Young has backed out of negotiations to build a new stadium.

BY PERRY LEFKO
sportsnet.ca

The future of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Steeltown is very much in doubt because team owner Bob Young has backed out of on-going negotiations to build a new stadium due to differences with the city's mayor. Young hinted that the team will move out of its current home after the 2011 season.

"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," Young indicated in a letter on Monday to Hamilton mayor Fred Eisenberger and members of Hamilton city council.

Sportsnet.ca first reported that Young was contacted by the municipalities of Burlington, Oakville and Mississauga about building a stadium if he moves the team. Burlington would be his first choice, according to sources.

Young's letter is the latest - and perhaps most powerful salvo - issued by Young to Eisenberger, who are at odds over where a stadium should be built for the 2015 Pan American Games. Hamilton has been chosen as a site for a 15,000-seat stadium, although it would be expanded to 30,000 through private and public funding to make it big enough to house the Tiger-Cats.

Young has pledged to commit $15 million to the stadium and identified a plan in which the team would host the Grey Cup, which hasn't happened in Hamilton since 1996 due to limited seating at Ivor Wynne Stadium, home to the Cats since 1950.

Eisenberger wants the stadium to be built in the downtown core, while Young prefers a site near a highway artery to allow for greater parking and visibility for companies seeking to pay for naming rights.

Because of the conflict between Eisenberger and Young over sites, a provincial mediator was brought in and has identified an alternative location that is owned by the province.

On Friday, it was revealed that the federal and provincial governments would not provide funding for a downtown stadium without an anchor tenant, which caused Eisenberger to state that private forces were working behind the scenes to position the stadium in a different site. Without naming names, Eisenberger pointed a finger at Senator David Braley, who owns both the Toronto Argonauts and B.C. Lions and has strong political ties.

In his letter, Young indicated that he has invested more than $30 million into the team, which he bought for $2 million from the Canadian Football League after the 2003 season.

Young said in his view the site chosen by the mediator would have been a "win-win" situation.

"We believe that option was made available but has now been squandered," he said.

He said the downtown stadium endorsed by the mayor would rank dead last in North America in terms of usability for its tenants.

"It imposes a logistical nightmare for fans, particularly the regional fans that (the facilitator) describes as vital to our survival," he said. "As such, I cannot be part of a process that destines us to financial failure before the first shovel goes in the ground.

As owner of the Tiger-Cats, I cannot and will not be party to such an ill-advised concept."

City Council is slated to vote on the stadium site on Tuesday.