Bombers to play one more game at Canad Inns

Canad Inns Stadium will host one more Winnipeg Blue Bombers football game after all.

The team announced on Monday that, in light of construction delays on the new stadium at the University of Manitoba campus, the preseason game on June 20 will be played at the old facility.

Above-average wind conditions in December and January are to blame for the construction delay, project manager Ossama AbouZeid said Monday.

"Everybody would like things to go smoothly, and you have a nice chart on the wall and you keep seeing you are ahead of it," AbouZeid told reporters.

"We were [ahead] before December…. However, any work in construction, you expect something like that."

Bombers vice-president Jim Bell said the club is prepared to fix up Canad Inns stadium, even at a cost.

"We've done this for many, many years, and if I might say [so], I think we're pretty good at it," he said.

"So we have an estimation of what it's going to cost to open, and we'll build that into our operating budget."

Season-ticket holders will get a partial refund on their tickets to the June 20 preseason game, Bell added.

Bell would not say how much the construction delays will cost the team, but he disagreed with some who suggested $2 million in extra costs.

Team officials insisted that the costs of building Investors Group Field will not exceed the planned pricetag of $190 million.

First regular games on the road

Earlier this month, the team released its schedule for the upcoming season.

The league has allowed the Bombers to play their first four regular season games on the road, in order to give more time for construction on Investors Group Field to be completed.

"As we all know, construction of a major facility is dependent on many different factors," Bell stated in a news release earlier on Monday.

"We were given a comprehensive construction overview last week, and were advised that the construction team has lost over 60 days due to weather."

"While we are enjoying mild temperatures, high winds have hampered the very dangerous work associated with the erection of the partial roof canopy," Bell added.

"Workplace safety is of foremost importance and we support our construction team's decisions as to when it's safe to operate the cranes and when it is not."

The first regular season game at the new stadium was set for July 26 — but even that is uncertain now.

"The July 26 date is dependent on a milestone being met in early May," stated the Bomber release.