The Canadian Football League will officially announce as early as Friday that Toronto will be the host city for the 2012 Grey Cup and that former Canadian Olympic Committee chief executive officer Chris Rudge will be named as the chairman of Toronto’s Grey Cup committee, sources told sportsnet.ca.
Moreover, it has also been learned there is a plan in Hamilton to bring back the Grey Cup to Steeltown, perhaps in 2014 or 2015, pending the city’s ability to build a new stadium.
Toronto has long been rumoured as the 2012 site because it will correspond with the 100th anniversary of the game. From the first game in 1909 through to the mid-60s, Toronto had played host to a majority of the Grey Cups.
According to multiple sources, when the Argos’ previous owners David Cynamon and Howard Sokolowski bought the franchise from the CFL after the 2003 season, one of the provisions of the deal had been that they would get a chance to play host to the game at least two times through 2012. The Argos played host to the Cup in 2007, bringing the game back to Toronto for the first time since 1992.
But 2012 had been viewed as a key year because of the 100th anniversary of the game and the amount of hype that would accompany it. Moreover, it would be a chance to make some significant money, believed to be at least $5 million and possibly more. Cynamon and Sokolowski pegged the profit at $10 million, which they factored into an asking price of between $12 million to $15 million for the franchise when it was put on the block after last season.
The franchise was purchased by B.C. Lions’ owner David Braley in February. He had been a silent partner of the team since Cynamon and Sokolowski bought the franchise. It was never revealed what Braley paid for the team, though the assumption had been he merely took control of it because Cynamon and Sokolowski didn’t want to continue taking a financial hit operating the franchise.
Rudge is a friend of Braley, and his appointment has already been rumoured, though he has denied it.
As for Hamilton, which has not hosted the Cup since 1996, sportsnet.ca has learned that if the city is successful in building a new stadium tied in to the 2015 Pan Am Games taking place in Southern Ontario, the facility will be used for either the 2014 or 2015 Cup. The plan is to build a stadium with at least 30,000 seats, but it could easily be expanded with temporary seating for the Cup.
There is currently a division between the City of Hamilton and Tiger-Cats’ owner Bob Young over where the stadium should be situated, which has prompted a mediator to try to find a resolution.
The city of Hamilton is committed to contributing $60 million for the new stadium, but sources say Young put up at least $10 million of his own money as part of the private funding that is expected to help assist in the project. The Tiger-Cats will be the primary tenant of the new stadium.
There is concern that if the two sides cannot come to an agreement, it will hinder creating a stadium with seating for at least 25,000, which is necessary to make it financially viable for a CFL franchise. Young and previous owners of the franchise have historically lost millions of dollars each year playing at Ivor Wynne, which has limited financial gain for parking and other amenities.
