I watch the game on TV and I know there's a touchdown before the TV tells me there's a touchdown because I can hear from the crowd, and the cannon goes off as well." Little sleep but no trouble expected, say residents "Some people can't understand why you would want to live so close to it. It's not for everyone of course, but Miller is happy. The odd Toronto fan will come straggling up and if one person says something, then everybody's heckling them… The Toronto fans have become pretty good about that. "There's a lot of waving and acknowledging. "It's pretty well the same people we see all the time," she said, noting a woman in a gold, sequined outfit often passes by, as do the kilt- and hard-hat-wearing members of Ticat fan group The Box J Boys. She plans to spend Sunday taking it all in from the lawn with her multi-generational family. THE BUZZER Grey Cup primer: Our head says Winnipeg but our heart says Hamilton She recalls one neighbour paying his home insurance with parking money in her early days there. She bought her house 20 years ago specifically because it's close to the stadium, and has sold parking in the past. She said hanging out outside on game day to interact with other fans is a big part of the community's culture, and lawn parking is a way for people from other communities to join the action. Kathy Miller, who lives on Leinster Avenue, just north of the stadium, confirms the parking restrictions have been the talk of the neighborhood. The stadium, which opened in 2014, replacing the now-demolished Ivor Wynne, looms over the residential area. The interest in parking is big on the streets immediately surrounding the venue. Many had already sold or reserved spots for regular customers, he said. The news has made the excitement of Grey Cup weekend bittersweet for local residents accustomed to the income stream, said Sutherland. Vehicles found parked on front lawns will be tagged or towed," the letter read. "Unlike during regular scheduled Hamilton Tiger Cats season home games, parking will NOT be permitted on the front lawns of area homes. Many of the stadium's neighbours are superfans of the CFL team.
The Tiger-Cats gnome of resident Lynda Spencer sits on her porch. Parking during regular-season games (the city's Forge FC soccer club also plays at the stadium) goes for $30 per car on his street, he says. He was expecting to be able to charge $50 for the Grey Cup until the city sent a letter in November saying the four streets immediately adjacent to the field would be closed starting Saturday at 5 p.m. "I would probably have cleared $600," he told CBC Hamilton on Thursday. "It becomes almost a part-time job," he said sitting in a chair on his front porch, days before the big game between the Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers.īut the only job he'll have Sunday is as a Ticat fan, after the city dampened Sutherland's parking plan by barring the time-honoured practice this weekend. He has been selling lawn parking during events at Tim Hortons Field since he moved to the area four years ago. Sutherland lives in Hamilton's Stipley neighbourhood, where the Grey Cup will be held Sunday. "I'm arguing with people, 'You have to move over another eight inches.' It's the only way all 12 will fit." "It's almost like Tetris," he says, referring to the puzzle game. If he squishes them together just so, Steve Sutherland can fit 12 parked cars on his corner-lot lawn.