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There are about sixteen months to go before Hamilton will play host to one of the largest international event it’s ever seen — the Pan American Soccer Games. The games could attract about 36-thousand spectators a day for more than two weeks.
A Hamilton Tiger-Cats announcement provided the venue for an update on the plans surrounding the Pan Am soccer games. The stadium construction is not on time. It’s actually two weeks behind but the city of Hamilton says the contractor is making up for the delay that was caused by a cold winter. there are more than 300 workers on site and they’ve added shifts and saturdays to get the work done on time.
They’re working overtime to make sure the cibc hamilton pan am soccer stadium will be ready for next summer’s games. it’s expected that two games a day for 16 days will draw crowds this neighbourhood hasn’t seen in more than forty years.
One neighbour said: “We went through it with Pink Floyd so we know what to expect. What will happen here? What’s gonna happen? A lot of garbage, booze, lots of stuff.”
Plans to make the games go smoothly were discussed at a Hamilton Public Works committee meeting. They’re trying to make 3,600 parking spots available close to the stadium but are encouraging spectators to walk, bike or use public transportation to get to the events.
Coralee Secore is a Pan Am Initiative Manager: “If you have a ticket to the game you will be able to use any mode of transportation from the GO, TTC, to the HSR to any of the shuttle services we have.”
The city is trying to secure 35 hundred rooms at local hotels, colleges and McMaster University. The number of spectators and road closures have some residents concerned.
Daniela Cicconi’s family lives in the neighbourhood: “Football games have become very hectic lot of people lot of garbage so I can imagine what it’s gonna be like during the Pan Am games. It’ll be triple!”
An emergency plan is also in the works.
Coralee said: “Our emergency planning staff are all working on a consequence management plan for the games should anything go wrong at the games or anything in the city that would require an evacuation of the stadium.”
The Ontario Provincial Police are in charge of security but have hired Hamilton police to monitor the crowds. City officials say the stadium is on budget at a cost of 145.7 million dollars.
