In an e-mail sent to all season-seat holders, the team allayed fears of a drastic increase in ticket prices for the 2014 campaign, the first to be played at the new facility. In short, anyone who buys season tickets for the 2012 season – the final season at Ivor Wynne Stadium – will not pay one penny more for season tickets in the new facility in 2014.
The team has also opened a new website for everything stadium related, which I am sure will be updated as news becomes available.
Ticket prices staying relatively inexpensive is great news for season-seat holders; however, there are still a few questions to be answered.
Primarily, how much will seats be in 2012? If the past is any indication, any increase in ticket prices from 2011 to 2012 will be minor. For instance, my seat prices went up by one dollar per game. If the same increase occurs going into 2012, that's not a big deal.
Secondly, what about 2015 and beyond? The commitment to keep prices at current levels is only for the first season in the new facility, but clearly prices will increase at some point. Now it's just a matter of finding out how high the increase will be.
Thirdly, and finally, what about 2013? While the team notes in the FAQ section of the new stadium webpage that they are "working on a comprehensive solution" in regards to 2013, it is still unknown what will happen during that vagabond season. It also says that season-seat holders will have "priority access" to the home games in 2013. That could mean that the team is trying to find locations close to Hamilton. That said, season-seat holders had priority access to Touchdown Atlantic tickets for this season, so having priority access doesn't necessarily mean convenient and/or local access.
In any event, the stadium news of the past couple of days has been exciting and encouraging. Now we just have to wait.
PEPS Stadium at Université Laval? It's listed at 12,257 seats, but somehow they squeeze over 19,000 in there; unsure if it can handle more temporary stands either. But it may help gauge CFL demand in the largest Canadian city (aside from Ottawa for now) that does not have a team.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about Waterloo - Laurier and UW may each be an option but may present the same issues as Mac or Guelph.
Richardson Stadium at Queen's U. in Kingston may be another one, but realistically the Cats should play in a place that either puts the locals in touch with the team and expands its reach, or markets the CFL as a possible future fixture in town.
There may be places out west too, but that's just not right for a team in the East division. ;-)