Air Canada Centre

Air Canada Centre

The ACC The Hangar
Location	40 Bay Street Toronto, Ontario M5J 2X2
Broke ground	March 12, 1997
Opened	February 19, 1999
Owner	Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment
Construction cost	C$265 million
Architect	Brisbin Brook Beynon, Architects
Capacity	Basketball: 19,800 Hockey: 18,819 Lacrosse: 18,819 Concerts: 19,800 Theatre: 5,200
Tenants
Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) (1999-present) Toronto Raptors (NBA) (1999-present) Toronto Rock (NLL) (2001-present) Toronto Phantoms (AFL) (2001-2002)

North Entrance Atrium

Prior to the commencement of a Raptors game

The Air Canada Centre is a multi-purpose arena located on Bay Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario. It is the home of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association, the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League, and the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League. It was also home to the Toronto Phantoms of the Arena Football League during their brief existence. The arena is popularly known as "the ACC" or "the Hangar" (the latter nickname coming from its sponsorship by Canada's largest airline, Air Canada). The Air Canada Centre is the second busiest arena in North America, behind Madison Square Garden.^[1]

From its initial design to completion it revolutionized many concepts now included in new arenas and stadiums such as luxury suites accessible on the ground floor, splitting the main scoreboard into several sections, rotating all sponsor signage in the bowl at once (to allow dominant messaging), and multiple restaurants in and out of the main arena bowl view.

The arena is owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., the same group that owns both the Leafs and Raptors, and is 665,000 square feet (62,000 m²) in size. Air Canada Centre is connected to Union Station and the underground pedestrian PATH system, providing easy access to public transportation (TTC's Union subway station and GO Transit) for fans attending events. There are also 13,000 parking spaces within immediate walking distance.

Since opening, Air Canada Centre has been recognized with more than 25 industry awards that range from Canadian Major Facility of the Year (multiple times), the U.S. based Facilities & Event Management Magazine's Prime Site Award, the Wine Spectator, VQA Restaurant and the International (Diamond Wine Award) Awards of Excellence, and Tourism Toronto's Jeff Adams Access Award of Excellence for the facilities accessibility.

Air Canada Centre remains the only arena in North America to house three of its own exclusive award-winning restaurants -- The Platinum Club, Air Canada Club and Hot Stove Club. The restaurants, along with themed concessions stands and kiosks offer a diversity of food and beverages that capture Toronto's multicultural flavour. Two in-house bars, the Ice Box and Rickard's Brewhouse (which has its own micro-brewery) are favourite spots for fans before and during games.

Andy Frost is the public address announcer at the ACC during Toronto Maple Leafs home games, while Herbie Kuhn does the job for the Toronto Raptors, and Bruce Barker is the announcer for Toronto Rock games.

History

The Air Canada Centre was started by the Toronto Raptors under its initial ownership group headed by Canadian businessman John Bitove. The building was designed for both hockey and basketball, but basketball was its foremost purpose; indeed, sight lines were designed to be especially good for basketball's smaller court. While the building was under construction, the Maple Leafs were also looking at building their own new arena at a different location.

In purchasing the Raptors and the under-construction Air Canada Centre, MLSE provided the Maple Leafs the venue to move out of the aging legendary Maple Leaf Gardens. MLSE made some changes to the plans while the construction was underway, including turning upper level seats in the west end of the arena into private boxes. The Air Canada Centre's groundbreaking was performed in February of 1997.

The site was once occupied by the Canada Post Delivery Building. The current building retained the striking Art Deco façades of the east (along Bay Street) and south (Lake Shore Boulevard) walls of that structure, but the rest of the building (facing Union Station) was removed to make room for the arena, through the process of façadism.

The 15-storey tower on Bay Street stands at 55 metres, and provides connections in the atrium to Union Station, Bay Street, and York Street (via Bremner Boulevard).

Games and events

Preparing for the national anthem at the Toronto Maple Leaf home opener

The first Maple Leafs home game took place on February 20, 1999 versus the Montreal Canadiens, won by the Leafs 3-2 on an overtime goal by Steve Thomas. The first Raptors game took place the following night versus the Vancouver Grizzlies. The facility hosted the 2000 NHL All-Star Game and the championship game of the 2004 World Cup of Hockey.

The centre has hosted many World Wrestling Entertainment events over the years. In 2004 it hosted SummerSlam 2004. In 2006 it hosted WWE Unforgiven 2006 headlined by Toronto native Edge against John Cena. It has also hosted many WWE Raw, WWE SmackDown! and ECW tapings.

The Toronto Rock also moved to the ACC from Maple Leaf Gardens for the 2001 NLL season. The Rock's first game was a 17-7 win over the Ottawa Rebel on December 21, 2000^[2].

On October 3, 2003 the ACC faced a blackout during the last two minutes of a Raptors pre-season game against the Greek club Panathinikos Kae, the game was called a final, because the power was not restored in time, and Toronto already had a twenty point lead.

The first concert at Air Canada Centre was held on February 22, 1999 by Canadian band The Tragically Hip, and was a sell out. The ACC has held numerous concerts since to prominent stars such as Cher, George Michael, The Cure, Shania Twain, Sammi Cheng, Barbra Streisand, Tina Turner, Shakira, Van Halen, Evanescence, Celine Dion, Kiss, Aerosmith, Queen + Paul Rodgers, My Chemical Romance, Justin Timberlake, Dave Matthews Band, Beastie Boys, Bon Jovi, Blink 182, Guns N' Roses, Depeche Mode, The Who, David Bowie, Gwen Stefani, Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails, Tool, U2, Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Simple Plan, Elton John, Oasis, Metallica, Megadeth, Heaven and Hell 2007 (Black Sabbath/Dio), Iron Maiden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, New Kids On The Block, Billy Talent, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Nelly Furtado, Usher, Janet Jackson, Lenny Kravitz, Pearl Jam, Hilary Duff, Avril Lavigne, John Mayer, Spice Girls, Rush, Roger Waters, Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus, Green Day, Rappers Magee, Britney Spears, Ozzy Osbourne, Zakk Wylde, System Of A Down, American Idol, Beyonce Knowles, Slipknot, The Eagles and Stevie Wonder.

Bon Jovi held the record for having played the most shows in the Air Canada Centre during one tour. On their 2007-2008 Lost Highway Tour they played five shows in Toronto. They were breaking their own earlier four-night record at the ACC that tied with U2, the Spice Girls and The Police.^[3]

Future developments

In late 2005, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment announced that they would be renovating the western side of the Air Canada Centre during the 2008 off-season, to connect it with the future Maple Leaf Square development. Maple Leaf Square is jointly owned by MLSE, Cadillac Fairview and Lantera Developments. The $500 million development will include two restaurants, Hotel Le Germain at Maple Leaf Square boutique hotel, extensive retail shopping including a 9,000 square foot Leafs, Raptors, and Toronto FC store, two 54-storey condominiums, a Longo's supermarket, a High-Definition broadcast studio, and a public square. It is slated for completion in 2009-10.

During the 2007 off-season summer MLSE installed a $4 million dollar dehumidifier to help create better ice conditions for the hockey players.

During the 2008 off-season, MLSE installed a new $7.8 million high definition video scoreboard. The centre hung scoreboard has 17 screens and was made by Mitsubishi Electric; installation of the "see through" shot clocks for basketball games were also added. During the same period, MLSE also renovated a set of their concession stands. While visually appealing on the outside, the insides of the stands remained as old and dilapidated as they did before these "renovations."

Security at the ACC

Security Services at Air Canada Centre are divided into two departments, Event Security and Facility Security. The facility security team is 24-hour security service. The building is monitored 24 hours a day by foot patrols, and CCTV cameras. The event security team works the events only. They are responsible for enforcing the Liquor Licence Act and the Trespass to Property Act. Event and Facility security officers have the full authority to arrest and physically remove patrons off the property. Facility security officers back up the Event Security team in the event of violent individuals. The entire security team is trained with the Use of Force model used by the police. At each event, there are Toronto Police officers on site. When coming to an event, outside food or drink are prohibited from entering in the building.

Gallery

See also

Other venues in the Toronto area, past and present, include:

• Rogers Centre (Formerly known as SkyDome)
• Ricoh Coliseum
• Maple Leaf Gardens
• Mutual Street Arena
• Molson Amphitheatre
• Varsity Arena
• Hershey Centre (in Mississauga)
• St. Michael's College School Arena
• BMO Field
• Maple Leaf Stadium
• Exhibition Stadium

External links

• The Air Canada Centre
• Seats3D - Interactive Seating Map at Air Canada Center for Maple Leafs
• Seats3D - Interactive Seating Map at Air Canada Center for Toronto Raptors

References