File under no surprise.
Hamilton’s new football stadium won’t be ready in time for the scheduled Hamilton Tiger Cats home opener on July 26, nor will it be ready in time for the July 31st game.
The Ticats will play both games at McMaster’s Ron Joyce stadium, and will determine if they’ll also play their August 16 home game at McMaster as well.
The City of Hamilton – finally – publicly admitted what had been obvious to anyone with sight driving by the new stadium construction.
The City is not committing to a date for opening the new stadium.
At a press conference two weeks ago, the City stated the stadium will not reach “substantial completion” until October.
Today’s announcement does not answer any outstanding questions and creates new ones such as: Will the Ticats be in the stadium for the Labour Day Classic?
In a statement, the Ticats state “the builders remain adamant that Tim Hortons Field will be ready no later than Labour Day” attributing the statement to their CEO Scott Mitchell.
Here’s the full City statement:
HAMILTON, ON – July 7, 2014 – Following a meeting today with all involved parties, the City of Hamilton has confirmed that the Tiger Cat home games scheduled for July 26th and July 31st will not take place at the new Pan Am Stadium (Tim Hortons Field) as the facility will not be safe and ready for occupancy by then. We will review the construction status again at the end of July and provide a further update at that time.
The City continues to work closely with Infrastructure Ontario, the contractors and our Ti-Cat partners to achieve the earliest possible delivery of the stadium to accommodate future football games.