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oct 13th ivor wynn stadium


snake

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Unfortuantely that's not grass. It's FieldTurf (I believe it's Field Turf, it's one of the new good synthetics in any event) which so far hasn't proven to be useful for men's internationals. Hamilton's in the same boat as Molson Stadium in Mtl, Frank Clair in Ottawa and the proposed stadium in Toronto . . .

cheers,

matthew

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Not only is it fieldturf but I noticed that there are advertisements on the field that seem to be sown in with different pieces of fieldturf, as if when they change their advertisers they just rip out where the previous ad was and sow in another piece of fieldturf with a different ad painted on it. The seams don't seem level though.

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I don't think its sown in, its just a different color cause it was covered by a different advertisements last year. With the paint on the area it would have weathered differently, and then to get the paint off they probably scrub the hell out of it, again making it look different than the rest of the field and whats now green stands up more from the scrubbing.

Like areas of living room carpet would look like after sitting under something for a few years, then having you uncover it and rake (or whatever those things are) it out.

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I know (from reading the Spec) that the football lines are sewn into the turf which was a big point of controversy when they put the new stuff in last year. It basically means that there is absolutely no way that FIFA would ever appove a game being played there. When people pointed this out to the Hamilton City Council, which owns Ivor Wynne, they basically said "Screw you, if they don't want to play here that's tough for them." The city has had the Thunder play games there (as well as some women's games I've seen) to "prove" that it's suitable for soccer but short of pulling a SkyDome and trucking in grass there's no way Hamilton's getting a game.

As an aside I can't honestly say that Hamilton really deserves a game. The city has a terrible sports culture. They only supported the Bulldogs when they made in to the AHL final, the Ti-Cats seem to be on terminal life support and always in need of being propped up, the Thunder draw better than some in the CPSL but nothing substantial, and the Grey Cup (six or seven years ago) only sold out when Tim Hortons bought up all the remaining tickets and sold them really cheap at their shops throughout the city. Basically Hamiltonians won't pay to watch sports... I could say that they won't pay for just about anything but that'd be kinda harsh.

The games should be in cities where there is an existing A-League franchise. That's the highest level of soccer being played consistently in this country and I'm sure that all of those clubs could use the cross-promotion oppurtunity.

Mike.

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It's AstroPlay and where the ads were definately looked as if they were sown in, not painted over old ones, you could see the seams which is why I mentioned it. Astroplay has since gone bankrupt which means that any new patches of turf sown in will be another synthetic product (and that Hamilton is crap out of luck with any warranties on their turf!)

There is a person who works for the FieldTurf company that posts occasionally on the Canadian football newsgroup. He claims that since FieldTurf can no longer sue AstroPlayfor ripping off their product they plan to sue the BlueBombers for purchasing it. (Soory don't know the proper legal jargon). Perhaps they'll try to sue the Tiger-Cats as well.

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Ha. That's funny. If it's true.

Top layer in spots at the stadium is held down by velcro if I remember correctly. Custom order "patchs" can be made up for speciel events as required by advertisers or as sponsors change from season to season.

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quote:Originally posted by BHTC Mike

As an aside I can't honestly say that Hamilton really deserves a game. The city has a terrible sports culture. They only supported the Bulldogs when they made in to the AHL final, the Ti-Cats seem to be on terminal life support and always in need of being propped up, the Thunder draw better than some in the CPSL but nothing substantial, and the Grey Cup (six or seven years ago) only sold out when Tim Hortons bought up all the remaining tickets and sold them really cheap at their shops throughout the city. Basically Hamiltonians won't pay to watch sports... I could say that they won't pay for just about anything but that'd be kinda harsh.

Maybe I'm just a homer, but the Ticats have drawn pretty well lately. They broke the record for opening game attendance on Friday and they sold almost 15,000 season tickets this year (including about 5,000 people who bought season tickets for the next three years).

I'm not saying that Hamilton has a ready-made crowd who will plunk down their cash for a seat at any old game. I'm saying that if a game is marketed intelligently and worked correctly, you can get Hamiltonians to attend.

Come to think of it, that rules out most of the soccer organizations in Canada. Never mind!

Allez les Rouges,

M@

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I would say that the TiCats have a hardcore fanbase of 10,000 who will turn up no matter how bad the team is (see: last year) but a lot of fairweather fans how'll turn up when there is some hype around the team, when their on their deathbed, or when the Argos are in town. 10,000 is nothing to totally scoff at (would that soccer could draw that well) but still pretty dismal compared to what goes on out west. When you consider that the CFL's operating philosophy is to have 20,000 fans a game all paying $20 a ticket (the 20/20 formula) you can see why the club is so often in trouble. That's the problem with Hamilton: the TiCats are a major institution with a great history and the outright support of the major paper and TV stations (CHCH) that everyone says they don't want to disappear and that they really value but they still rarely draw enough paying fans to be sustainable (at a profit for the owner).

Can you imagine 20,000 Hamiltonians paying to see a Canada WC qualifier? I'd be happy with 10,000 which is barely more than they drew all the way out in Kingston. Better to develop a real soccer stadium in T.O. (with grass!) IMHO.

Mike.

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They drew over 5000 in Kingston for one game and over 8000 the other. If they had a game in hamilton they would draw more. Hamilton doesnt support an AHL team because the Leafs. We are in the Leaf Nation range. Also, I go to a few bulldogs game a year but I really dont like the AHL because you can never have a set team or a really good player since all the good ones go to the NHL. I would rather have an OHL then an AHL team. Who is going to go watch a CFL that are 1-16 play, for the 12 000 that did, your a real trooper. Now that the team has a good owner and is winning we are going to be getten huge crowds. Hamilton will support an A-League team to.

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