Location, location, er location?

The long and winding road that leads to a new football stadium for Hamilton will apparently be a round about, as the City of Hamilton and Tiger Cats finally come to an agreement that in the end, while not a perfect solution, the best place you can be, is where you are.

This week details were released on the plan to refurbish Ivor Wynne Stadium,  a rehabilitation project that will see the south side seating area rebuilt, with improvements made to the north side seating area.

Though it being Hamilton, controversy seems to follow every announcement, this time the surprise nature of the Mayor's discussions with the Tiger Cats and the sudden, surprise announcement that Ivor Wynne was in the picture, with dreams of a sparkling new stadium now banished to the coulda, shoulda filing cabinet.

Should the latest plan fall through, the city intends to build a 5,000 seat stadium on the West Harbour for Pan Am soccer and the Cats we imagine would begin the process of looking for a new home, most likely out of Hamilton, though we suspect they can cross Burlington off of any relocation short list now.

In the wake of the latest twist in the tale of the Tabbies, the folks who call Burlington home are feeling just a little bit used, from their recent discussions with the Tiger Cats management team.

All in all, a pretty messy affair for the Tiger Cats to try and mend over (perhaps either discounts for season tickets for the Burlington postal code, or not mailing any pamphlets at all the two options for the Cats there).

Still, once Hamilton council approves the plan (never a sure thing we guess) the actual blue prints will be passed out, showing what the "new" Ivor Wynne (how long the name lasts in this era of corporate branding remains to be seen) will look like.

One thing we'll all be watching for is to see if the cramped sidelines are to be relegated to the past, the character of the current stadium has always featured the "heads up" approach to football, where a push out of bounds has a fifty fifty chance of sending the shovee off to intensive care, we imagine that feature of the old Ivor Wynne will be but a foggy memory in the future.

The reviews of the latest chapter of the Cats stadium desires can be found below.

Hamilton Spectator-- Council gives Ivor Wynne plan cautious support
Hamilton Spectator-- The imperfect compromise
Hamilton Spectator-- Wynne win situation
Hamilton Spectator-- Ivor Wynne not so bad after all
National Post-- Ticats, Hamilton mayor strike stadium deal
National Post-- One man never gave up on Ivor Wynne
National Post-- Pan-Am Games boss has questions about Ticats’ stadium plan
Globe and Mail-- Tiger-Cats staying put in Hamilton
Globe and Mail-- Hamilton stadium decision expected by mid February
Toronto Sun-- Ticats fans are happy they're staying at Ivor Wynne