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Bombers have no plans to play at old stadium

By: Adam Wazny

Posted: 01/27/2012 10:58 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

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The Blue Bombers will not play at the Canad Inns Stadium next season, despite a delay in the construction of the new stadium at Investors Group Field.

Bomber fans can forget about seeing their club at Canada Inns Stadium next season.

Despite a delay in construction at Investors Group Field, the Winnipeg Football Club confirmed that they have made no plans to play any games – pre-season or regular season – in their former Polo Park home.

"We will not play a game in the old stadium," Blue Bombers CEO Garth Buchko said this morning. "We have a plan and we’re sticking to it. We plan to play a pre-season game at Investors Group Field and we’ll work with the challenges that result with not having some of the aesthetics done.

"There’s no chance of us returning to the old stadium."

Buchko said the construction on the new, 33,500-seat open air stadium at the University of Manitoba is roughly two weeks behind thanks to some windy conditions over the last two months. He expects the building slack to be made up as the winter comes to a close, and is not concerned about the rumours (some pegging the construction two to three months behind) the organization has heard regarding the finish date of the stadium.

There is no absolute, final date for the completion of Investors Group Field, Buchko notes, adding that they will have enough pieces in place (things like seats, washrooms and concessions) to be ready for football games.

The help along in those matters, the Bombers have explored a contingency plan to buy them more time to work on the $190-million facility.

Buchko said the club has asked the CFL schedule maker to put Winnipeg on the road for "the first few games" as a cautionary measure. Whether that means one, two or four games, Buchko wouldn’t say, as the club won’t know how to proceed until the schedule is revealed.

The 2012 CFL schedule is expected to come out in the next two weeks.

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