Tim Hortons Field, nicknamed "The Donut Box", is a multi-purpose stadium in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilto ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. Built as a replacement for

Ivor Wynne Stadium Ivor Wynne Stadium (formerly Civic Stadium) was a Canadian football stadium located at the corner of Balsam and Beechwood avenues, two blocks west of Gage Avenue North in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The stadium was the home of the Hamilton Tiger ...

, Tim Hortons Field is primarily used for

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

and

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, and is the home of the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fie ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a c ...

and Forge FC of the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary national soccer league compe ...

. During the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak al ...

, it was referred to as CIBC Hamilton Pan Am Soccer Stadium. The stadium opened in September 2014, two months after its original anticipated completion date of June 30, 2014.

History

Stadium development

Initial plans for the stadium were for it to be a principal Pan American stadium for soccer and track and field/athletics events. However, disputes between the Tiger-Cats owner, Bob Young, the organizers of the

, and the City of Hamilton arose over the location of the stadium, among other things, including whether or not a running track should be built around the proposed stadium in Hamilton. In 2012, the 2015 Pan-Am organizers indicated that, due to financial constraints, they would be shifting their focus toward venues and "clusters" that could be used for multiple events, which might eliminate the need for a new stadium that would be used only for soccer, and they proposed another stadium on the campus of York University, tentatively named York Athletics Stadium, to host the track and field events. That, coupled with a scheduling process that had soccer and rugby sevens events on different days (thus opening the possibility that Toronto's

BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which is home to Toronto FC of Major League Soccer and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Constructed on the site of the former ...

, which would house the rugby sevens contests in 2015 might also be able to host the soccer contests), had the potential to put the Hamilton stadium project in jeopardy. Nonetheless, the Hamilton stadium project went forward as planned. In July 2013, it was announced that

Tim Hortons Tim Hortons Inc., commonly nicknamed Tim's, or Timmie's is a Canadian multinational coffeehouse and restaurant chain. Based in Toronto, Tim Hortons serves coffee, doughnuts, and other fast-food items. It is Canada's largest quick-service res ...

, the international restaurant chain that originated in Hamilton some fifty years earlier, had acquired

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of ...

to the stadium.

Construction and opening

The new stadium was constructed in 2013 and into early-mid 2014 on the site of the former

, which was demolished in the process, and it opened for

(CFL) football in late 2014. The stadium currently seats approximately 24,000 spectators for Canadian football, with expansion potential to boost capacity to more than 40,000 seats for special events (such as hosting a

Grey Cup The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...

contest) in the future. The design of the new stadium also increased the width of the field to accommodate soccer games by meeting FIFA's international standards for

association football pitch A football pitch (also known as soccer field) is the playing surface for the game of association football. Its dimensions and markings are defined by Law 1 of the Laws of the Game, "The Field of Play". The pitch is typically made of natural t ...

es; reoriented the playing field from east–west to a north–south orientation; increased the seat width and leg room/corridor space to make it one of the most spacious among Canadian sports venues; incorporated extensive wireless communications infrastructure and washroom facilities; as well as adding

luxury box The luxury box (or skybox) and club seating constitute the most exclusive class of seating in arenas and stadiums, and generate much higher revenues than regular seating. Club ticketholders often receive exclusive access to an indoor part of t ...

es, and other modern amenities. The stadium field surface is FIFA- and CFL-approved

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commerc ...

. The CFL's

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the CFL East Division, East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based i ...

played two home games at Tim Hortons Field in 2015, due to clashes with the MLB's

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

playoffs games. The stadium has also occasionally hosted special games for Hamilton's amateur football teams; the Hamilton Hurricanes of the

Canadian Junior Football League The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is a national Major Junior Canadian football league consisting of 19 teams playing in five provinces across Canada. The teams compete annually for the Canadian Bowl. Many CJFL players move on to profe ...

played a game in the stadium in 2015 and the

McMaster Marauders football The McMaster Marauders football team represents McMaster University based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The team plays U Sports football in the Ontario University Athletics conference. The Marauders have been playing organized football since 1901 ...

team played its 2016 Labour Day contest at the field in a doubleheader with the Tiger-Cats. The Hurricanes returned to the field twice in 2017, the latter being its own Labour Day contest. In January 2015,

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the ...

awarded Tim Hortons Field hosting rights to the 52nd and 53rd Vanier Cup, held in November 2016 and November 2017 respectively. Forge FC, a new soccer team owned by the Tiger-Cats, have played at the stadium in the

since 2019. During the 2019 season, Tim Hortons Field hosted the first ever CPL match in April, and the first ever CPL Finals match in October.

Notable sporting events hosted

Scheduled events

Construction issues

Following the stadium opening in 2014 there had been numerous issues regarding the quality of the construction. The City of Hamilton subsequently spent upwards of $2.5 million in fixes and safety repairs including replacing rain-damaged television screens and faulty baby-changing tables, installing draft beer lines, improving ventilation, sealing leaky expansion joints and repairing faulty floor drains.

References

External links

* {{Tim Hortons, state=autocollapse Soccer venues in Ontario Canadian Football League venues Sports venues in Hamilton, Ontario Venues of the 2015 Pan American Games Rugby union stadiums in Ontario Lacrosse venues Hamilton Tiger-Cats Tim Hortons Canadian Premier League stadiums Forge FC Premier Lacrosse League venues Canadian football venues in Ontario Public–private partnership projects in Canada