City council narrowly approved a 20-year stadium lease deal with the Ticats Wednesday night, capping off years of negotiations between the city and the CFL franchise.
The deal passed by a 9-7 margin during an in-camera meeting Wednesday night.
City manager Chris Murray told CBC Hamilton that the deal is better for both the team and taxpayers.
"On the old agreement, we were losing money every time the team played football," he said, adding the old deal wasn't sustainable for the team, either.
Construction on the new Pan Am stadium was delayed about two weeks. Crews started pulling double shifts in February to make up for the lost time. (Adam Carter/CBC)
Now, the city will "break even" on the lease, and "from a Ticat standpoint, it puts them in a much better sustainability situation," he said.
"The bottom line is the Ticats will be here for quite some time."
The deal is worth $750,000 a year for the city for the field's naming rights, $450,000 for the team's rent and prospective $150,000 if a professional soccer team comes to Hamilton.
It's taken over two years for the city and the Ticats to come to an agreement on the lease. Earlier this month, councillors were demanding changes to a proposed lease agreement.
"We've walked through the sticking point as approved by council," Murray said. "Now we're working through all the arrangements.
Murray says the Ticats new home at Tim Hortons Field wasn't holding up the agreement. Rumours have been swirling about delays about the $147.5 million facility, to which the city is contributing $54 million.
Infrastructure Ontario recommended a football contingency plan for the field in case the stadium doesn't open on time in a letter from executive vice-president John McKendrick to Murray.
Crews also ended up working double time on the stadium to make up for a two-week delay caused in part by major ice storm and problems with a masonry company.
"No one has confirmed any construction delay," Murray said. "We're assuming the stadium is on time unless we hear otherwise."
The new 22,500-seat stadium will host 32 soccer games for the 2015 Pan Am Games.
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