Burlington Stadium: "Virtually impossible" Bratina remains hopeful some councillors may change their minds January 12th.

Burlington Mayor Rick Goldring

The mayor of Burlington, says it is highly unlikely his city will approve plans to build a stadium at Aldershot,

“I would say it’s virtually impossible,” said Rick Goldring, who was sworn in as mayor last month. “I wouldn’t say it’s completely impossible, but I would say it’s virtually impossible.

“That’s a very challenging time frame and for us to really analyze something specific in that short period of time is a major, major challenge and it puts the odds of trying to achieve something longer for sure.” continued Mayor Goldring. 

Toronto 2015 CEO Ian Troop believes his group has no choice, but to stand by the deadline.
“We have run out of flexibility. You can accuse us, if anything, of being too flexibility over the last eight months that flexibility has meant we need to make a hard decision now,” Troop said.

Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina

Hamilton city council will meet on Jan. 12 to plot its next move. In a meeting in December the group voted against moving forward with a pair of potential locations. Hamilton Mayor Bob Bratina remains hopeful some councillors may change their minds about the Confederation Park site. Council voted 9-6 not to evaluate that site, which is located on the shore of Lake Ontario.

Pan Am Games CEO Ian Troop

When asked if Burlington may get a deadline extension if Hamilton formally withdraws from the process Troop held firm: “Unfortunately the answer is still no. We are absolutely out of time.”

Toronto 2015 will initiate a back-up plan on Feb. 1 if no other site is in place. Troop said the municipalities of Mississauga and Brampton are the two front runners to build a smaller-sized facility (around 5,500 to 6,500 seats) if Hamilton and/or Burlington cannot get something done.