Air Canada Centre

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<tr><td>Broke ground</td><td>March 12, 1997</td></tr>

Air Canada Centre <tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">The ACC</td></tr><tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">Image:Air Canada Centre logo.gif Image:Day150accg.JPG </td></tr>
Location	40 Bay Street Toronto, Ontario M5J-2N8
Opened	February 19, 1999
Owner	Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment <tr><td>Construction cost</td><td>C$265 million</td></tr><tr><td>Architect</td><td>Brisbin Brook Beynon, Architects</td></tr>
Tenants
Toronto Raptors (NBA) (1999-present) Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL) (1999-present) Toronto Rock (NLL) (2001-present) Toronto Phantoms (AFL) (2001-2002)
Seats
Basketball 19,800 Hockey 18,819 Lacrosse 18,819 Concerts 19,800 Theatre 5,200

Image:Day150accb.JPG

Image:Air Canada Centre from CN Tower.jpg The Air Canada Centre, often referred to simply as The ACC, 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 ACC is owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., the same group that owns the Leafs, and is 665,000 square feet (62,000 m²) in size.

An early nickname for the venue was "The Hangar" due to the corporate sponsor of the arena, Air Canada. However this name was never quite adopted by the general public. The Air Canada Centre is most commonly referred to as simply "The ACC" and has been referenced as such on the official Air Canada Centre website. It is located just south of Union Station.

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

1 History
2 Best Buy Theatre
3 Future Renovations
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] 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, sightlines 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. Journalists such as the Toronto Star's Dave Perkins encouraged both sides to pair up into one arena; two 20,000-seat arenas were seen as overkill for the city. Purchasing the Raptors and the under-construction Air Canada Centre allowed the Maple Leafs to move out of the aging legendary Maple Leaf Gardens without having to build a separate new arena. The Maple Leafs 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 facades of the east and south walls of that structure, but the rest of the building was removed to make room for the arena.

The 15-storey tower stands at 55 metres.

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 venue held WWE SummerSlam in 2004 and WWE Unforgiven in 2006, as well as numerous other wrestling events.

The ACC has held numerous concerts to big name stars such as KISS, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses, David Bowie, Mariah Carey, Coldplay, U2, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Madonna, The Rolling Stones, Britney Spears and Oasis.

[edit] Best Buy Theatre

Located within the Air Canada Centre is the 5,200-seat Best Buy Theatre, used for theatre concerts, Broadway and family shows, and other events. It was formerly called the Sears Theatre and is also known as the "Theatre at ACC".

[edit] Future Renovations

In late 2005, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment announced that they would be renovating the south side of the Air Canada Centre during the 2008 offseason, to connect it with the future Maple Leaf Square development. It will link with the PATH network, bringing the underground pedestrian walkway network to its most southerly point.

[edit] See also

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

[edit] External links

The Air Canada Centre

Preceded by: SkyDome 1995–1999	Home of the Toronto Raptors 1999–present	Succeeded by: current

Preceded by: Maple Leaf Gardens 1931–1999	Home of the Toronto Maple Leafs 1999–present	Succeeded by: current

Coordinates: 43°38′36″N, 79°22′45″W

Toronto landmarks

Image:Toronto Flag.svg

Eastern Conference		Western Conference
Current arenas in the National Hockey League
Air Canada Centre \| BankAtlantic Center \| Bell Centre \| Continental Airlines Arena \| HSBC Arena \| Madison Square Garden \| Mellon Arena \| Nassau Coliseum \| Philips Arena \| RBC Center \| St. Pete Times Forum \| Scotiabank Place \| TD Banknorth Garden \| Verizon Center \| Wachovia Center		American Airlines Center \| Gaylord Entertainment Center \| GM Place \| HP Pavilion \| Honda Center \| Jobing.com Arena \| Joe Louis Arena \| Nationwide Arena \| Pengrowth Saddledome \| Pepsi Center \| Rexall Place \| Scottrade Center \| Staples Center \| United Center \| Xcel Energy Center

Eastern Conference		Western Conference
Current arenas in the National Basketball Association
Air Canada Centre \| AmericanAirlines Arena \| Bradley Center \| Charlotte Bobcats Arena \| Conseco Fieldhouse \| Continental Airlines Arena \| Madison Square Garden \| Palace of Auburn Hills \| Philips Arena \| Quicken Loans Arena \| TD Banknorth Garden \| The Arena in Orlando \| United Center \| Verizon Center \| Wachovia Center		American Airlines Center \| ARCO Arena \| AT&T Center \| EnergySolutions Arena \| FedExForum \| Ford Center \| KeyArena \| New Orleans Arena \| Oracle Arena \| Pepsi Center \| Rose Quarter \| Staples Center \| Target Center \| Toyota Center \| US Airways Center

Eastern Division		Western Division
Current arenas in the National Lacrosse League
Air Canada Centre \| Blue Cross Arena \| HSBC Arena \| Madison Square Garden¹ \| Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum² \| Sears Centre \| Wachovia Center \| Xcel Energy Center		HP Pavilion \| Jobing.com Arena \| Pengrowth Saddledome \| Pepsi Center \| Rexall Place \| Rose Garden Arena
¹The New York Titans play four of their home games at Madison Square Garden. ²The New York Titans play four of their home games at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.