The Hamilton Tiger-Cats Football Club and The City of Hamilton are close to announcing their new stadium plan that when implemented will see the old home of the Cats, Ivor Wynne Stadium, located in Hamilton's east end, waiting for the wrecking ball.Glenn Lowson/The Globe and Mail
It's a 25-minute walk from Rankin's Bar and Grill to Ivor Wynne Stadium, a half-hour with a bit of beer-induced lateral motion factored in.
By contrast, it has taken two years for Hamilton city council, fully sober, to find its way to the same stadium as its preferred choice for a 2015 Pan American Games soccer venue - and it still isn't quite there.
Despite a hard Feb. 1 deadline set by Pan Am organizers, councillors voted Wednesday night to take yet more time to study what appears to be their last available option - to refurbish the 81-year-old Ivor Wynne facility - after having rejected five other sites for a brand-new facility.
At stake is more than $100-million in public money set aside for the stadium, and the future of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, upon whose tenancy the venue's future depends.
Ivor Wynne had been initially dismissed in favour of a new facility elsewhere, contingent on support from Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young, who wanted a high-visibility site near a highway. When those hopes were dashed, he looked into moving to nearby Burlington, but that plan, among others, also collapsed, leading back to Ivor Wynne as the planning clock wound down.
Councillors voted to have city staff review the plan's feasibility, a process that will take a dozen officials to pull off in time to meet deadline.
Some demanded assurances that the city would not be left with a long-term financial hangover from the plan, which Mayor Bob Bratina and Mr. Young had revealed in a surprise announcement on Tuesday.
"I want guarantees in terms of what the funding is," said Councillor Brad Clark, who successfully lobbied his colleagues to toughen the language in the motion that eventually passed.
Several councillors registered demands for greater clarity from games organizers, which some complained has been lacking throughout the process. This, they said, made fools of councillors, who appeared indecisive as they considered but rejected site after site as city residents grew increasingly weary and irritable.
"This became the biggest mockery I have ever seen in my life," said Councillor Scott Duvall, who laid some blame with the Tiger-Cats for "negotiating in the media" in a vain bid to get their way.
Ian Troop, CEO of the Pan Am organizing group, was scheduled to make a statement on the decision at 10:30 a.m. Thursday.
Back at Rankin's Bar and Grill, the language remained civil in the hours leading up to Wednesday's council meeting, but there was little sympathy for the politicians.
"It took 50 years to build an expressway in the valley," owner Gary Rankin said. "They just have trouble making decisions."
Mr. Rankin, 67, was incredulous but nonetheless satisfied with the return to Ivor Wynne, where he has held season's tickets for more than 25 years.
As he sipped his beer, retired steel worker Joe Mark, 57, was similarly hopeful.
"I like the idea that they'll re-do the same place," he said. He hoped his council would stand firm this time.
"It might be game over if they drop this one," he said.