The city is under pressure to abandon a long-promised pro soccer partnership with the Hamilton Ticats in order to accept the advances of a Toronto squad that says it's ready to play at the new stadium next year.

The football club signed a tentative deal with the city in 2011 giving the Ticats exclusive rights to bring pro soccer and a training academy to the Pan Am stadium in exchange for $150,000 in annual rent. But the deadline to secure a pro soccer club is long past and the Ticats and city have yet to finalize the stadium deal.

The city began studying an unsolicited pitch from the amateur Toronto Lynx soccer club in August to move to Hamilton and turn pro.

The catch is the team won't come unless the city axes the Ticats' exclusivity deal and instead gives the Lynx a pro-soccer monopoly at the $145-million stadium. A decision is needed in November to get the ball rolling in Hamilton next summer, said Lynx president Alain Theroux.

"Two professional soccer teams won't work in Hamilton. We can't make this work without sole use," said Theroux, who wants a five-year deal. "We told them we're ready to go in 2014, but time is getting shorter."

Theroux said ideally he'd like to have a pro team ready for possible exhibition games next August if the stadium is complete. The Lynx would need a temporary field for any earlier matches and the 2015 Pan Am Games, he said.

Via email, Ticats owner Bob Young called the discussion "premature" because his club and the city are still negotiating a stadium usage deal. It's unclear if the city will extend the club's soccer exclusivity deal, but sources have told The Spectator the Ticats want a new 2017 deadline.

Ticats CEO Scott Mitchell said the team is working with national and international organizations to find "the best possible solution for professional soccer" in Hamilton, but he didn't give a timeline for the effort.

The plan announced by the Ticats in 2010 — supported by provincial and national soccer associations — was to bring a division II team to Hamilton, which is considered a level below high-profile Major League Soccer teams like Toronto FC.

Theroux has pitched a lower-tier semi-pro team, but added he is discussing a player development affiliation with Toronto FC.

John Gibson of the Hamilton and District Soccer Association has urged councillors to grab hold of a concrete offer rather than "wait on a dream."

"I'll support whatever group is going to deliver professional soccer on a timely basis," said Gibson, who added he was a fan of the Ticats' early plans.

Public works director Gerry Davis said staff are working on a report to council, but couldn't guarantee it would land before the end of October.

Councillor Lloyd Ferguson called the unsolicited soccer pitch "interesting," but added he wanted to hear a dollars-and-cents evaluation from city staff. He said the city has the right to consider other pro-soccer bids despite ongoing stadium usage negotiations that he argued have "dragged on" unnecessarily.

Gibson said a semi-pro team would help "create a development pathway" for young Canadian soccer players and spur additional interest in a sport that already boasts more than 25,000 youth players in the Hamilton area. "I think people are maybe losing sight of the fact that stadium was built for soccer, as well as football."

The Lynx, which right now run a series of amateur development teams, have a lot of work to do even if they find a new Hamilton home — including earning national soccer association approval to play in a U.S.-based pro league.

Theroux said a third-tier professional soccer club wouldn't fill a 22,500 seat stadium in Hamilton or anywhere else. He envisions bringing in prominent clubs for exhibition games while aiming for up to 5,000 fans for leagues games.

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Theroux wouldn't say what the club could afford to pay in rent, but acknowledged the city was looking for "six figures."

He gave the city letters of encouragement from the Canadian Soccer Association and USL Pro league as well as a promise of $2 million in financing from a Hong Kong-based investor.