Ticats Conference Call

Dueling articles from the Spec and the National Post on the Ticats preseason call. Without the stadium issue, I'm not sure the Post would have bothered, but again publicity of any sort is good. Probably the most important information to be gleaned from them is that the Cats should get 1700 new season tickets this year and had a 94% renewal rate. Of course they never say what there season ticket numbers actually are. If the Cats had a 12,000 subscriber base last year they lost 720 season tickets from previous year subscribers. If they had a 15,000 subscriber base last year the lost 900. So maybe the Cats are up close to 1,000 season tickets this year, or maybe not.

Quoting from the Edwards piece: "Mitchell said the team had record revenues in 2009 and looks set to exceed those numbers in 2010 by more than 10 per cent. But the team will continue to lose money, as it has since owner Bob Young took over the team in 2003." So that's good news. Considering there is little inflation right now, both for player salaries and everything else, that's good for reducing the team's loss per year. Whatever that is.

When I get back from Germany this week, I'm going to pick up a pair of Labour Day tickets, seeing as single game tickets are now available to season ticket subscribers. Apparently the price to season ticket holders for extra tickets is the same for Labour Day as for the other games (and is at the season ticket price) so that's an excellent deal. I figured they would be $5 more, which they probably should. I probably would have bought more, but the Ticats apparent love of stadiums beside highways in the middle of nowhere is annoying me. So there you go Bob, lost ticket revenue from Tigercatatonia, maybe more naming rights money from Primus.

Yet More Ticats Harbour Stuff

Well I speculated a few days ago that maybe LuLu not going public was an issue for Bob Young. Now here's a story from Spec restaurant critic John Kernaghan basically saying the same thing.
Obviously a LuLu IPO would have freed up a chunk of cash for Young, although would depend on exactly how it was done. It would certainly make Bob's LuLu share more liquid.

In other stadium news, Bob Young wants a facilitator for the stadium issue. My solution, the city gives Young parking revenue for Ticat game day (and possibly USL game days), with parking being the parking at the stadium, whatever you can squeeze into Bayfront Park's parking lot and the new parking garage at the West Harbour redevelopment. Throw in some future rights to other redevelopment at the site, plus naming revenue, plus maybe whatever else the city can come up with that doesn't really cost them anything and everyone goes away happy. That's what I'm hoping.

Parking Garage in West Harbour

As detailed in this Spec article, there will be a 400 car parking garage as part of the further development of the West Harbour, close to the projected Pan Am stadium. I'm not exactly sure where in the West Harbour the parking garage will go, but it is another potential 400 spots for the West Harbour. When I'm back in the Hammer, I'm going to go down and count the parking spots that are already in the Bayfront Park parking lot to try and get a sense of the overall parking situation at the site. I'm guessing it will be better than Ivor Wynne is presently.

More Thoughts on the West Harbour

An issue for the Cats is the cost of going from the 20,000 seat taxpayer funded stadium to one with 25.000 seats. Supposedly this extra 5,000 seats would cost tens of millions extra that the Cats would somehow have to come up with. Does the extra 5,000 seats have to add that much? Personally I don't think so. With the current taxpayer design, the 20,000 seats are along the sidelines, somewhat similar to Ivor Wynne's west end. I say the extra 5,000 seats could come from two sets of bleachers, of 2,500 seats each at the back of the endzones. These would end up being 20 to 30 rows each and could be constructed at a much smaller cost than the more substantive main structure. In the CFL this year, both BC's temp structure and Moncton's extra seats are similar and are relatively cheap. Sure the seats would not be as grand as in the main structure, but they would be the cheapest ticket option, which the Hamilton market seems to require. This would require a longer footprint lengthwise, but 30 rows would not be that much extra. Maybe parking spots could be offered under them.

Strange in the reporting on the stadium issue that the recent news with Bob Young's firm LuLu has not been mentioned.

More Ticat Staidum Stuff

The Spec has a couple of articles in the Spec today about the new stadium. I posted the following first (slightly edited) in the Skyscraper Forum Hamilton section (which I highly recommend):

OK, the Cats have finally produced some numbers and they are somewhat interesting. I had heard previously that it costs around $14 million to run a CFL team so $17 million seems plausible on the surface, but I think is overestimating inflation. 4.5% increases for four years? Where is that coming from? The salary cap has been stuck at just over $4 million for years now and I am pretty sure the increase of the cap will be negligible for the next four years (and there is rumours the Cats haven't been spending up to the cap anyways). So for the other $10 million to reach 4.5% total, you're looking at 5% or 5.5% increases. This I find hard to believe. Are the Cats giving their office staff 5.5% increases over the next four years? Somehow I doubt that.

But the real interesting info is that Cats are saying the West Harbour option will only be 20,000 seats. It seems to me the real complaint is not that there are parking problems per se, but that the Cats don't want to contribute any appreciable amount of money.

I suppose with Confederation Park, pretty much every person will go there by car (really green!) and will have to pay for parking at probably $10 per car. For 8,000 cars and 10.5 games per year (nine regular, one preseason, 0.5 playoff games per year) that is $840,000 a year maybe, that justifies the Cats putting in a big chunk of coin.

So basically everything seems to be coming down to parking. For the Cats, the fact everyone has to drive is a feature not a bug.

Kenton Keith $170,000?

Drew Edwards had an article on the release of Kenton Keith, including the fact his salary is $170,000. Wow. I knew it was over a hundred, but that's a lot of dead money last year for the Cats to have paid. Think about how many parking spaces you would need at Confederation Park to generate that.

Where does Keith go anyways? The Argos? Maybe for crap money. With his recent injury history, he's dangerous to cash strapped CFL clubs. Maybe the Riders pick him up, for history and the fact they have no money problems.

Obligatory Stephen Brunt Ticat Article

And here it is. Not a bad article as it explains the city's motivation. I would disagree with him on how "tricky" getting to the stadium would be. Considering Bob Young has proposed an Aldershot site, the West Harbour doesn't seem too bad. Naylor also has an article in the Globe on the subject.

Also in the Globe, the Cats have released running back Kenton Keith, who was injured in training camp last year and didn't play a single down in 2009. Truly signing Keith at the end of 2008 was a bidding war the Cats would have been better off losing, especially the fact that Keith was probably paid over $100,000 per year.

Regarding the stadium, there obviously has to be compromise on both sides. Would the city charge for parking for the spots at Bayfront Park and give the proceeds to the Cats on game days? I'm OK with that, or perhaps trading that revenue for the Cats' upfront contribution for the stadium. Those are the things that are going to have to happen for a deal to be worked out and probably some people will have a problem with that. As a Ticat and Hamilton booster I don't, but we'll see what happens.

Ticats West Harbour Opposition All Over National Papers

Globe and Mail sports writer (and apparently Hamiltonian) Jeff Blair gives his opinion on the flap between the city and Bob Young (where's Brunt's piece?). I do agree with his point that the stadium should focus around the Cats and the Pan Am games are a pretty minor factor. However having been to Baltimore several times for conferences and staying by the harbour, I have to say the Oriole and Raven stadiums are great examples of a downtown stadium, aquariums regardless (frankly I'd much rather take a tour of locations from "The Wire" than visit an aquarium but I digress).

I suppose any publicity for Hamilton and the Ticats is good, but I'm hoping for some better analysis.

Lumsden, Argos?

I had meant to post about former Ticat and Marauder Jesse Lumsden being released by Edmonton, but did not get around to it. Certainly sad for an at times great player. In the National Post Toronto GM Adam Rita discussed the possibility of signing Lumsden if healthy. A signing is certainly possible and the Argos seem the logical candidate without a de facto import starting running back, however the biggest risk with signing Lumsden is if he gets injured in the first game like last year and misses the entire season. That salary doesn't count against the salary cap if he goes on the nine game injury list, but it does count against the bottom line and CFL teams (apart from the Riders) can't waste money like that.

My prediction is that Lumsden gets signed part way through the season, rather than go to a training camp. He can't be an every down player any more, but he wouldn't be bad platooning and he is still good coming out from the back field as a receiver.

Also in the Post, a mention of Bob Young's opposition to the West Harbour site.

Ticats Say No to West Harbour

Blogging has been a bit light since I have been in Germany for a few weeks of work. However the Cats coming out against the West Harbour site today was enough to get me out of my slumber. The Cats should just come out and say they want Confederation Park. Their Aldershot option, is frankly ridiculous, with their being no way Hamilton will contribute to a stadium in that direction, even if it is in Waterdown. The Chedoke Park option seems even more ludicrous. Is it going where the golf club is, or where the CP yards are?

Putting it out by Confederation Park doesn't seem likely to happen either. With the city kicking in a ton of money from the future fund, putting a stadium out by the QEW convenient to only a small section of Stoney Creek over citizen concerns won't happen. Seemingly the Cats want to play commercial developer and incorporate stores into the stadium.

I think the Cats should consider a bit how a healthier Hamilton (through an improved waterfront area) helps the Cats too.

Anyways, I was planning to try and get a bunch of people to go to the opener and Labour Day. With this stunt, this year I won't bother. Sometimes it is hard being both a Hamilton and Ticat booster.