Bad Weather, Is Tim Horton's Field Even Farther Behind

In a post on January 22, I reacted to the news that the new Ticats stadium is behind schedule, for various reasons, including the weather and a bankrupt contractor.

It is now the 30th of January and the weather since the 22 has been really, really cold in Hamilton, probably the worst case scenario for stadium construction. No days of thaw have occurred in that time period either so the site is going to be snow and ice encrusted.

If February ends up being colder than normal, the stadium project could be really behind. In theory construction could be sped up with more workers, but with five months until July first, we are coming to crunch time. Missing the first few weeks of July can be accommodated by the schedule, two months becomes a major problem. Expect a delayed schedule this year as well.

Probably a media update will arrive some time in February.

Analysis: First Ontario Buys Copps Coliseum Naming Rights

So First Ontario is going to be the new naming rights holder for Copps Coliseum. The Spec is reporting that the amount is $350,000 per year for ten years. In a previous post about the topic, I guessed $200,000 a year (and I thought that might be a little high). I'm a bit surprised as basically there's not a lot of non-Hamilton exposure, as with the Bulldogs and concerts you won't have an effect like with Tim Horton's sponsorship for Ivor Wynne's replacement where the Ticats' stadium are constantly being mentioned nationally on TSN broadcasts.

On the other hand, Copps gets big concerts occasionally like the upcoming Kanye West concert when the Air Canada Centre is busy with the Leafs and Raptors, so people around Southern Ontario will hear the First Ontario name. Since First Ontario is pretty focused on Hamilton and its surrounding areas anyways, national name recognition isn't going to help them much anyways.

By way of comparison, Scotiabank Place in Ottawa, home of the NHL Senators has a 15 year 21 million dollar naming rights deal, so considering there is no NHL team $350,000 is a respectable number.

There's no known number for the Ticats from Tim Horton's sponsorship, but there are reports it is between $1 and $1.5 million per year.

Where is the money going? According to the Spec article not directly to the city:

"The 10-year naming deal is worth about $350,000 annually — unless an NHL team suddenly comes to town, in which case the deal would be revisited, Warren added.

The sponsorship doesn't put cash directly into city coffers, but it does push the aging, deficit-plagued entertainment venues closer to profitability.

Once Global Spectrum starts making money on Copps and Hamilton Place, the city will cash in with a 70 per cent cut of any profits over $450,000, said city finance head Mike Zegarac.

For now, the sponsorship deal will help cut the annual city subsidy for former HECFI properties."

Newest Ticat Stadium is Name After Tim Horton's

Seemed somewhat inevitable, but the new stadium will be named after the donut giant that sprang from a location on Ottawa Street nearby. Primus Communications had also been bandied about. One would assume that there will be a fair amount of Tim's products available.

The company no doubt hopes that the stadium will get into the regular rotation for the Grey Cup to maximize the advertising impact. Hopefully this aids the team's pursuit of a cup soon. Tim's also has stores in the US, so broadcasts on the NBC Sports network are a small added bonus. It will be interesting to hear the terms, for sake of comparison between the other CFL teams and BMO Field in Toronto. According to this TSN article, BMO's deal with TFC's meccano set stadium was $27 million over 10 years, for $2.7 million per year.