The Tiger-Cats may be playing football somewhere else next season.

BY PERRY LEFKO
sportsnet.ca

The one-time voice of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats has an idea to keep the team where it is currently playing and still find a way to build a new stadium for the 2015 Pan Am Games.

Hamilton councilor Bob Bratina, who called play-by-play of Ticats’ games for 20 years, told Sportsnet.ca of a plan he is thinking of putting forward to end the philosophical building standoff between the team’s owner, Bob Young and the city’s mayor Fred Eisenberger.

The stadium voted upon is, ironically, in Bratina’s riding. Bratina was one of the councilors who voted 12-3 in favour of that site, eschewing the other site chosen by a provincial conciliator because he didn’t have enough background on it and a decision had to be made by the August 30 deadline put forward by the Pan Am Games Host Committee.

But Bratina says the optimum site – one that Ticats’ owner Bob Young preferred all along – is neither of the two under consideration, but one that was put out of consideration long ago by Hamilton city council. Bratina said he tried to bring the matter back for consideration as a viable site, but the motion was defeated.

Bratina’s plan is for the city to pick up the costs of the team’s expenses and tickets until a new stadium could be built for the Games. Moreover, he’s suggesting the stadium should be built at the location Young wanted.

Bratina said his plan is not unlike what is done for the Hamilton Bulldogs, in which the city pays all their expenses playing out of the municipally-owned Copps Coliseum and sells all the tickets.

"We lost somewhere over $250,000 because we didn’t sell as many tickets as we thought we could, but what’s the difference with the Tiger-Cats?" he said. "Why would you not play if you could cover all your expenses? How do you lose money when your expenses are covered? That’s very far-fetched, but we’re doing it with the Bulldogs.

Suppose the crowd was 23,000 and we say we’ll buy the difference between the attendance and 25,000. Teams have done that. The Buffalo (Bills) have done it. That’s what they’re trying to do in Phoenix right now (with the Coyotes).

"To say we’ll never play (again in Hamilton), who knows to what extent the community will go to fix that and that negotiation has not taken place. I don’t think anyone has sat down with the Tiger-Cats to say, ‘Here’s what we’re prepared to do.’"

The city is already subsidizing the Cats $1.3 million a year.

Bratina said he wasn’t in favour of the Bulldogs’ plan, but that’s the model to use. He added someone who is trusted by the Tiger-Cats, has to talk to the team in a closed-door session. He believes he’s the one to do it with his background broadcasting the team’s games.

"All I would say if I was negotiating is, ‘Please let’s sit down. Here are some options. You feel you’re only going to get x number, you need y number, can we make out the difference?’

The main problem we have now is that Bob Young has been depicted in a very negative way, so that’s very unpleasant and that’s got to be gotten over.

"After 141 years of history in (Hamilton) we can’t divorce on that note. He has never said anything that I personally took offence to. He’s just trying to do the best he can for his football team, and that’s where I stop and say, ‘Thank you, we’ve got a problem and let’s try to solve it.’