WINNIPEG -- Their new uniforms may be ready but the Winnipeg Blue Bombers will have to wait even longer than expected to play in their brand new stadium.
Team president Garth Buchko announced Wednesday that the closest thing to a guaranteed opening date is now Sept. 21, almost two months later than the last projected opening date of July 26. And that date was itself a delay for a project originally to be completed for the start of the season.
The news came a day after trotted out the new uniforms for the coming season. It now seems the new duds will get most of their use in 2012 at Canad Inns Stadium, where the Bombers have played for more than half a century.
With construction going on behind his back as he spoke, Buchko said opening on Sept. 21 is "very likely, if not 100 per cent positive."
The July 26 date had been a little softer, with a warning that it could be revised after a project review May 1.
But there is still a chance Investors Group Field at the University of Manitoba could be ready for Sept. 9 and the annual Banjo Bowl game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Buchko added.
The stadium is being shared with the University of Manitoba Bisons and if it is ready for that game, they would be the first to take to the new field on the Saturday that same weekend.
"If all things work out and we play here on Sept. 9, the Bisons will be the first to play," said Buchko.
The new opening date means the Bombers will play at least five and perhaps six games in their old home, including the exhibition home opener June 20.
Buchko said Canad Inns Stadium has been prepared at a cost of about $100,000.
"It's no different this year than any other year," he said. "The field has all been repaired and readied for spring camp ... It's ready to go."
Fans won't have to pay new higher season-ticket prices for seats in the old stadium, the Bombers also announced Wednesday. Last year's prices will be charged.
The delay has been blamed on high winds that have prevented completion of the split roof over the seating areas that covers a total of about 3.2 hectares.
Stuart Olson Dominion Construction project manager Stuart Clynes said the company knew wind would the issue from the beginning.
"Going into December we were nine per cent ahead of schedule," he said.
"If we have wind, we're lifting in some cases over 200 tonnes of steel ... No lift is safe above 32 kilometres an hour."
He said there are 400 people working on the project now and that will soon be 600.
"We're out here working seven days a week to produce the stadium as quickly as possible," Clynes said.
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