The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are threatening to leave town.
Ticats owner Bob Young sent Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger a letter Monday hinting that he will move the Canadian Football League club from the city.
The team and the city have been engaged in a debate over where a new stadium — to be used as a soccer venue in the 2015 Pan-Am Games — will be located.
Young wrote that his team will no longer take part in the stadium decision process.
"I regret that over the course of the past year, you have not been sensitive to our concerns as your tenant," wrote Young, who bought the Ticats out of bankruptcy in 2003. "My major regret is the harsh reality that, after next year, there will be no home for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the city where we shared so much success and positive experiences together.
"We will play out our days at Ivor Wynne [Stadium]."
It is unclear where Young, who grew up in Hamilton, might look to move the team. He was not available for interviews Monday.
The city of Hamilton spends about $1 million a year to keep Ivor Wynne Stadium operational. The Ticats’ lease at the facility runs through the 2011 season, at which point they could relocate.
Hamilton City Council is scheduled to meet today and vote on where a new stadium should be built. The two options on the table are a West Harbour site supported by Eisenberger and an East Mountain location favoured by Young.
Whatever decision is made today will need to be ratified by the council on Thursday.
"I’m disappointed in the tactics the Ticats are using," Eisenberger said. "These are ultimatum tactics. They’re basically asking us to choose between a stadium and a football team and that’s not right."
Eisenberger, who is running for reelection this fall, wants the new facility to be located in the West Harbour area to help rejuvenate the city’s downtown core.
"The Ticats are not respecting the democratic process and I think this letter shows that they are worried about what the outcome of the council [vote] may be," Eisenberger said. "But nobody knows what’s going to happen."
The Ticats have said they will never play in the West Harbour and Young reiterated that position Monday.
"The West Harbour option gives [us] no hope of running a sustainable business," Young wrote. "Using ‘best practice’ criteria and confirmed by leading experts around North America, this proposed stadium would rank dead last in North America in terms of usability for its tenants."
The city and the Ticats have been engaged in a public argument about where the stadium should be built since May. Young was exploring a handful of sites while the city was pushing for West Harbour.
A facilitator, Michael Fenn, was brought in to help both sides reach a compromise. Fenn issued a report in July identifying West Harbour and East Mountain as viable options. The Ticats pledged to invest $74 million in the East Mountain project. But, in Monday’s letter, Young said he is no longer willing to support the East Mountain site either.
"It is painfully apparent, despite the plethora of information from stadium experts and our own financial submissions, that you [Eisenberger] remain fixated on the West Harbour Stadium and without a strong political champion in Hamilton, it is impossible to continue our efforts with respect to the East Mountain proposal," Young wrote.
The city must indicate to the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games organizing committee where they plan to build the new facility by the end of the week.
On Saturday, Ian Troop, the organizing committee’s CEO, issued a statement suggesting the stadium must have an anchor tenant in order to justify the use of public funds in its construction.
If the city of Hamilton moves forward without the Ticats, it is possible the organizing committee may decide to move the stadium from Hamilton altogether. Toronto’s York University campus is considered a fallback option if the plans in Hamilton do not work out.
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