Engineers check 'anything in the air' at stadium after speaker crashes into stands

City-hired engineers are at Tim Hortons Field stadium Thursday to check "anything that's in the air" after a speaker came crashing down this week.

Engineers will check lights, speakers, the scoreboard and any other items that could fall, said Lloyd Ferguson, anAncaster councillor who headed the city committee for the stadium project.

I'm disgusted.It's crap. We've had so many problems with this thing.- Lloyd Ferguson, Ancaster councillor

"I'm disgusted," Ferguson said. "It's crap. We've had so many problems with this thing."

More problems at the stadium come asOntario's auditor general says last summer's Pan Am and Parapan Am Games in Toronto came in $342 million over budget, even thoughthe province still paid more than $5 million in performance bonuses.

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The Hamilton Tiger-Catsarealso upset over deficiencies which theysayhave cost themmillions.

On Wednesday, one of a dozen speakers onthe east stands fell 30 metres, said Rom D'Angelo, the city's director of facilities. When it hit, it rolled 26 rows to the lower level of the stands.

Only cleaning crew were on site at the time, D'Angelo said. No one was injured. He expects the safety checks to be done in time for a Hamilton Tiger-Cats open house on Sunday.

Ferguson said first thing Thursday, the engineers will check the brackets of every speaker, and every light, and any other items that can fall.

"We need to ensure the public is safe," he said. "That's just construction 101."

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The stadium is an ongoing headache for the city, which wasn't involved in building it. Infrastructure Ontario (IO) headed up the $145-million project and hired Ontario Sports Solutions (ONSS), a construction consortium.

We have been plagued with difficulties with that place.- Lloyd Ferguson

Construction started in 2013 and was supposed to be finished by June 2014. But there were numerous delays, causing the Ticats to play a season at McMaster University and nearly miss the Labour Day Classic with the Toronto Argonauts.

Eventually the ribbon was cut, and the city took ownership of the stadium. But a year later, the city says there are still deficiencies, including obstructed seat views. And notices of legal action are flying between the city, the Ticats and IO.

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In addition to the work Thursday, Ferguson said the city is also hiring an outside firm to finish the remaining work. It's using $6.5 million it held back from IO from the city's $60 million share.

We also had to rent and install LED ribbon board on a per-game basis because it was not procured on time.- Doug Rye, executive vice president, Hamilton Tiger-Cats

"We have been plagued with difficulties with that place," Ferguson said.

As for the Ticats, the teamhas hired a consultant to calculate itslosses and money spent making up for things that were supposed to be in place.

Even the furniture was late

The delays in opening certain sections "impacted our attendance and our ability to meet our sponsor commitments," executive vice president Doug Rye said.

It also lost money from incomplete concession stands and other factors.

"We also had to rent and install LED ribbon board on a per-game basis because it was not procured on time," he said.

"The furniture was also not delivered on time, requiring the Ticats to rent furniture to furnish the clubs and suits once they finally opened. We rented production trucks to operate the video board. There were many other items that the Tiger-Cats invested in to ensure a quality fan experience."

As for the audio system, it "has not yet been properly tested, balanced or commissioned," he said. "We believe that work will be completed by August."