retain the look & feel of IWS.
An idea that if the city was smart years ago would have been, instead of building Copps, they should have built a football/soccer only stadium with a retractable roof, world class, seating 40,000-45,000, which also had the capabilities for an ice surface for some really big ice events. Imagine the shows and events we could have got here, combined with the fact that the Cats would have had a new home with the Hall of Fame inside the stadium. And soccer friendlies involving the big European teams.
But no, our great city hall here said we are going to get an NHL team. Actually, they thought small with thinking about an NHL team, they could have had more - and ended up with not a lot. The AHL, good hockey but not what they were looking for.
Earl are you joking? A 45 000 seat, retractable, football/soccer/hockey stadium, built over 10 years ago in Hamilton? What do you think the cost of that would be? 500 million plus. We would just end up like Toronto paying taxes on this stadium until a corporation with buy the building for a fraction of the price.
No thank you.
ah, I'm sure you have a point whoknows. The cost would have been far too high for sure. But imagine, just imagine, not saying it ever would have been profitable I suppose but the possibilities could have been almost endless for the types of events such a place could attract.
but think about how much cash flow the concrete pimple brings to Toronto with concerts, MLB, CFL and (formerly) NBA games. even an exhibition NFL game or two. Not to mention Concerts.(although i’m not sure how many have been there lately… )
there is a lot of revenue coming into TO because the Skydome/Rogers Center is there. a lot of people can thank its presence for their livelihoods.
mention skydome and everyone automatically thinks “600million”
do many people think of the parking lots in the surrounding area? the hot dog vendors? the added tourism added revenue for small businesses and restaurants.
Ivor Wynne (as great as it is for football) can’t make the same claims, except for during a 20-24 week period in the summer-late fall.
Ivor Wynne Stadium has more than seen it's day. I don't subscribe to the idea of building a new stadium that will have a capacity of 45,000 with a retractable roof. We're not in Toronto's class, nor will we ever be in this lifetime anyway.
I would like to see a stadium with proper seating and leg room that holds about 35,000 fans, but is expandable, when necessary to 45,000 or more.
This has been done in the past with moveable bleacher seating as the occasion warranted.
Such a stadium should be buiilt in an area with ample parking and business growth potential, restaurants, bistros, entertainment, etc; something this city seemingly knows nothing about.
The monies for such a project would have to come, for the most part, from business investors (such as Rogers, Bell Telephone, Dofasco, etc). The Hamilton and surrounding area taxpayers would have to do their share as well to foot what I'm sure would be an enormous bill. A very big task, but definitely feasible with the right kind of leadership.
Ivor Wynne DOES have some of the best site lines in the country, but the party's over.
It doesn't even remotely meet the standards of professional sports venues anymore.
This election would be a good time for DiIanni and company to get off their collective asses and do something positive for the city. The rewards would come later, but, to be sure, they definitely will come!
if hamilton got a new 40,000 seat football stadium, don't u think season attendance would jump for a few years....and stay high if the team is winning?
i mean, the ticats, who have stunk, still draw close to 30,000 per game...imagine a winning team in a NEW stadium...they'd get 40,000 per game for sure.
All I'm saying is that with a bit of thought and foresight, building Copps Coliseum as such maybe shouldn't have been done. If the city built it with the thinking that they would get an NHL team automatically at the time, they were wrong. And these are not the types of mistakes in judgements that should be made.
Right on, drummergod, and don't forget, football would make up only one aspect of the entertainment that could be viewed in such a facility. If done right, the possibilities here would be limitless.
I think such a project would have to take place over a period of years, starting of course, with the stadium itself, but leaving room for expansion in seating and other add ons as finances permit. (Perhaps, one day, even a retactable roof).
If the city could get enough corporate sponsorship on line, this task would not be out of line at all.
This city has a penchant for thinking "small", hence they wind up with little or nothing with most of their projects.
We need leadership that isn't afraid to think "Big". (The kind of leadership you might get from Mel Lastman or Hazel McCallion).
You reap what you sew and we've been reaping crap for years in Hamilton.
A proper venue would likely attract more talent to the city as well, whether it be in football or elsewhere.