Status of Hamilton Stadiums on CFLdb

Status of Hamilton Stadiums

Hamilton Tiger-Cats – Tim Hortons Field

The Tiger-Cats moved into a new stadium on the site of Ivor Wynne Stadium in 2014. Photo galleries of the stadium construction progress can be found on the Ti-Cats Photo Gallery Index page. In 2015, there was still disagreement about the finished state of the stadium and deficiencies in the finished product.

The team announced on July 7th, 2014 that their first 2 regular season games slated for Tim Hortons Field will be played at Ron Joyce Stadium at McMaster University due to the new stadium not being suitable for occupation. The Tiger-Cats played their 2014 pre-season game at Ron Joyce Stadium.

The design for the new stadium was released in Oct. 2012 with demolition starting Dec. 1, 2012 in order to be ready for the 2014 CFL season. The foundational site work was completed at the end of April, 2013 revealing the new stadium layout.

On July 12, 2013 the Ti-Cats announced the stadium would be called Tim Hortons Field and new artist renderings of the finished stadium were released.

Hamilton was part of the greater Toronto area’s successful bid for the 2015 Pan-Am Games. Hamilton was slated to build a minimum 15,000 seat stadium with $102 million in public funds to host track and field events. Limited designs and plans were available of the stadium. While work was underway to confirm the city-selected site, calls for an additional $50 million in private funding to enable expansion of the seating to 25,000 seats were being made. This would allow the city to retire Ivor Wynne Stadium and attract major events like amateur sports, concerts and the Grey Cup. However, the Tiger-Cats expressed that the proposed location did not offer the accessibility and visibility to make business sense for them to move. Business groups worked to propose other locations which would provide the sponsorship revenue and funding to allow a replacement stadium be built.

A facilitator was appointed to work out the differences between the city and football club over the stadium location. His report recommended a new East Mountain site be investigated as the stadium location and Tiger-Cats caretaker Bob Young threw his full support behind the recommendation. After a compromise site was found to be too expensive, a plan to rebuild Ivor Wynne Stadium was put together after the Ti-Cats flirted with a Burlington proposal.

In 2013, the Tiger-Cats played one home game in Moncton as the host team for Touchdown Atlantic 2013. They also served as the host team for Touchdown Atlantic 2011.

Steve Milton provides some history and memories of the old Ivor Wynne Stadium.

The Tiger-Cats played 9 games (1 pre-season, 8 regular season) at the University of Guelph’s Alumni Stadium, expanded with temporary seating from 7,500 to about 13,000 seats in 2013 while their new stadium was being constructed. The remaining regular season game was played at the third Touchdown Atlantic in Moncton, New Brunswick. Construction of the temporary stands at Alumni Stadium began in late April, 2013.

CFLdb Hamilton Tiger-Cat Stadium History and Details

Tim Hortons Field seating chart