It’s the time of year for generosity and the time of year for thankfulness.

That also makes it the perfect time of year to reflect on the impact the Hamilton Sports Group has had on the community. And the numbers are remarkable.

In 2024, cooperating with corporate partners and community organizations, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Forge FC—the two professional franchises owned by HSG—combined to help raise, in various forms, over $1 million that went back into the community.

The two teams and their partners also helped more than 23,000 Hamilton-and-area youth get involved in a plethora of programs, staged or attended over 400 events, engaged 145 schools in football-related experiences and 62 in soccer, and worked with dozens of youth soccer clubs and football organizations.

Additionally, HSG’s Senior Director of Brand, Consumer Marketing and Partnerships Courtney Stephen says players, company employees, cheer and dance team members and club mascots, gave 1600 person-hours to help in events and special appearances.

“Our mission statement is to energize the Hamilton community through Tiger-Cats football and Forge FC soccer,” says Stephen, the former Ticats star.

“We’re trying to create programs that create healthy active lifestyles and give young people a chance to do things they typically wouldn’t do, like come to the stadium for a football game or soccer match and meet pros and mentors who can give them an idea of what they could become, help them dream bigger and live a healthy lifestyle.”

Stephen continued, “We can raise funds and provide in-kind donations in a number of ways, from 50-50 draws; donations from corporate partners; partners paying for tickets for kids to come to games; the team donating merchandise and memorabilia for organizations to raffle off and raise funds; or facilitating our high school mentorship program that sees Stelco provide scholarships for high school football players.”

Forge FC programs included the School Day Match, Fit with Forge, Youth Soccer Skills Camp, Forge Summer Camp, Coaches Clinic, the Spark Summit, Signature Match, Pro Practice and the Out of Office Cup.

The Tiger-Cats operated BeFit, FirstOn the Field Flag Football, High School Skills Camp, Minor Football Skills Cap, Play it Forward, Dempster’s Community Dinner, High School Mentorship, Coach of the Week, and Hearts in the Huddle.

Stephen points out that HSG has staff and interns dedicated to working with corporate partners and local organizations to provide those community services and outreaches— “many hands make light work”—and credits Amanda Heeren, the company’s manager of community partnerships and player relations for “putting in the sweat equity to bring those programs to life.”

Heeren emphasizes, “I think it’s the most important part of the business. For Hamilton to buy into us, we have to buy into them. The legacy of 155 years kind of depends on community building. Being able to bring more groups and different kinds of people into the building to see everything CFL football has to offer and Forge has to offer, supporting Canadian athletes and being able to support it all at a grass-roots level.”

She’s observed that corporate partners, and any of their employees who come out to support or voluntarily staff community events, seem to be genuinely enriched by their association with the programs.

“I think they love it. People want to be associated with companies that do good things and we’re able to do that for our partners in ways that they wouldn’t be able do on their own. For example, FirstOntario, with our flag football program, was able to get 20-plus schools involved. They wouldn’t be able to that without us amplifying the message and doing the ground-floor work.

“I think that’s one of the things that people love about Hamilton. You look out for your neighbour and you care about each other. It feels good to uplift. When volunteers from our corporate partners come out into the community with us and help put on the event, you can see the difference. It feels like you’re part of a greater community.”

That’s a reflection of the commonly-held theory that the stadium is essentially this city’s town square. The football and soccer players also take more ownership after being involved in events and projects created by either team.

“I think it helps them play better football and soccer, you can see that bit of a connection,” Heeren says. “Being recognized by an adult fan is cool, it makes you feel special. But when they’re out at, say, the grocery store and a little kid comes up to them and says ‘You were at my school! You’re a Ticats player!’ Or ‘You’re a Forge player!’ they text me right away and they’re really excited and it helps them feel connected to the community.”

Stephen sees that same kind of enthusiasm and connection at the corporate-partner level.

“If you reach a certain level of success, I think we all have a sense of obligation and a sense of drive to give back to the community that provided us that opportunity. The cool thing about Hamilton is that all the organizations we work with were aligned from a values-standpoint first and one of those core values is that this community makes everything possible.

“The stadium is in a residential neighbourhood, so it’s quite symbolic of the fact that we are one with the people who come to the stands because if they don’t come, there’s no team. It’s a relationship we try to nurture because there’s a sense of responsibility.”