Grey Cup: With new stadium open, Tiger-Cats have 2020 vision

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats still have a chance to play in this year’s Grey Cup in Edmonton, but they also want to host the 2020 game and festival in Hamilton. This is first time they have been in a position to bid for the cup since the new stadium was completed in 2015.

Last Monday in Toronto, the Tiger-Cats made a presentation to the CFL’s Grey Cup subcommittee as part of a multistep bid process to determine who will host 2020’s prestigious — and profitable — league championship.

“We presented a vision of what a Grey Cup in Hamilton would look like,” Ticats president of business Matt Afinec told The Spectator. “We spoke about the facts: that we just came through a municipal election; that we’re working with great spirit and co-operation with the city, but that we’re still establishing the exact details of that partnership in light of the fact that the municipal election has just concluded.”

Afinec confirmed that Mayor Fred Eisenberg had provided a letter of support.

Negotiations over a new stadium came with the expectation of two CFL championship games within a decade. But shortly after the new stadium opened, a series of construction-related problems — and eventually competing lawsuits — made it impossible for the city and football team to do business. Those issues have now largely been settled.

Neither Afinec nor team CEO Scott Mitchell would reveal any concrete details of the bid.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders, considered by many CFL observers to be the current front-runners, and the long-shot Montreal Alouettes also made bids for 2020.