As I stated in this blog recently and in the Hamilton Spectator last week, the 2015 Pan Am Games committee has chosen Milton as the desired location for the velodrome. The City of Hamilton couldnt get a deal finalized after being part of the process for a couple of years and didnt get the job done.
MPP Ted McMeekin said recently that Hamilton is “too late to recoup the velodrome.”
Recently Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina made comments that a silent funder had come forward to see if they can get one last chance to get the velodrome back to Hamilton, but that was once again shot down by Mr. McMeekin this week.
The Town of Milton has been chosen as the location of the velodrome pending approval by Milton Town Council. There is one more report to review and that is slated to be before us by January 23rd at an upcoming meeting. We have until the 24th to sign a binding agreeement with the Pan Am committee and we are awaiting the receipt of that report.
Here is the artcile from the Milton Canadian Champion/Hamilton Spectator by Matthew Van Dongen
Hamilton too late to recoup velodrome: McMeekin
Hamilton can’t buy its way back into the Pan Am velodrome race with mystery millions, says Liberal cabinet minister Ted McMeekin.
Sources told The Spectator last week a private corporation is willing to make a multimillion-dollar commitment to a permanent indoor cycling oval in Hamilton — even though Pan Am officials recently announced Milton as the facility host.
Milton has until Jan. 24 to sign a binding agreement to help fund the facility, which could cost up to $45 million.
“I guess if it doesn’t work out in Milton, everything is back on the table,” said McMeekin, the Minister of Agriculture and MPP for Ancaster-Dundas-Flamborough-Westdale. “But the Pan Am people have been pretty clear Milton has been selected as the (velodrome) site. Clearly, the Pan Am people have moved on.”
Unless Milton backs out, McMeekin said he didn’t know how new mystery funding could help Hamilton’s cause “after the horses have left the barn.”
Hamilton was originally the preferred site for the cycling venue, but lost that status after Pan Am officials rejected the city’s $5 million offer towards building costs. A local fundraising group has continued collecting pledges and lobbying government to build in Hamilton and, in a recent year-end radio interview, Mayor Bob Bratina cited a deep-pocketed “prospective partner” for a local velodrome.
The mayor of Milton figures that effort is too little and too late.
“Where was that interest a few weeks ago? Seems pretty late in the game,” Gordon Krantz said of Hamilton’s behind-the-scenes manoeuvring.
Krantz acknowledged that Milton’s offer could still fall through. His council is set to consider a business plan for the velodrome on Jan. 23 — the day before the Pan Am deadline for finalizing an agreement. The town of close to 90,000 is also waiting for the provincial go-ahead for a satellite university campus that Milton politicians want to pair with the velodrome.
But even if Milton retracts its bid, there’s no guarantee Hamilton will get another crack at the cycling oval. Krantz said Pan Am officials have told him they would consider building a temporary velodrome on Toronto’s port lands if Milton doesn’t commit to a permanent facility.
“I don’t think anyone is enthusiastic about that idea,” he said. “I’m hoping we can make (a permanent indoor facility) happen.”
Milton has its own private benefactor, Mattamy Homes president Peter Gilgan, who has offered $9 million in donations and cash for naming rights.
But the town would have to find at least that much money again to cover the 44 per cent municipal portion of velodrome building costs, estimated by Infrastructure Ontario at between $35 million and $45 million.
Tonight (Monday January 23rd) is the Administration & Planning Standing Committee meeting at Town Hall starting at 7pm. 
