Tim Hortons Field will host Labour Day Classic Monday, thanks to issuance of permit

It came right down to the wire, but the Hamilton Tiger-Cats will be able to open the new Tim Hortons Field on Labour Day against the Toronto Argonauts. After a week of frantic work to finish enough of the stadium for inspectors to officially approve it, and despite a fire in a mechanical room early Saturday that did $25,000 in damage, word came at 9:21 p.m. Eastern Sunday that city inspectors have given the field a partial occupancy permit for Monday's game:

The team and the city had been confident for the last week-plus that this would happen, but it's still remarkable that it did, especially when you consider how things looked earlier this week and how much on-site work (and paperwork) was left to do this weekend. The decision didn't come with much time to spare, either; Monday's game is set to kick off at 1 p.m. Eastern, less than 16 hours after the permit was officially approved. Still, they were able to get the permit, and that's the important thing, especially considering the lack of alternatives. With nearby CIS stadiums such as McMaster and Guelph not usable thanks to university games and move-in weekend, and the team calling off their Rogers Centre backup plan Saturday, a permit not being issued would have been disastrous. Fortunately for the Tiger-Cats, that didn't happen.

There are still questions about just how well Tim Hortons Field will do in its first public test, though. For one thing, only some of the stands are being used; the upper west bowl, the suites and the end-zone seating areas will not be available, giving the field a capacity of just 18,000 instead of the planned 24,000. For another, with such a last-minute scramble to make it usable, there may well be issues with concessions, washrooms, entrances and the like. The team's release about what to expect Monday says food, drink and washrooms will all be available, but those have proved issues even at stadiums complete long before their planned opening; see Ottawa and Winnipeg for examples. Still, having this field available at all seems like a boon for the Tiger-Cats. We'll see if it will work out for them and if the first game at Tim Hortons Field will be remembered for the right reasons.