Plans for a concert at Ivor Wynne Stadium by country superstars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill have been shelved in response to a city staff report predicting it would cost $400,000 to bring the venue up to safety code for the event.
Last Wednesday, the community services department recommended to a city council committee that the Aug. 23 concert be allowed to go ahead if upgrades were made. However, that was reversed Friday when department staff decided the cost would be too high.
"I'm awaiting a full report on where the $400,000 comes from, what it is for, and what options there might be," Duncan Gillespie, CEO of HECFI, the city-owned corporation that wanted to rent Ivor Wynne for the show, said yesterday. "They said apparently the stadium is safe for almost 30,000 people to watch a football game, but not 25,000 people to watch a concert, if 3,800 of them are (seated) on the field."
Gillespie said city staff were chiefly concerned about added fire safety problems created by the 3,800 people sitting on the stadium field. He also said he wasn't sure if city staff had taken into account "the economic impact on the city of 25,000 people coming to see a concert and whether that could have offset some of the costs."
The country double-bill would have been the first major concert to be held at Ivor Wynne in almost 30 years. The city has been reluctant to allow concerts there since some 55,000 rock fans filled the stadium in 1975 to see Pink Floyd. City officials were flooded by complaints about noise and rowdiness.
Hamilton officials insist on living in the past, Hill/McGraw fans are not the same as Pink Floyd fans. They wouldn't be there to rip up and burn the field, gimme a break. We have come along way, proper precautions to protect the turf and adequate police enforcement would have turned the old dump on Lottridge into a palace for one night and the money spent would have brought in further investment. Instead Hamilton officials once again show they have no love.
Later,
Kenaz
