Milton TigerCats? Its Possible & Here’s How

ByMike Cluett

Aug 10, 2010

Town Of Milton Should Pursue Pan Am Stadium and Tiger Cats CFL Franchise

The City of Hamilton and the Hamilton Tiger Cats franchise are embroiled in a controversy that might result in the beloved CFL franchise to leave Hamilton forever. 

At the heart of the dispute is the location of the stadium to be constructed for the 2015 Pan Am Games, a stadium that would end up being the home of the Tiger Cats franchise.  Caretaker Bob Young, successful Hamilton businessman and the person responsible for bringing the Ti Cats back from the brink of bankruptcy over the past several years, wants to build a stadium on an east mountain location in Hamilton.  By having the stadium there, it would be able to locate a state of the art facility as well as much needed parking that their current location at Ivor Wynne doesn’t allow for. 

The City of Hamilton wants to locate the new stadium at the west harbour location of Hamilton near Barton and Bay Street.  For several months now there have been negotiations between the City of Hamilton and the Tiger Cats franchise to come to a solution and none has been met.  Yesterday, the owner of the Tiger Cats Bob Young, issued a letter saying that seeing how they can’t come to a resolution on the location, he notified the Mayor and City Council that they will play out the remainder of this season and 2011 and find another location, possibly outside Hamilton.

The Tiger Cats have been a part of Hamilton for over a hundred years and this would deal a severe blow to the local economy.  Both sides seem steadfast in their ideas and it looks like the Tiger Cats CFL franchise will be looking for a new home.  Personally as a Tiger Cats fan for many years, it would be heart breaking to see them move to other locations including Quebec or Moncton NB.  I would like to provide the Tiger Cats owners and the Pan Am officials a backup plan…a plan that can work for all parties involved.

This is where Milton comes in.  The Town of Milton has the available land to house such a facility available for Pan Am officials and the Tiger Cats to consider.  There are many benefits for all parties involved to consider Milton as a viable location for the Pan Am games AND becoming the new home for the Tiger Cats Franchise.  The potential location would be on the west side of the 401 Industrial Park in Milton.

By having it there the games and the franchise have easy highway access to Toronto (45 minutes) downtown Kitchener / Waterloo / Cambridge (30 minutes) and residents of Hamilton as well (30 minutes)

Here’s how it can work.

Why Milton as a Pan Am Games partner? 

  • Willing host
  • Proposed site could be easily rezoned for stadium purpose
  • Located 20 to 40 minutes from all other Pan Am Games venues
  • Located on west side of Greater Toronto Area
  • Located 20 minutes from Pearson International Airport
  • Proposed stadium site is located on with easy access to Highway 401, North America’s busiest superhighway
  • Proposed site alongside Highway 401 would make it highest visibility Pan Am venue in Canada
  • Located 20 minutes from Q.E.W. and 10 minutes from Highway 407
  • Located in an area with more than six million Ontarians
  • Well supported by local hotels, restaurants, general goods merchants and service industry; high-quality municipal services, well-trained workforce
  • Easy media access

Why Milton as a Hamilton Tiger-Cats partner?

  • Willing host
  • Most Milton CFL fans are Hamilton Tiger-Cat supporters
  • Proposed site could be easily rezoned for stadium purpose
  • Proposed site still reasonably close for many current seasons’ ticket holders to commute to
  • Proposed site alongside Highway 401 would make it highest visibility CFL stadium in Canada
  • Located 20 minutes from Pearson International Airport
  • Located on and easy access to Highway 401, North America’s busiest superhighway
  • Located 20 minutes from Q.E.W. and 10 minutes from Highway 407
  • Located in an area with more than six million Ontarians
  • Well supported by local hotels, restaurants, general goods merchants and service industry; high-quality municipal services, well-trained workforce
  • Easy media access

 Why west side of 401 Industrial Park?

  • Proposed site could be easily rezoned for stadium purpose
  • Located 20 minutes from Pearson International Airport
  • Located on and easy access to Highway 401, North America’s busiest superhighway
  • Located 20 minutes from Q.E.W. and 10 minutes from Highway 407
  • Located in an area with more than six million Ontarians
  • Well supported by local hotels, restaurants, general goods merchants and service industry; high-quality municipal services, well-trained workforce

I talked directly with Milton Mayor Gord Krantz early this morning, he will be directing town staff and the economic development department to work on getting a preliminary proposal prepared for review and possibly present to the Pan Am officials and the Tiger Cats franchise.  The Town of Milton is no stranger to the Pan Am committee as just recently they were involved with other municipalities to look at Milton being an option to have locations for the Pan Am games in 2015.

Milton has been Canada’s fastest growing municipality for the last 3 years and will be the “go to” location for businesses from around the region, the province and the country.  We have the ability to take on something like this and put Milton further on the map.

Nothing is written in stone but the play has been called and the time clock is running.  Can a Hail Mary save the Tiger Cats franchise and keep it in southern Ontario or will an icon in Canadian sports history be forever lost.

Stay tuned, this will be a fun ride.  I’ll see you at the doors.

21 thought on “Milton TigerCats? Its Possible & Here’s How”

  1. Interesting read. I would hope it doesnt come to relocating my TigerCats but if it comes down to a choice between Quebec or Milton, Im all for Milton.

    Keep the Cats in HAMILTON.

    Justin,

    Im all for it! I along with Mayor Krantz have said from the beginning that our desire is to keep the Cats in Hamilton where they belong. But if all else fails, we want them to take a serious look at Milton! So far the responses from Miltonians have been very supportive! – Mike

  4. THAT would be amazing. The PAN AM games AND a CFL Franchise in Milton?

    I am soooooo on board with that.

  5. YES! Bring it on. Pan AM games OR the CFL.

    Mike, you should run for Mayor on this platform!

    Ryan,

    Let me get on council first before plans are made for that job! HA. – Mike

  7. Hamilton City Council voted tonight for the west harbour deal. They don’t have a tenant in the Cats so…plan B. Bring em to Milton.

  9. The free land to build a stadium is a negligable cost. It’s the cost of building the stadium/maintaining/etc. that is the real cost. This will most likely not happen, on the grounds that you are asking a small growing city like Milton, to use potentially highly profitable industrial lands to spend over a hundred million dollars(of the tax money they don’t have, the only reason Hamilton can even afford this is because of the Future Fund) on a stadium with no economic benefit to the community.

    No city will cater to Bob Young’s demands, most stadiums are built by the team on terms of a loan, and the community has a say in where it goes. If he can find somewhere that can, I say go for it.

    Bottom Line a small town with a Population of roughly 60,000 does not generate the revenue necessary to build and sustain this. If they do, the town of milton will become an economic sink hole that no business wants to invest in because property taxes are far too high.

    Thanks for the comment. Thing is, its not just the population of Milton thats at hand here. Its the 2 1/2 million people just east of us in that little town called Toronto and to the west of Milton is the tri Cities Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge. Not to mention the half million people in Hamilton. Its never about the town youre in, its about whats around you as a base for growth. Right now at Ivor Wynne theres 10,000 headaches to go through in order to get in and get out of the area before and after a game. The west harbour will have those same issues. The east Hamilton mountain location wouldnt have that.

    You mentioned profitable industrial land…the land were talking about (approx 3 different locations) are already zoned for these kinds of uses in preparation for soccer fields and other sports entertainment facilities. So its good to go.

    Cost, I agree, it will be a lot and nothing is written on paper yet. No proposals, no business plans, just some good ideas. Milton has been Canada’s fastest growing municipality for 3 years running and will continue to grow. More over the town is willing to look at the options Bob Young wants. He makes money with what he does, thats why hes successful (outside losing money on the Cats franchise) because running it at Ivor Wynne is a money pit.

    I think its a viable option for Bob Young, the TigerCats and the Pan Am bid. We just want to be the first to be considered should anything happen and Hamilton leaves. We all want the Ticats to stay in Hamilton first…but in case they dont, theres a home for them in Milton, ON. – Mike

  10. whattheFever, you’re dead wrong about stadiums being built by the team. All professional stadiums are built with funding from all levels of government simply due to the astronomical cost. The federal & provincial governments were prepared to kick in $28.5 million apiece for the stadium in Hamilton. If that money goes toward a home for Cats in Milton, so much the better. Yes, the city will have to kick in some of their own money, but the CFL has committed to bringing 2 Grey Cups within the first 10 years for a new stadium in Hamilton. If those Grey Cups are held in Milton instead, they will generate $100 million EACH in revenue for the city of Milton. I’d say that’s worth it.

  11. I saw the news on CHCH and both Mike and Mayor Krantz looked good talking about moving to Milton. I still cant beleive Mayor Gord is still there….why dont you take him on Mike? LOL

    Perhaps when Gord retires, Mike can run for Mayor after he brings the Ticats to MILTON!

    GO CATS!

  12. For Eisenberger & his naive supporters that think Bob Young was just bluffing and has nowhere to take his CFL team…

    Take note Ian Troop….

  14. Sign us up for 4 season’s tickets.
    We already have a new puppy, his name is “OSKEE”

    Joe and Joe and the “New Box J Boys”

  17. As a 25 year seasons ticket holder, I’ll go to Milton in a heartbeat. Help get the Cats out of this deadbeat (Ham-ill-ton) town!!! Tell the Mayor and his councillors to jump in the bay!!!

  18. Ha-Milton Ticats does sound good.
    I had heard that Burlington/Halton was a possible new home for Bob and the boys (Aldershot lands) but Mayor Krantz and Milton?? Eggs-celent! I’m right behind this, and the “yolk’s” on Hamilton.
    Besides, Quebec City is too far to go to watch my Ticats play.

  19. They would need increased GO service to Milton big time. Right now it’s just limited. 7 days a week from Hamilton/Burlington and Toronto and late night service.

    William,

    I agree. There would have to be a LOT of co-operation between all levels of government in order to get this done. GO train service would be key to helping the situation. Milton has a transit system in its infancy and that would have to be revamped as well. As I told people, there are about 16,872,362,901 things that would have to be discussed and finalized. We just wanted to let the team know there was some interest from the fastest growing municipality in Canada. Thanks for your comment. – Mike

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