Walking into the bowl at TD Coliseum a month before the place reopens after an expansive renovation, one thing hits you right away.

It’s black.

The seats that are now almost all installed are black. The railings are black. The acoustic half-walls that line the top of the lower level are black. The press box is black. The ceiling is black. Much of the exposed concrete is black. All just like the outside of the building, now that it’s been repainted.

No more old-school, multicolour Copps Coliseum seats. No more orange paint here, grey or white walls there and red floors underfoot. Someone clearly listened to Mick Jagger when he said to paint it black.

It looks cool. But is this simply an esthetic choice — black (combined with gold) does tend to be the traditional Hamilton colour, after a

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