Pan Am countdown celebration

(Update)
Officials with the 2015 Pan Am games are counting down to next year’s international sporting event. They say preparations for the games almost couldn’t be better — almost.

It turns out the one hold-up in the works is in Hamilton, after everything we’ve been hearing about Tim Hortons Field and the Pan Am controversy for several years now. But that shouldn’t be a problem when the games start next year.

With a ceremonial flourish, the clock was unveiled to mark the one-year countdown to the start of the Pan Am Games, July 10th, 2015.

And organizers are thrilled with the preparations.

The Chair of the Pan Am Board, David Peterson says no games in history have had their facilities doing so well so early, except for Hamilton: “Things are really in good shape. The only facility we’re really a little bit behind is the stadium in Hamilton, about a month. But that’s still 11 months ahead of the games. So it really is, it affects the people of Hamilton and the Ticats we’re sorry about that but it doesn’t affect the games in any way.”

In north Toronto at York University, another Pan Am stadium is well under way. That’s the one that was supposed to go to Hamilton originally with the high-profile track and field events, but was moved to Toronto.

And in Milton, the Velodrome is doing well. Another facility originally planned for Hamilton but then moved away — creating a cycling centre for Milton long after the 2015 games.

Kurt Harnett is with Pan Am 2015: “It’s going to be a fantastic hub for cycling. The national team is moving its programs to the facility. We’ve heard that international teams want to come to the area to train.”

But although it lost track and field, and cycling, Hamilton will be hosting the Pan Am soccer events — possibly drawing 80 thousand fans.

So while the delay in finishing Tim Hortons Field will affect the Tiger Cats and their fans, with the football team looking for somewhere to play for a while, Pan Am officials are convinced everything will be in place for soccer in Hamilton next year.

As for the budget, Pan Am chair David Peterson says at this stage, as the facilities are being finished, the construction projects are 57 million dollars under budget. But the total cost of the games to taxpayers is expected to be around 2.5 billion dollars and Ontario’s sports minister says that does not include security or transportation. He says he can’t guarantee the games will come in on budget.