Almost a year after it was initially scheduled to be finished, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' home stadium of Tim Hortons Field has finally received a regular occupancy permit. Of course, it's already been used to host games under temporary permits from last September on, but only part of the stadium was utilized then thanks to significant construction still being underway. There have been further delays and setbacks since the CFL ended, and the stadium still isn't 100 per cent finished (with May's police exercises, June's CFL preseason and July's Pan Am Games all approaching). That could cause problems for other stadium projects. In Hamilton, though, as Kevin Werner writes in The Hamilton Spectator, the end appears to be in sight:

Hamilton’s Tim Horton’s Field is nearing completion about 10 months past its official deadline.



The city issued an occupancy permit for the stadium April 16 to Infrastructure Ontario that is overseeing the $145.7 million construction of the facility on the former Ivor Wynne Stadium site.



Building officials, stated a news release from the city, had inspected “hundreds” of components while conducting safety checks. The statement said delays in caulking work in the east end of the stadium is not considered a public safety issue and won’t delay the occupancy permit from being issued. The work is expected to be completed within two weeks.









There's still a lot to do, however, and as Werner goes on to write, Hamilton officials aren't happy with how things have progressed:



Mayor Fred Eisenberger has called the delay “inexcusable,” while Ancaster councillor Lloyd Ferguson said it’s “unbelievable” how the process had unfolded.



Infrastructure Ontario has withheld payments to [builder Ontario Sports Solutions] because of the delays.



Ferguson, who is also chair of the Pan Am Stadium sub-committee, said he expected the city to issue the occupancy permit this week.



He said after conducting a tour of the facility a week ago that work on the facility had progressed since the last time he saw the facility. Over the severe winter there were problems from water damage causing seals to erode.



“It’s all finished on the west side,” said Ferguson. “They are finishing on the east side. It’s a big job. They are getting close.”



City staff said the project is still not “substantially completed” according to the contract. Once it reaches that level, the stadium can be turned over to the city.



Ferguson said he expected the stadium to be substantially completed by the end of April, “based on what I saw yesterday.”

























So, while it sounds like the stadium should be fully ready by the Ticats' next home game (they kick off the CFL preseason by hosting Ottawa on June 7), there are still some concerns here for the league. This stadium process already didn't make the CFL look good, with the Ticats quibbling about site locations and threatening to relocate to Burlington, Ottawa or Moncton before agreeing on a new facility on the site of the old Ivor Wynne Stadium. The construction mess hasn't helped, and in combination with the various delays and issues that have sprung up in Winnipeg (where the team's actually paying a significant portion of the stadium costs, unlike in Hamilton where those costs are being paid by various levels of government), getting involved in a CFL stadium may seem problematic to many governments.

Fortunately, there are only a couple of projects going on at the moment: Toronto's plans to move into a renovated BMO Field (which are still up in the air, but not over municipal contributions) and Saskatchewan's new stadium (where the deal's already signed). There could be more coming down the pike, though; there's been talk of a new stadium in Calgary, likely as part of a new arena deal for the NHL's Flames (who own the CFL's Stampeders), and expansion to a 10th team in Atlantic Canada, Quebec City or elsewhere would also require a new stadium or a substantial renovation. The stadium issues in Hamilton and Winnipeg won't necessarily mean that governments will refuse to invest in CFL facilities, but they could make them more leery of doing so.