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93-536: Nowlan Park ( / ˈ n oʊ l ə n / ; Páirc Uí Nualláin ), known for sponsorship reasons as UPMC Nowlan Park , is the principal Gaelic Athletic Association stadium in Kilkenny , Ireland . Named after James Nowlan , the longest serving President of the GAA , the stadium hosts major hurling matches and is home to the Kilkenny hurling team. It opened in 1927, replacing St. James Park. The stadium consists of

186-484: A Longo's supermarket, and a public square. It opened in 2010. The two-year, $ 48 million renovation of the ACC added a new atrium that includes a High-Definition broadcast studio for Leafs Nation Network (formerly Leafs TV), NBA TV Canada and GolTV Canada . The outside wall of the atrium features a 9.1-by-15.2-metre (30 by 50 ft) video screen overlooking the plaza, which often broadcasts games taking place inside

279-445: A Rolling Stones concert. As a result of these misdemeanours, there was no alcohol served at the arena from December 21 to 28 in 2003. The venue had multiple major events during this time frame, which included a Toronto Raptors– Orlando Magic game on December 21, a Toronto Maple Leafs– Florida Panthers game on December 23, and Disney on Ice : Toy Story 2 , which ran from December 25, 2003, to January 1, 2004. On September 6, 2014,

372-536: A naming-rights deal with the Kilkenny County Board. Running for 10 years, from 2019, the sponsorship deal involved the rebranding of the ground to "UPMC Nowlan Park". Naming rights The distinctive characteristic for this type of naming rights is that the buyer gets a marketing property to promote products and services, promote customer retention and/or increase market share. There are several forms of corporate sponsored names. For example,

465-507: A presenting sponsor attaches the name of the corporation or brand at the end (or, sometimes, beginning) of a generic, usually traditional, name (e.g. Mall of America Field at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome ); or, a title sponsor replaces the original name of the property with a corporate-sponsored one (as is the case with most sponsored sports venues), with no reference to the previous name. Stadium naming may have shifted in recent years to promoting corporate trade names, but in earlier decades

558-574: A 9-metre-long (30 ft) granite players' bench. The Air Canada Centre was renamed Scotiabank Arena on July 1, 2018. The landmark 20-year sponsorship agreement between Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment and Scotiabank is worth about C$ 800 million. This is believed to be the highest-priced annual building and team sponsorship in North American sports history. The arena is the third in Canada to bear naming rights to Scotiabank. During

651-409: A corporate-purchased name must always be referred to in all event-related media (including live broadcasts) by a generic name (e.g., General Motors Place was referred to as "Canada Hockey Place" during the 2010 Winter Olympics ). On the other hand, Toyota Stadium was referred to as "City of Toyota Stadium" during the 2019 Rugby World Cup to avoid confusion as a form of ambush marketing; the stadium

744-563: A group of statues known as Legends Row was unveiled outside the arena at the southwest corner of the building. The statues were situated in multiple waves from 2014 to 2016 and include Ted Kennedy , Johnny Bower , Darryl Sittler , Borje Salming , Syl Apps , George Armstrong , Mats Sundin , Dave Keon , Turk Broda , and Tim Horton . In 2017, the final four statues were unveiled including Red Kelly , Frank Mahovlich , Charlie Conacher , and Wendel Clark . Legends Row now features 14 life-sized statues of former Maple Leaf players alongside

837-647: A major, long-standing dispute over rent payments (dating back to 1969). As a result, MLGL offered the city $ 156 million (in 1997 dollars) in cash and assets to settle any and all outstanding claims and to buy the air rights above the Union Station train platforms. During this period, the Raptors were twice fined a million dollars (which were donated to their charitable foundation) by the NBA for missing deadlines to begin construction of their new arena, and disputes over

930-552: A name of the sponsor as their team or club name (see List of sports clubs named after a sponsor). In association football , leagues and cup competitions sometimes adopt the name of their sponsors. For example, England 's Premier League was known as the Barclays Premier League until 2016, and its FA Cup is officially the Emirates FA Cup. The Premier League announced in 2015 that it would not accept

1023-415: A popular multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) computer game by American video game developer Riot Games ; League of Legends competitions are among the most viewed among professional video game competitions worldwide. During the final round, Team SoloMid (TSM) defeated Cloud9 (C9) three matches to one in a best-of-five format. The Summer North American Championship Series serve as the qualifiers for

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1116-603: A property in recognition of the financial support. This is not a financial transaction in the style of the private sector. For example, in honor of the more than $ 60 million donated over the years by one donor to the National Air and Space Museum properties, the directors of the Smithsonian Institution chose to name its satellite facility in Loudoun County, Virginia , after the donor, calling it

1209-620: A title sponsorship beginning in the 2016–17 season. Since 2020, the French Professional Football Ligue adopted the name of Ligue 1 Uber Eats . In college football , most bowl games have modified their traditional names in favor of title sponsors, and in some cases have abandoned their traditional names. While most include their traditional name in some form (e.g. the Rose Bowl Game presented by Prudential ), some have moved to sponsor-only names (e.g.

1302-603: Is Willis Tower in Chicago which was and often still is referred to as the "Sears Tower", even though the building was sold in 1994 (but retained its former name until 2003). Sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup , UEFA Euro , Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games prohibit the use of corporate-sponsored name on stadiums, construing the practice as a form of ambush marketing . Any stadium that uses

1395-500: Is not named after Toyota Motor Corporation , but the name of the city in which the stadium is located (though the city was named after the company). The regular corporate signage of a site, including billboards and deck advertising, is usually covered up in these cases; in the FIFA case the signage is replaced solely with FIFA sponsors. However, with the near-universal use of LED ribbon boards, scoreboards, and sideline boardings since

1488-411: Is a building that incorporates a combination of Art Deco and Art Moderne architectural style. The original building would be built for around $ 2 million (CAD) ($ 40.8 million in 2023 dollars ). The building was strategically located south of Union Station and was connected directly to the train platforms via an underground tunnel. Trains would be able to directly unload mail and move it directly to

1581-458: Is a commercial company that since 1979 has sold unofficial naming rights to stars ( i.e. , the astronomical objects ). The naming services are limited to an entry in a book, and carry no scientific or official authenticity according to professional astronomers. In some places, and especially in the UK and United States, the naming or renaming of arenas or events is usually met with disapproval from

1674-690: Is best known to the non-farming public for its insurance business, acquired the naming rights to the University of Kentucky 's new baseball park in 2018. The Farm Bureau in turn donated those naming rights to the Kentucky Department of Agriculture , naming the venue Kentucky Proud Park . The sponsored name is the brand used by said state agency in its marketing campaign for agricultural products produced in that state. Naming rights in United States may have been traced back to 1912 with

1767-632: Is closely related. Probably the most notable example of this is Friends Arena , a major stadium in Stockholm . The facility was originally known as Swedbank Arena, but in 2012 that company donated those rights to the Friends Foundation, an organization heavily sponsored by Swedbank that seeks to combat school bullying . More recently, the Kentucky Farm Bureau , an organization promoting the interests of Kentucky farmers that

1860-475: Is connected to Union Station 's railway, subway and regional bus services and is connected to the Path . The venue is located on land that was once part of Toronto's inner harbour. Infill of the inner harbour began in the 1850s and accelerated with the arrival of the railroad resulting in the current-day shape of downtown. By 1858, the site was located between two wharves (Rees Wharf and Tinnings Wharf). As land

1953-472: Is largely traced to the family names of company founders. The record for the highest amount paid for naming rights belongs to Crypto.com Arena . On November 17, 2021, a 20-year, US$ 700 million sponsorship deal was reached between Anschutz Entertainment Group and Singapore-based Crypto.com to rename Los Angeles's Staples Center (the Staples office supply store chain was the previous naming rights holder to

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2046-1023: Is the home of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League (NHL). In addition, the minor league Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Raptors 905 of the NBA G League play occasional games at the arena. The arena was previously home to the Toronto Phantoms of the Arena Football League (AFL) and

2139-739: The 2020–21 NBA season the Toronto Raptors relocated their home games to Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida , due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Toronto . The Raptors played their first home game at Scotiabank Arena since the pandemic on October 20, 2021, losing to the Washington Wizards 98–83. On May 11, 2021, Toronto Rock announced the relocation from Scotiabank Arena in Toronto to FirstOntario Centre in Hamilton, Ontario , beginning with

2232-588: The Busch Memorial Stadium in 1966 , shortened in the 1970s to "Busch Stadium" and remained the stadium's name until it closed in 2005. By that time, Major League Baseball 's policy had changed – with Coors Field in Denver and Miller Park in Milwaukee going up in that span – and Anheuser-Busch (who retained the naming rights after selling the team) was able to use the same name for

2325-641: The Emirates Stadium , their previous ground being Arsenal Stadium . In cricket, the most famous example is The Oval , home of Surrey County Cricket Club . It has had several sponsors over the years, and is currently known as "The Kia Oval", having originally been known as the "Kennington Oval", after the district of London in which it is located. While the highest prices have traditionally been paid for stadium rights, many companies and individuals have found that selling their naming rights can be an important consideration in funding their business. Since

2418-591: The Gator Bowl was known for four playings as the TaxSlayer Bowl), a move that generally is treated with consternation from fans. Some newer bowl games have been named after title sponsors since inception—for example, the Blockbuster Bowl , original named after Blockbuster Video when it debuted in 1990, has gone through multiple sponsorship and naming changes; for its December 2023 playing, it

2511-605: The MBTA 's State Street station by Citizens Bank lasted from 1997 to 2000. In Tampa , naming rights for both streetcar stations and rolling stock are available. In December 2016, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved a naming rights policy for its facilities and routes, but later rescinded the policy two months later over potential lawsuits for skipping sponsors. Examples outside of

2604-598: The New York Giants and New York Jets in East Rutherford, New Jersey , US, was expected to eclipse both deals, with experts estimating it would value US$ 25–30 million annually. It ultimately fell short of that benchmark, with MetLife Stadium earning $ 17 million annually from its naming rights deal with MetLife . Occasionally, the purchaser of a stadium's naming rights may choose to donate those rights to an outside organization, typically one to which it

2697-734: The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center . Walgreen Coast , a portion of the coast of Antarctica , was so named because the Walgreens pharmacy chain sponsored the Byrd Antarctic Expedition . Scotiabank Arena 2015: $ 10 million ($ 12.4 million in 2023 dollars) Scotiabank Arena ( French : Aréna Scotiabank) , formerly known as Air Canada Centre ( ACC ), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in Downtown Toronto , Ontario , Canada . It

2790-612: The Toronto Blue Jays had first right of refusal for all SkyDome dates. The Raptors had attempted to play the April 19 match at Maple Leaf Gardens, but were unsuccessful. On December 30, 1998, the building's construction was completed, nine days ahead of schedule. Opening events took place early the next year and Steve Stavro (who was the majority shareholder of MLGL) was named CEO. The initial hockey game took place February 20, 1999 (Toronto Maple Leafs vs. Montreal Canadiens ),

2883-614: The Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League . Scotiabank Arena also hosts other events, such as concerts, political conventions and video game competitions . The arena is 61,780.5 square metres (665,000 sq ft) in size. It is owned and operated by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE), which also owns the Leafs and the Raptors, as well as their respective development teams. The building

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2976-718: The Winston Cup Series featured sponsor names (including the Daytona 500 , which was given a presenting sponsor as the Daytona 500 by STP ), with little or no reference to the original names. As of the 2010s, very few exceptions remain in NASCAR (such as the Daytona 500, which no longer uses the presenting sponsor), and typically races without sponsor names only lack them because a suitable sponsor could not be secured in enough time. IndyCar follows suit, with most races (except

3069-617: The subway system and GO Transit . During the early stages of construction, MLGL floated to the media plans of their own to build a competing single-use stadium on adjacent property just to the north of the stadium atop the train sheds at Union Station (similar to how Madison Square Garden was constructed) as the new home for the Toronto Maple Leafs. The reaction from Raptors was nothing but anger. "This proposed (Maple Leaf) location really disturbs us," stated team president Richard Peddie , who went on to say that they would fight

3162-605: The 10 largest football stadiums have their naming rights sold to corporate sponsors. The practice is widening in the United Kingdom; for instance the current stadium of Bolton Wanderers is the Toughsheet Community Stadium (after 17 years as Reebok Stadium, 4 as Macron Stadium and 5 as the University of Bolton stadium) and Arsenal Football Club 's stadium (opened for the 2006/2007 season) is

3255-775: The 2021–22 NLL season in December. The team retained the name "Toronto Rock" while in Hamilton. On June 27, 2021, Scotiabank Arena was used as a COVID-19 vaccine pop-up clinic for 26,771 people. This clinic set a new record for the most COVID-19 vaccinations delivered at a single location in North America, beating out a pop-up drive-thru clinic that vaccinated 17,003 people at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth , Texas . A $ 350 million renovation of

3348-509: The 550 competitors and their families who come from 17 different competing nations. The show featured hundreds of cast members, including honorary men and women from the Canadian Armed Forces . The cast showed a display of ceremony in multiple different productions and the raising of the flag. Other guests of the event included celebrities, world dignitaries, headline music stars and other special guests. They gathered to celebrate

3441-531: The Bay West Teamway, Union Plaza, the Galleria (shopping centre), and Bremner Boulevard. Air Canada purchased naming rights to the arena for US$ 30 million for 20 years. Several nicknames for the arena would emerge including 'The Hangar', but it would be the acronym 'ACC' that became the most commonly referenced shorthand for the venue and is still commonly used by local residents, even after

3534-571: The Cardinals' new stadium which opened on April 4, 2006. Foxboro Stadium , the home of the New England Patriots between 1971 and 2001, was an early example of a team selling naming rights to a company that did not own it, naming the stadium Schaefer Stadium after the beer company from its opening until 1983. The public reaction to this practice is mixed. Naming rights sold to new venues have largely been accepted, especially if

3627-461: The Cardinals, " Budweiser Stadium". When this idea was rejected by Ford Frick , the Commissioner of Baseball at that time, Anheuser-Busch then proposed the title "Busch Stadium" after one of the company's founders. The name was readily approved, and Anheuser-Busch subsequently released a new product called "Busch Bavarian Beer" (now known as Busch Beer ). The name would later be shifted to

3720-602: The Crown Corporation under the Brian Mulroney Progressive Conservatives ), Canada Post decided to close the facility and move operations to an alternate more modern circa 1970s letter processing faculty on nearby Eastern Avenue. A structure with easy access to highways was designed specifically for transport truck bulk delivery of mail. By 1989, all of the old building's work was transferred here. The 1980s real estate boom saw

3813-675: The European tour finale of Bruce Springsteen . Bruce Springsteen is due to play the venue again on 12 May 2024 as part of the Springsteen and E Street Band 2023 Tour . Nowlan Park was also included in Ireland's bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup . During the COVID-19 pandemic , Nowlan Park was used as a drive-through test centre. It was announced, in October 2019, that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) had agreed

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3906-487: The Evraz steel company – mistakenly believing that the company's North American division was based there. However, the main motivation for accelerating the name change was the perceived need to disassociate with the steel company, largely owned by Russian oligarchs, following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine . A nonprofit organization has the option to recognize a major gift from a donor by bestowing naming rights to

3999-616: The Games are passed to the host nation of the Invictus Games 2018 , Sydney , Australia . The venue hosted Monster Jam on June 21–23, 2019. On August 27 and 28, 2016, Air Canada Centre hosted the sixth season of the Summer North American Championship Series of League of Legends (LoL), marking the first professional League of Legends competition in Canada. League of Legends is

4092-430: The Leafs "every step of the way" and he did not understand why the Leafs have refused to join with the Raptors at their site, claiming that the Leafs want to "build virtually on top of us". The major problem of the Union Station proposal was that the land that the stadium would have been built on was actually City of Toronto land that was leased out to Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway , which were in

4185-555: The Maple Leafs into the new structure would result in a 25-percent increase in construction costs (over $ 25 million CAD in 1999). The completed structure included a 15-storey tower (reduced from a proposed 30-storey tower), four restaurants, and an underground parking lot. In 1998, a strange twist of scheduling conflicts had the Toronto Raptors playing their final regular-season game at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton , as

4278-438: The NBA upstart as a result, pushing Bitove to secure rights to have the Raptors' opening seasons played at SkyDome until construction of the new stadium was complete. The 1930s-era Maple Leaf Gardens was showing its age; the Maple Leafs in desperate desire for a new facility began developing plans for building an all-new stadium with one of the key criteria for the new location that it must be within close walking proximity to both

4371-560: The Postmaster General appealed to the Minister of Public Works to approve a new replacement facility at the corner of Bay Street and Fleet Street (now Lake Shore Boulevard). Approval was granted by the federal Department of Public Works in part to stimulate the depression impacted construction industry. Design and construction of the warehouse built with steel and concrete would begin in 1938. Designed by Charles B. Dolphin , it

4464-627: The United States include Madrid Metro where the metro line Line 2 and the station Sol was renamed from 2013 to 2016 after the mobile phone operator Vodafone , and Monumento Station in the Manila Light Rail Transit System in the Philippines , which was renamed Yamaha Monumento Station on February 14, 2018, after renovations. Naming rights in the realm of sports is common for both stadiums and sports competitions and series. In addition, some sports teams adopt

4557-649: The arena, having held them since the venue's opening in 1999). The home of the NHL 's Los Angeles Kings and NBA 's Los Angeles Lakers became known as Crypto.com Arena on December 25, 2021. Prior to the Crypto.com Arena deal, the record belonged to Toronto's Scotiabank Arena (formerly the Air Canada Centre, which opened in 1999), which garnered a deal of CA$ 800 million (US$ 517 million) over 20 years starting in 2018. The New Meadowlands Stadium, shared home of

4650-401: The arena, planned over several phases, was announced in October 2023. Preliminary phases of the project, which included a new video screen in Maple Leaf Square, had commenced in 2019, with major work completed in the summers of 2023 and 2024, during the off-seasons of both the Maple Leafs and the Raptors. In late 2005, Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment announced that they would be renovating

4743-426: The arena, through the process of facadism . The original building is protected under the Ontario Heritage Act . When MLGL ( Maple Leaf Gardens Limited , at the time, the controlling company of the Toronto Maple Leafs) lost out on their desire to be the franchise owners of the Raptors, competition between the two organizations heated up centred around venues. MLGL declined to allow Maple Leaf Gardens to be used for

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4836-402: The arena. During NHL and NBA playoff runs, the square attracts thousands of Leafs and Raptors fans, respectively, sometimes broadcasting away playoff matches featuring the Leafs and/or the Raptors as well. A section of the square is designated Ford Fan Zone at Maple Leaf Square, with naming rights given to the Ford Motor Company of Canada . During Raptors playoff runs, the square has acquired

4929-415: The building site become surrounded by numerous skyscrapers, hotels, convention centres, SkyDome stadium and condo towers. In the early 1990s, real estate developers Bramalea Limited and Trizec arranged to purchase the building from Canada Post, with plans to redevelop the site into a 230,000-square-metre (2,500,000 sq ft) office, retail and residential space. Financial and development details of

5022-439: The building's ownership being reverted to Canada Post in 1993 with the structure remaining unused and abandoned. The Toronto Raptors' owners purchased the unused building from Canada Post the following year. By 1993, it had been decided that the NBA would expand into Canada. Three competing bids were entertained in July of the same year. The NBA Expansion committee visited the various proposed stadium sites. Major selling points to

5115-516: The buyer is well-established and has strong local connections to the area, such as the cases of Rich Stadium (now Highmark BlueCross BlueShield Stadium ) in the Buffalo suburb of Orchard Park , Heinz Field (now Acrisure Stadium) in Pittsburgh , and Coors Field in Denver . Selling the naming rights to an already-existing venue has been notably less successful, as in the attempt to rename Candlestick Park in San Francisco to 3Com Park. The general public (and some media outlets) continued to call

5208-421: The committee were a downtown location, easy underground access to the subway and Path system and proximity to the business core, which would hopefully make corporate boxes enticing to corporations. On September 30, 1993, the NBA awarded the team to Professional Basketball Franchise Inc. (PBF), a company headed by Canadian businessman John Bitove . The Toronto Raptors were created and were required as terms of

5301-401: The early 2000s, many new categories have opened up, such as the selling of the rights to name a new monkey species for $ 650,000. Naming rights to public transit stations have been sold in Las Vegas and Philadelphia ( NRG station , Jefferson Station , and Penn Medicine station ). Such sales have been contemplated in New York and Boston , and ruled out in San Francisco. A sponsorship for

5394-496: The facility what it had been known as for over three decades – i.e. Candlestick Park. After the agreement with 3Com expired, the rights were resold to Monster Cable , and the stadium was renamed Monster Park . San Francisco voters responded by passing an initiative (Proposition H) in the November 2004 elections that essentially stipulated the name must revert to Candlestick Park once the contract with Monster expired in 2008. The initiative proved largely ceremonial, however, and it

5487-411: The first basketball Game on February 21, 1999 (Toronto Raptors vs. Vancouver Grizzlies ), and the opening concert on February 22, 1999 ( The Tragically Hip ). Features of the new building consist of a 65,000-square-foot (6,000 m ) arena and a 165,000-square-foot (15,300 m ) office tower. There is also an east–west covered, climate-controlled galleria and walkway onsite that contains restaurants,

5580-402: The following stands: The target capacity under the Kilkenny GAA 2010-15 plan was 30,000. A large portion of the Old Stand's roof was blown off during a violent storm on 12 February 2014. The rest was removed for health and safety reasons. History was made at Nowlan Park on 7 June 2014 when Kilkenny versus Offaly was broadcast on Sky Sports , the first time a Championship fixture of any kind

5673-410: The future of the arena resulted in John Bitove being forced to sell his stake to Allan Slaight as a result of a shotgun clause . Slaight—who wanted a joint arena deal with MLGL—then had majority ownership and immediately went into talks with MLGL, which eventually purchased both the Raptors and their partially completed arena. This subsequently resulted in major modifications to the original design, which

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5766-409: The general public. Some people see it as an example of a selling out , especially when they see no obvious benefit to themselves. They often refuse to use a new name, preferring instead to use a non-branded name, especially in colloquial situations. Rebranding can also lead to confusion. In such cases, there may be a lengthy period during which the property is known by both names. A common example

5859-520: The history of transportation and communication in Canada. Carved in 1938–39, the bas relief begins with scenes showing human speech, a runner carrying a message, aboriginals communicating by smoke signal, a group of voyageurs, a schooner and a Royal Mail steamship crossing the Atlantic Ocean from England, the CN train used during the 1939 Royal Tour, the mythical flying boat named 'Canopus' and northern travel by dog sled. The sculptor's son Louis Temporale Jr. helped with restoration efforts in 1998 and in 2016

5952-420: The installation of a new scoreboard four times larger than the previous one. The old scoreboard was later installed at Ricoh Coliseum in Exhibition Place. In the winter of 2003–2004, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario imposed a seven-day penalty on the arena for "permitting drunken patrons to be in the licensed patrons [ sic ]" in the fall of 2002 at a Toronto Maple Leafs game and also

6045-408: The mail sorting centre. Amid World War II, upon completion in 1941, the building would be temporarily handed over to the Department of National Defence for wartime storage purposes, and be finally turned over to Canada Post in 1946. Required modifications were made to the building to return it to its postal delivery purposes as a result of alterations done by the Department of National Defence. After

6138-410: The mid-2000s in most major league sites where only known sponsors have advertising displayed, "neutralizing" an arena has become a much easier process than in the past. Regina, Saskatchewan 's REAL District was formerly named " Evraz Place"; when discussing its 2022 rebranding, its owner Regina Exhibition Association Limited stated that it had sometimes received shipments and communications meant for

6231-415: The multipurpose SkyDome (now Rogers Centre ) stadium while the arena was constructed. Groundbreaking took place in March 1997. The building retained the Art Deco Queenston limestone façade of the Toronto Postal Delivery Building along the east (along Bay Street ) and south ( Lake Shore Boulevard ) walls of that structure, but the rest of the building (facing Union Station ) was demolished to make room for

6324-436: The new arena had an estimated economic benefit of $ 2.4 billion. This boosted Toronto's economy and led to further construction in the downtown core. Many projects in the area were completed ahead of schedule as a result of a desire to increase the infrastructure of downtown Toronto, and also from private funding (approximately $ 13 million) that was invested in seeing the economic growth of Toronto. These projects included

6417-415: The nickname " Jurassic Park " after the 1993 film adaptation that inspired the team's name. During the 2019 NBA playoffs and especially during the victorious 2019 NBA Finals , other city squares across Canada also acquired the Jurassic Park nickname, such as in Halifax, Nova Scotia . In 2003, the governing Liberal Party of Canada held their leadership convention at the Air Canada Centre. Paul Martin

6510-566: The opening of Fenway Park in Boston . The stadium's owner had owned a realty company called "Fenway Realty" (itself, like the stadium, named for a nearby parkland ), so the promotional value of the naming may have likely been considered. Despite this, it is more widely believed to have begun in 1926 when William Wrigley , the chewing gum magnate and owner of the Chicago Cubs , named his team's stadium " Wrigley Field ". In 1953, Anheuser-Busch head and St. Louis Cardinals owner August Busch, Jr. proposed renaming Sportsman's Park , occupied by

6603-406: The planned Canadian Opera Hall in the 1980s). Another site under consideration by the MLSE bid group was at Bay Street and Dundas Street and would have been part of the neighbouring Eaton Centre . PBF purchased the Canada Post building and the land the building is on for CA$ 60 million. The Raptors would initially play their first two seasons just a few hundred metres (a few thousand feet) away in

6696-452: The program ; examples include The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour , Texaco Star Theatre and The Philco Television Playhouse . This form of sponsorship fell out of favor in the late 1950s, although later examples include Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom , which originally aired from 1963 to 1988. One of the last surviving examples is the now irregularly-airing Hallmark Hall of Fame , on the air since 1951. The International Star Registry

6789-473: The purchase imposed various conditions prior to development, including rezoning by the city and remediation of soil contamination by Canada Post. By this time, a deep prolonged recession had taken hold in the province, which saw many downtown Toronto high-rise construction projects paused or cancelled outright. There was limited market demand for new office space, one of the key requirements for acquiring bank loans. The resulting financing difficulties resulted in

6882-424: The refurbishment work was completed in 1948, the building now possessed the capability and equipment for proper mail sorting and other mailing processing functions. Though it was designed as a mail sorting warehouse, it was also the home of Postal Station "A", which served mostly institutional and commercial clients. The ground floor was where the mail was dropped off by both railway carts and postal vans. Unsorted mail

6975-785: The service and stories of the members of the 2017 Invictus Games. Headline performers included Laura Wright , Alessia Cara , The Tenors , Sarah McLachlan , and La Bottine Souriante . The ACC hosted the Invictus Games Toronto 2017 Closing Ceremony on September 20, 2017. The event featured an arrangement of international headline music artists, coming together to celebrate and recognize the Invictus Games competitors. The closing ceremony featured headline musical guests Bachman & Turner , Bryan Adams , Coeur de Pirate , Bruce Springsteen , and Kelly Clarkson . This celebration also included words from world dignitaries as

7068-403: The ticket office, and other commercial units. The Galleria also connects Scotiabank Arena to popular locations in the downtown core such as Union Station, Bay Street and York Street. Scotiabank Arena is connected to the underground PATH network. The Galleria also doubles as a historical museum by displaying numerous artifacts from the old Canada Post building. In its first ten years of operation,

7161-416: The venue was renamed Scotiabank Arena, out of habit and nostalgia, rather than in opposition to commercialism as is the case of the nearby SkyDome (later renamed Rogers Centre), given that it still had a commercial name. In 2003, MLSE completed a $ 5-million upgrade of the arena, including a new LED signage system. During the summer of 2015, a $ 10-million upgrade of the arena was carried out, which included

7254-447: The very traditional Indianapolis 500 ) embracing title sponsorship. Sports media coverage (such as ESPN news reports) typically refer to races by the town in which the home race track is held, avoiding the use of sponsored names in news coverage. Television and radio series, especially in the early days of each medium in the early-mid 20th century, frequently sold the naming rights to their programs to sponsors, most of whom bankrolled

7347-554: The western side of the Air Canada Centre during the 2008 off-season to connect it with the Maple Leaf Square development. Maple Leaf Square is jointly owned by MLSE, Cadillac Fairview and Lantera Developments. The $ 500 million development includes two restaurants, Hotel Le Germain at Maple Leaf Square boutique hotel, extensive retail shopping, including a 840-square-metre (9,000 sq ft) Leafs, Marlies , Raptors, and Toronto FC store, two 54-storey condominiums,

7440-525: The winning bid to provide a suitable arena to play in. As part of the PBF proposal, the Canada Post building was ultimately chosen to be the new home of the Raptors in part due to its downtown location, proposed design and features along with lot size. Other sites considered included government-owned lands at Exhibition Place , North York City Centre , and downtown at Bay Street and Wellesley Street (a site of

7533-478: Was a 17–7 win over the Ottawa Rebel on December 21, 2000. MMA The arena has also played host to six Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events. In 2017, the Air Canada Centre hosted the opening and closing ceremonies for that year's Invictus Games . On September 23, 2017, the ACC presented the opening ceremony as a live two-hour event spectacular. This ceremony was designed to welcome and honour

7626-423: Was basketball-specific, to make the arena become more suitable for hockey. Originally planned to cost $ 217 million, MLGL increased the budget to $ 265 million after taking control. After the purchase of the Raptors and the Air Canada Centre, the new owners entered into a design-build contract with PCL Construction with the commitment to finish the stadium in 24 months by March 1, 1999. The integration of

7719-518: Was broadcast live to a UK-wide audience. British viewers were reported to have been "amazed and confused [...] bemused but impressed [...] amused and confounded" after catching a glimpse of the broadcast. Nowlan Park also serves as a concert venue, with festivals featuring performers such as Andrea Bocelli , Rod Stewart , Bob Dylan , Neil Young , Paul Simon , Bryan Ferry , James Taylor , Shania Twain , Dolly Parton , and in July 2013 it played host to

7812-629: Was constructed in 1941 as the Toronto Postal Delivery Building for postal deliveries and was temporarily used by the Department of National Defence during World War II . After the war, the building was transferred to Canada Post in 1946 where it functioned as the main postal terminal for Metropolitan Toronto until 1989 when Canada Post moved its services to the Eastern Avenue facility. The Postal Building

7905-399: Was elected as the new leader of the party and thus also became prime minister , succeeding Jean Chrétien . Maple Leaf home games are generally sold out, and there is a waitlist since the start of 2015 for Season Ticket Holders for upcoming seasons. Lacrosse The Toronto Rock also moved to the Air Canada Centre from Maple Leaf Gardens for the 2001 NLL season . The Rock's first game

7998-469: Was expanded southward, it remained under government control as possible locations for various Union Station expansions. The majority of the land was still part of the lake up until the early 1900s. By 1925, the northern parcel of the property was turned into Bayside Park, which had been part of an early proposal that was to have seen the lands south of the rail corridor transformed into an extensive lakeside park that followed today's Esplanade. The remaining land

8091-840: Was known as the Pop-Tarts Bowl. Team names and even whole leagues have occasionally been sold to corporate sponsors as well (examples include the New York Red Bulls in the former case, the NET10 Wireless Arena Football League for the latter), but this is generally rare in the United States and more common in other parts of the world. During the 1980s, sanctioned auto races in NASCAR and IndyCar began to abandon their traditional names in favor of exclusive sponsor names. The trend expanded rapidly in NASCAR such that in 1991, all 29 races in

8184-461: Was most likely under the control of Central Harbour Terminals. In the 1930s, the property became the proposed home to Canada Post 's Toronto Postal Delivery Building. In the 1920s, a postal handling facility already existed in the east wing of the city's then-new Union Station (Downtown Toronto's third major train station). However, it quickly reached capacity by the 1930s due to major population growth of Toronto and its surrounding region. In 1937,

8277-466: Was moved by conveyor belts to the top floor and via gravity-fed mail chutes sorted by size and destination. Eventually, the sorted mail would end up back on the ground floor where it would be sent out for delivery. The building would be used as a postal sorting centre up until 1989. The structure's most notable features, which have been retained, are the exterior 13-part series of limestone bas relief carvings by Louis Temporale Sr. CM , which depicts

8370-574: Was opened on February 19, 1999, at the cost of $ 288 million ($ 499 million as of 2022), with the Leafs playing the Montreal Canadiens the following night, and the Raptors playing the Vancouver Grizzlies the night after that. In 2018, Scotiabank Arena was the 13th busiest arena in the world and the busiest in Canada. It is also the most photographed location in Canada on Instagram according to BuzzFeed . Scotiabank Arena

8463-426: Was overturned by the passage of Proposition C in 2009 in response to desperate economic times. The naming rights to the park were never resold and the stadium was closed and demolished in 2014. Sports stadiums with naming rights deals are most common in but not limited to the United States. "Named" stadiums can be found in countries including Australia, Japan, China, Finland, Canada, Israel and Germany, where 8 of

8556-472: Was sold to a consortium of developers but was reverted to Canada Post ownership in 1993 due to financial woes, but the new ownership of the soon-to-be Toronto Raptors basketball team acquired the building in December 1994 to construct the new arena. However, the Raptors were acquired by Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd., the owners of the Maple Leafs hockey team in 1998 during construction that began a year prior, to replace their outdated Maple Leaf Gardens arena. The arena

8649-462: Was still critical of the lack of protection of the artwork by stadium ownership for over 20 years since the creation of the artwork. Being near the elevated Gardiner Expressway results in salt spray, which is speeding up the deterioration of the limestone. In the late 1980s, the building and antiquated sorting equipment was in need of major renovations and expensive upgrades. In a cost-cutting move (part of larger overall service changes and cuts made to

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