Sell 12,500 season tickets. Raise $1 million in corporate sponsorship. Build adequate corporate boxes at Ivor Wynne Stadium. Provide stable ownership.

Those were the four demands set out by the Canadian Football League to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in October 1994. If the Ti-Cats failed to meet those demands by a league-imposed December 23rd deadline, a 125 year old tradition would end. Professional football would be done in Hamilton.

The so-called “Drive for ’95” was in full swing around this time thirty years ago. Daily, the Hamilton Spectator ran tallies showing how many season tickets were sold for the 1995 season. Hamilton had a meagre 6,400 season ticket holders in 1994. Doubling that figure was a daunting task.

13,287

On Friday December 16, 1994, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats announced that they had sold 13,287 season tickets for 1995. What was considered the most “challenging” of the four demands was met…and with time to spare.

“The people of this city are resilient and they respond” – Ticat Legend Angelo Mosca

In the weeks to follow, the corporate sponsorship quota was met and the ownership situation became clearer, paving the way for David Macdonald and George Grant to purchase the franchise. As the 1995 season drew closer, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats – for the first time in years – were financially stable. Football was alive and well in Hamilton.

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The Drive for ’95 stands out for me because that was the year I became a season ticket holder myself. My parents bought season tickets for me, my brother, and my sister for Christmas in 1994. I remember my Mom somewhat panicking because she didn’t have anything physically to give us, to show us we were now season ticket holders. So, she wrote each of us a note saying, “You are invited to attend every Hamilton Tiger-Cats home game in 1995.” She also referenced where we would be sitting: Section 23. I look back now and think – wow – we’ve been season ticket holders for 30 years. – RF