Hamilton FirstOntario Centre Renovations | ?m | 4s | OVG | BBB

IamNotaRobot said:
somehow the instagram comments are largely negative towards the project. Concerts are certainly way overpriced but this development is such a boon to that area!
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It's absolutely a massively good thing and an amazing deal. It sounds like those people would rather see a no-revenue junior team in a dilapidated arena than to have a very much modernized arena with much more space and amenities that will attract first-rate events that generate money, and be properly maintained, and still have the possibility of adding a junior or minor-league hockey team at any time.
 
IamNotaRobot said:
somehow the instagram comments are largely negative towards the project. Concerts are certainly way overpriced but this development is such a boon to that area!
Click to expand...
I am definitely more into smaller concerts (Tivoli pleassse), but having big names here is exciting and will bring tons of money and economic value to the city and downtown specifically. Many seem to think that the city is paying for the upgrades too which is just not correct. People also seem to have the incorrect assumption that having 4000 people attend the Bulldogs once a week of less was bringing a lot more value than it actually was. I bet it was losing the city money.
 
I am really excited to see things finally happening on this project. FOC has been sitting and rotting for far too long. I can't imagine why any would be against this, given that it is privately funded and will attract lots of additional events to the area.

I came across an episode of CHCH's Sportsline podcast from a month ago that, for the first ~20min, discuss the prospects of what the new arena will do for the area and who it will potentially be tenanted by. The guest, Scott Radley (Hamilton Spectator columnist), discusses the potential for the Marlies to play here, as well as the new Toronto WNBA team (as opposed to Coca Cola Coliseum), and even potentially a new PWHL team. They also discuss the big elephant in the room - the NHL. Radley indicated in the podcast (discussion about this starts at ~15min) that he has spoken to sources who say to not rule out the NHL, but obviously there are pretty big challenges, including franchise valuations exploding, and the current slate of renovations likely not being significant enough to attract the NHL. They suggest that setting up an expansion team in Hamilton could probably cost around $2B all in, especially after the Andlauer purchase of the Senators juiced NHL franchise values, and there are very few in the country with this kind of capital.

My personal preference would be for any teams setting up here to take on a Hamilton-specific identity instead of just using Toronto branding, so I don't personally support Toronto teams playing here. In terms of the NHL, they are definitely right on all fronts. I would also add that there are many additional locations that the league would most likely prefer to expand to over a second team in Southern Ontario. However, Elliotte Friedman, back in 2022, suggested that a second "Toronto" team, along with Houston and Austin, are considered ideal by the league for future expansion given that these locations would likely be closer to the top of the pack in revenue generation. Of course, this was all before the collapse of the Coyotes, the new team in SLC, and all of the recent talk about Atlanta, so things have probably changed a bit. Either way, having the NHL in Hamilton still remains a distant dream. At the very least, we should expect to see some NHL exhibition games here.

CHCH Sportsline episode linked below for those interested:

 
Chris R. said:
I am definitely more into smaller concerts (Tivoli pleassse), but having big names here is exciting and will bring tons of money and economic value to the city and downtown specifically. Many seem to think that the city is paying for the upgrades too which is just not correct. People also seem to have the incorrect assumption that having 4000 people attend the Bulldogs once a week of less was bringing a lot more value than it actually was. I bet it was losing the city money.
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You are correct --- the below is from a few-years-old report created by Ernst&Young. 34 Bulldogs games generated -$100k in income in 2018. 9 concerts generated +$1.3 million in that year. Massive difference.

Source: https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=202276
Copps Income Screenshot from EY Report.png
 
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ericmacm said:
I am really excited to see things finally happening on this project. FOC has been sitting and rotting for far too long. I can't imagine why any would be against this, given that it is privately funded and will attract lots of additional events to the area.

I came across an episode of CHCH's Sportsline podcast from a month ago that, for the first ~20min, discuss the prospects of what the new arena will do for the area and who it will potentially be tenanted by. The guest, Scott Radley (Hamilton Spectator columnist), discusses the potential for the Marlies to play here, as well as the new Toronto WNBA team (as opposed to Coca Cola Coliseum), and even potentially a new PWHL team. They also discuss the big elephant in the room - the NHL. Radley indicated in the podcast (discussion about this starts at ~15min) that he has spoken to sources who say to not rule out the NHL, but obviously there are pretty big challenges, including franchise valuations exploding, and the current slate of renovations likely not being significant enough to attract the NHL. They suggest that setting up an expansion team in Hamilton could probably cost around $2B all in, especially after the Andlauer purchase of the Senators juiced NHL franchise values, and there are very few in the country with this kind of capital.

My personal preference would be for any teams setting up here to take on a Hamilton-specific identity instead of just using Toronto branding, so I don't personally support Toronto teams playing here. In terms of the NHL, they are definitely right on all fronts. I would also add that there are many additional locations that the league would most likely prefer to expand to over a second team in Southern Ontario. However, Elliotte Friedman, back in 2022, suggested that a second "Toronto" team, along with Houston and Austin, are considered ideal by the league for future expansion given that these locations would likely be closer to the top of the pack in revenue generation. Of course, this was all before the collapse of the Coyotes, the new team in SLC, and all of the recent talk about Atlanta, so things have probably changed a bit. Either way, having the NHL in Hamilton still remains a distant dream. At the very least, we should expect to see some NHL exhibition games here.

CHCH Sportsline episode linked below for those interested:

Click to expand...
Agreed on Hamilton-specific identity versus Toronto branding. An expansion team would be a dream, but sadly way too much in the way of barriers for it to be anywhere near realistic.
 
I'm also excited about big name bands coming to Hamilton. They really need to address the issue of the, let's say, state of York Blvd here though. I hope the new owners put some serious pressure on the city to clean up the street and sidewalk and relocate the two social services in the area. I think they can come to an agreement that both better serves the shelter organizations, and also benefits the new entertainment district.
 
Agreed --- York Boulevard is horrible. There are also constantly a bunch of homeless/junkie types who hang out directly in front of the east end of the arena on York. Unfortunately, the rest of downtown is also an absolute sh*tshow --- it is sometimes difficult to spot a "normal" person downtown. There have been a bunch of daylight shootings in recent weeks, including one at King and MacNab today that has someone in life-threatening condition in hospital.

The city had better find ways to use this and other projects as momentum, while figuring out how to clean up the streets. Otherwise, downtown Hamilton (and all of Hamilton) might quickly lose all appeal and be in big trouble.
 
Agreed. I'm also completely surprised by the lack of police presence downtown. I walk around downtown all the time, and most of the time I don't see a single police officer - nevermind one on foot. There should be literally 20 cops walking around at any given time down there, but there are zero. It's frankly unsafe.
 
BCTed said:
You are correct --- the below is from a few-years-old report created by Ernst&Young. 34 Bulldogs games generated -$100k in income in 2018. 9 concerts generated +$1.3 million in that year. Massive difference.

Source: https://pub-hamilton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=202276View attachment 576315
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Wow, that's a great piece of information to pass along in future. That's absolutely nuts. It kind of confirms my distaste toward the Bulldogs owner acting holier than thou about the treatment of the team.

A great quote I heard years ago about Hamilton was that some Hamiltonians don't think they deserve better, nor do they know what better is. And to be fair, Hamilton has been shafted dozens of times.
 
I knew big name concerts and events were the bread and butter here. I have attended the Junos, BTS and Blackpink concerts here and the crowds that come to these events are almost entirely from out of of town more so with the kpop acts and they SPEND MONEY when here! I'm happy so stoked the renovations are geared towards better concert/entertainment experience and I hope they solely focus on attracting the best acts once complete because it will do wonders for the city.

Like others mentioned I too hope they somehow clean up the streets surrounding this entire block. More officers walking around downtown would also be welcomed with the increase in brazen crimes.
 
Went by here today and it was the most challenging scene I have ever viewed here. Forget the Salvation Army side on the north --- basically the entire length of the arena on York (i.e. the south sidewalk of York directly at the arena) had groups of homeless/junkies, and it also extended east to the library. It seems that the relatively newly placed Jersey barriers on the street have kind of given them a bit of a pseudo-enclosed area.

Who is going to want to do business, shop, eat, hang out anywhere near here (much less live near here) if it is this bad? We need to do something, but I do not have a solution. Hopefully things can be somehow cleaned up prior to the arena re-opening.
 
This old barn is going to be the centrepiece attraction in downtown Hamilton in many ways, and will be the main thing bringing both out-of-towners and even in-towners to downtown Hamilton. It will be the focal point of hope and possibility and revival in the Ambitious City. Holy smokes, holy smokes, holy smokes. Someone talk me off the ledge here. I am melting down.
 
yep. It's horrible. I've been saying it for years on this forum, only to be called heartless and cruel. Nope. Allowing these people to be like this, and enabling the behavior is cruel. Something needs to be done ASAP.

And agreed, the area behind city hall is terrible. Just terrible. The YWCA needs to take some responsibility for the state of the area. But they don't. They just allow the extreme level of bedlam to happen every single night. There needs to be standards. The YWCA attracts the worst of the worst.

Fortunately in the United States at least, just recently, the Supreme Court ruled in a landmark 6-3 decision that homeless tent encampments can be legally removed and doing so does not violate the 8th amendment. This is extremely positive, as it will likely cause a cultural shift in how they deal with the lawlessness. Hopefully it will spread north. Something has to change.
 
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