Rogers Arena
Rogers Arena is a multi-purpose arena located at 800 Griffiths Way in the downtown area of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Opened in 1995, the arena was known as General Motors Place (GM Place) from its opening until July 6, 2010, when General Motors Canada ended its naming rights sponsorship and a new agreement for those rights was reached with Rogers Communications. Rogers Arena was built to replace the Pacific Coliseum as Vancouver's primary indoor sports facility and in part due to the National Basketball Association (NBA) 1995 expansion into Canada, when Vancouver and Toronto were given expansion teams.
The Garage | |
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![]() Venue exterior in 2011 | |
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Former names |
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Address | 800 Griffiths Way |
Location | Vancouver, British Columbia |
Coordinates | 49°16′40″N 123°6′32″W |
Public transit | ![]() |
Owner | Canucks Sports & Entertainment |
Capacity | Ice hockey: 18,422 (1995–2002) 18,514 (2002–2003) 18,630 (2003–2009) 18,810 (2009–2010) 18,860 (2010–2011) 18,890 (2011–2012) 18,910 (2012–present) Basketball: 19,193 (1995–2003) 19,700 (2003–present) Concert: 19,000 |
Field size | 44,100 m2 (475,000 sq ft) |
Construction | |
Broke ground | July 13, 1993[1] |
Opened | September 21, 1995 |
Construction cost | CA$160 million ($249 million in 2018 dollars)[2] |
Architect | Brisbin, Brook and Beynon |
Structural engineer | Stuart Olson Dominion[3] |
Services engineer | The Mitchell Partnership Inc.[4] |
General contractor |
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Tenants | |
Vancouver Canucks (NHL) (1995–present) Vancouver Warriors (NLL) (2018–present) Vancouver Titans (OWL) (2020 onwards) Vancouver Grizzlies (NBA) (1995–2001) Vancouver Voodoo (RHI) (1996) Vancouver Ravens (NLL) (2001–2004) |
![](../I/Rogers_Arena_interior_2013.jpg.webp)
It is home to the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League and the Vancouver Warriors of the National Lacrosse League. The arena also hosted the ice hockey events at the 2010 Winter Olympics. The name of the arena temporarily became Canada Hockey Place during the Olympics. It was previously home to the Vancouver Grizzlies of the NBA from 1995 to 2001. The Grizzlies spent six seasons in Vancouver before relocating to Memphis, Tennessee, for the 2001–02 season.
History
GM Place
The arena was completed in 1995 at a cost of C$160 million in private financing to replace the aging Pacific Coliseum as the main venue for events in Vancouver and to serve as the home arena to the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League and the Vancouver Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association.[6] It was originally named General Motors Place as part of a sponsorship arrangement with General Motors Canada, and was commonly known as "GM Place" or "The Garage".[7] The arena was also briefly home to the Vancouver Ravens of the National Lacrosse League from 2002 to 2004.[8] The operations of the team have since been suspended although attempts were made to revive the team in 2007 and again in 2008.
The employees of the arena belong to a trade union. In 2007, they chose to change their union affiliation from UNITE HERE – Local 40 to the Christian Labour Association of Canada. After many months of struggle the British Columbia Labour Relations Board declared the employees choice of a new union. The employee group includes hosts, housekeeping, security and various event staff at the venue. UNITE-HERE local 40 still represented food service workers in the arena, employed by Aramark. Another union protest began in 2009 when GM Place concession workers, cooks and event staff protested their payment.[9]
The arena's event technical employees are provided through Riggit Services Inc. In the same year, the arena also received a new suspended scoreboard, which at the time was the largest in the NHL.[10][11] It was temporarily renamed "Canada Hockey Place" for a two-week period during the 2010 Winter Olympics due to Olympics regulations regarding corporate sponsorship of event sites.[12]
Rogers Arena
On July 6, 2010, it was announced that GM had declined to renew the naming rights, and that Rogers Communications had acquired the naming rights under a 10-year deal, under which it was renamed Rogers Arena.[13] The following year, the arena reached a five-year sponsorship deal with PepsiCo, under which it became the exclusive provider of beverages and snacks at Rogers Arena, and gained sponsorship placements.[14] In addition, all concerts held at Rogers Arena promote the venue as Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena.
In July 2012, Aquilini Investment Group had originally planned to build the towers with condo units. The switch to rental units provides the City with much-needed rental space. However, the city lost about $35 million in developer contributions to community facilities in the Northeast False Creek area that would have been collected if the buildings had been condos.[15] As of June 2016, the first tower is completed, with the second tower nearing completion.[16]
Notable events
Hockey
- October 6, 2002 – Queen Elizabeth II dropped the ceremonial first puck in an NHL exhibition game between the San Jose Sharks and the Vancouver Canucks.[17]
- The 2010 Winter Olympics (ice hockey games only)
- June 1, 4, 10, and 15, 2011 – Games 1, 2, 5, and 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. The Boston Bruins defeated the Canucks 4–0 in game 7 of the finals to capture the Stanley Cup.
UFC
WWE
- July 21, 1996 – Hosted WWE's In Your House 9: International Incident pay-per-view
- December 13, 1998 – Hosted WWE's Rock Bottom: In Your House pay-per-view
- February 14, 2020 – Hosted a live taping of WWE's Smackdown
Concerts
- November 7, 2002 – Riot when Axl Rose failed to show for Guns N' Roses show.[24]
- August 24, 25 and 27, 2012 - Metallica filmed their concert film Through the Never during their Full Arsenal Tour.[25]
- August 14, 2013 – Selena Gomez started her Stars Dance Tour at the venue.
- February 9, 2014 – Demi Lovato started The Neon Lights Tour at the venue.
- April 19 and 20, 2016 – Sir Paul McCartney played two sold-out shows at the venue as part of the One on One Tour.
- December 7, 2018 – A venue included in Childish Gambino's final headlining tour.
- January 29, 2019 – Travis Scott started his 2nd leg of his Astroworld – Wish You Were Here Tour.
- April 25, 2020 – Miranda Lambert: Wildcard Tour with supporting acts Cody Johnson and LANCO.
Juno Awards
- March 22, 1998 – Hosted the 27th annual Juno Awards
- March 29, 2009 – Hosted the 38th annual Juno Awards
- March 25, 2018 – Hosted the 47th annual Juno Awards
Other events
- March 17–25, 2001 – Hosted the 2001 World Figure Skating Championships
- August 20–25, 2018 – Host of The International 2018 Dota 2 eSports tournament[26]
See also
References
- "General Motors Place". Basketball.ballparks.com. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
- Canadian inflation numbers based on Statistics Canada tables 18-10-0005-01 (formerly CANSIM 326-0021) "Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted". Statistics Canada. November 15, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020. and 18-10-0004-13 "Consumer Price Index by product group, monthly, percentage change, not seasonally adjusted, Canada, provinces, Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit". Statistics Canada. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
- Archived April 25, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
- "GM Place - TMP Toronto" (PDF). Retrieved February 18, 2013.
- "Rogers Arena". Hockey.ballparks.com. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
- John Mackie; Lionel Wild (January 20, 2018). "Pacific Coliseum at 50: The Rink on Renfrew in photos". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
- "Canadians enjoying the NBA". New Bern Sun Journal. North Carolina, New Bern. December 17, 1995.
- Ewen, Steven (December 23, 2018). "Duch in the clutch: Former Warriors sniper helps spoil home opener for Vancouver NLL side". The Province. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
The Ravens played out of the rink, then known as GM Place, from 2002-04 before folding due to money troubles. They weren’t owned by the Canucks.
- "Union pickets surround GM Place". sportsnet.ca. September 13, 2009. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
- "Look at Vancouver to see a new scoreboard". East Bay Times. January 29, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
- Lanaway, Jeremy. "Show Time". Canucks Sports & Entertainment. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- Johns, Stephen (February 20, 2010). "Dispatches from Vancouver: The Curious Case of General Motors Place". torontoist.com. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
- Canadian Press (July 6, 2010). "GM Place to be renamed Rogers Arena". TSN. Archived from the original on July 9, 2010. Retrieved July 6, 2010.
- October 05; 2011. "Pepsi ousts Coke in Rogers Arena deal". Retrieved March 8, 2019.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
- Frances Bula (July 15, 2012). "Rental units proposed for Rogers Arena". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
- Meiszner, Peter (April 27, 2016). "Second tower of rental apartments at Rogers Arena takes shape - urbanYVR.com". Retrieved August 10, 2016.
- "Queen visits GM Place to drop ceremonial puck". Archived from the original on November 22, 2005. Retrieved October 5, 2010.
- "UFC 115". The Vancouver Sun. Archived from the original on August 19, 2010. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
- "profile". Vancouver2010.com. Retrieved February 18, 2013.
- "UFC 131: CARWIN VS. DOS SANTOS". MMA Fighting. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
- Jeremy Brand (January 19, 2014). "UFC announces Vancouver event on June 14 for UFC 174". vancitybuzz.com. Retrieved January 19, 2014.
- UFC Press Release (June 15, 2016). "UFC returns to Vancouver in August". ufc.com. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
- "UFC Fight Night on ESPN+: Cowboy vs. Gaethje in Vancouver". ESPN Press Room U.S. September 12, 2019. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
- Martin Kielty. "15 YEARS AGO: AXL ROSE NO-SHOW SPARKS GUNS N' ROSES FAN RIOT". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
- Sheppard, Denise (August 28, 2012). "Metallica Bring 'The Full Arsenal' 3D Show to Vancouver". Rolling Stone. Retrieved March 23, 2020.
- Rose, Victoria. "The International 8 to take place August 20–25 in Vancouver". The Flying Courier. Polygon. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rogers Arena. |