Among all the other things that have revolved around the Hamilton Tiger-Cats the past three years, the fact that their home game against Winnipeg Blue Bombers July 31 has been moved off ESPN will be a minor blip.

The game has been moved to ESPN3, an online network, which means Hamilton, and the Ticats, will not get exposed to the potential of a massive audience on the main network of the United States' dominant sports network.

"Originally this game was scheduled to be on ESPN to showcase Hamilton's new stadium," said the CFL's Jamie Dykstra in a prepared statement. "But since the game has been moved to Ron Joyce Stadium, it will now be carried on ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, ESPN3. ESPN will explore opportunities to feature Hamilton's new stadium on one of its linear TV networks later on in the season."

That "linear" network could be ESPN or ESPN2, or even the network's news service. Originally this game was scheduled to be on ESPN to showcase Hamilton's new stadium. But since the game has been moved to Ron Joyce Stadium, it will now be carried on ESPN's live multi-screen sports network, ESPN3. ESPN will explore opportunities to feature Hamilton's new stadium on one of its linear TV networks later in the season.

It was the CFL which contacted ESPN after the official announcement last week that Tim Hortons Field would not be ready for its scheduled opening and that home games on July 26 and July 31 had been moved to the McMaster campus. The CFL's goal, as stated, was to showcase the stadium and that dissipated with the construction delays.

As well as profiling the Pan Am stadium specifically, any game on the main ESPN network increases the profile of the CFL. That can be used to build an international fan base and also to link potential players from the U.S. to the CFL.

It was a joint decision between the network and the league to shift the game off the main network.

Although it is being played as a major setback in some quarters, the decision is actually good for Hamilton and the CFL, isn't it? If the Ticats had been in the stadium on July 31, it would have been a makeshift situation, essentially a game played inside a still-ongoing construction site. And televising to a potentially vast audience from tiny Ron Joyce Stadium would not have satisfied any of the CFL's, or Hamilton's, goals.