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29-796: Northlands Coliseum is a defunct indoor arena in Edmonton , Alberta, on the north side of Northlands . It was used for sports events and concerts, and was home to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and National Hockey League (NHL), and the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League (WHL). The arena opened in 1974, and was later known as Edmonton Coliseum , Skyreach Centre , and Rexall Place , before returning to

58-426: A centre-hung scoreboard with an electronic message board; the original scoreboard including a black-and-white dot matrix board. This was replaced in 1987 by a centre-hung scoreboard with a colour matrix screen, which in 1994 was replaced with an eight-sided scoreboard with four video screens. The last centre-hung scoreboard, designed by White Way Sign , featured eight message boards at the top and four video screens at

87-400: A loyalty program at its stores and created its own loyalty program called Be Well, with which customers can collect points in order to redeem in-store items, similar to Air Miles. In January 2024, The Globe and Mail reported that McKesson had begun exploring the possibility of selling Rexall to potential buyers. On September 5, 2024, Birch Hill Equity Partners announced that it has signed

116-528: A multitude of spectators. The word derives from Latin harena , a particularly fine-grained sand that covered the floor of ancient arenas such as the Colosseum in Rome , Italy, to absorb blood. The term arena is sometimes used as a synonym for a very large venue such as Pasadena's Rose Bowl , but such a facility is typically called a stadium . The use of one term over the other has mostly to do with

145-646: A naming rights agreement with Skyreach Equipment. In November 2003, the naming rights were acquired by the pharmacy chain Rexall , under which it was renamed Rexall Place. The chain's then-parent Katz Group later purchased the Oilers and the Oil Kings. Before the 2007–08 season started, the Oilers dressing room underwent a $ 3.5 million renovation. The room was widened, adding a new medical room, lounge, bar, video room, weight room as well as other new facilities. Given

174-476: A rent agreement with Northlands valued at $ 2.8 million per-year. The agreement contained clauses requiring the Oilers to remain in Edmonton for 10 years, and requiring that the team be offered to local investors for a fixed price of US$ 70 million within 30 days if a current or proposed owner announces an intent to re-locate the team. In 1997, a proposed sale to Leslie Alexander triggered the clause, resulting in

203-481: A seating capacity of 18,347. The Oilers' final game at Rexall Place was played on April 6, 2016, against the Vancouver Canucks . The Oilers won 6–2; the last NHL goal was scored by Oiler Leon Draisaitl . A post-game ceremony was held, featuring current and past Oilers players. Northlands said that the old arena would remain open, and a number of concerts and sporting events were still held there even after

232-525: Is a chain of retail pharmacies in Canada . Rexall is owned by McKesson Canada , which is a subsidiary of McKesson Corporation , a U.S.-based public company. Founded in 1904, Rexall has almost 400 pharmacies across Canada with 8,000 employees. Rexall was founded in 1904 during the early days of the United Drug Company and quickly established itself as a major retail pharmacy chain. At

261-421: Is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre , musical performances , and/or sporting events . It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators, and may be covered by a roof. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the lowest point, allowing maximum visibility. Arenas are usually designed to accommodate

290-536: The Edmonton Investors Group (EIG) being formed to purchase the team. Northlands regained control of the Coliseum, with the Oilers agreeing to pay operational costs and $ 1 in rent per-year, in exchange for being able to receive revenue from hockey games and designated parking spots at the arena, and being able to sell naming rights . In October 1998, the Coliseum was renamed Skyreach Centre after

319-557: The Edmonton Exhibition Association (EEA, now Northlands )—the non-profit operator of Edmonton Gardens—after they expressed concern that Allard's proposed arena would "greatly impact and damage" the organization. The Association and others had made proposals for a downtown arena to replace Edmonton Gardens, but referendums on the matter were struck down by voters. The 16,000-seat arena used the same architect and plans as Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum . A crane

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348-538: The Northlands Coliseum name in summer 2016. The arena hosted the 1981 and 1984 Canada Cup hockey tournaments, the 1978 Commonwealth Games , seven Stanley Cup finals (Oilers losses in 1983 and 2006, and Oilers victories in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, and 1990), many other hockey events, along with other sporting events and major concerts. The final NHL game played at the arena was on April 6, 2016. The building closed on New Year's Day 2018, after ownership of

377-493: The Northlands site proposed the demolition of the Coliseum. On December 12, 2022, in light of the $ 1.5 million annual cost to upkeep the empty building in its form since its closure at the end of 2017, and the lack of ability to repurpose the structure, Edmonton City Council voted to demolish the Northlands Coliseum at a cost of $ 35 million over four years, with no projected start date. The official capacity for hockey when

406-502: The Oilers left. On February 17, 2016, Northlands unveiled plans to convert Northlands Coliseum into a multi-level ice facility, with a later proposal calling for a partnership with Hockey Canada to make it a Hockey Canada Centre of Excellence, but it was later discovered that renovating the Coliseum would be more costly than building a new facility. As more major concerts and other events were drawn away to Rogers Place, Northlands experienced declines in revenue. This made it difficult for

435-823: The age and small size of the Coliseum (which was second-oldest and third-smallest arena in the NHL as of 2015), the construction of a new arena for the Edmonton Oilers was proposed by the Katz Group in 2010. An agreement was reached in January 2012 between the Katz Group and the City of Edmonton for the construction of Rogers Place in downtown Edmonton . Construction started in March 2014, and it opened in September 2016 with

464-593: The arena closed was 16,839, which was slightly less than the 17,100 the arena held before the 2001–02 NHL season. It was one of three NHL arenas (the others being the MTS Centre in Winnipeg and Barclays Center in Brooklyn ) seating less than 17,000 fans in its configuration. When it opened, the capacity was 15,423, but it was increased to 17,490 after the Oilers joined the NHL by adding an extra tier of seating on

493-455: The bottom, separated by LED rings. The arena also featured 360-degree fascia signage by Daktronics . The Coliseum was the last NHL arena with the player benches on the same side as the TV cameras. In all other NHL venues, the TV cameras are on the same side as the scorekeepers table and penalty boxes. The following bands recorded live performances in the arena: Indoor arena An arena

522-412: The city from a $ 17 million (out of $ 20 million) sponsorship agreement. Despite other proposals from parties wanting to convert the Coliseum to a sports and recreation facility, the master agreement between Oilers Entertainment Group and the city of Edmonton prohibited the city from making any further investments in the building, nor did it allow use as a sports or entertainment facility. Plans to repurpose

551-429: The early-1990s, the Coliseum had begun to lag behind newer NHL arenas in terms of amenities such as luxury boxes . Amid financial turmoil, including the team having signed away multiple star players (such as Wayne Gretzky ), team owner Peter Pocklington threatened to re-locate the Oilers unless he was given full control of the Coliseum and all of its revenue, and could build luxury boxes in the arena. In 1994, he reached

580-464: The facility is called Cameron Indoor Stadium . Domed stadiums, which, like arenas, are enclosed but have the larger playing surfaces and seating capacities found in stadiums, are generally not referred to as arenas in North America. There is also the sport of indoor American football (one variant of which is explicitly known as arena football), a variant of the outdoor game that is designed for

609-399: The facility was transferred from Northlands to the City of Edmonton. Northlands had planned to re-develop the arena into a multi-level ice facility, but these plans were scrapped after it was found that renovating the facility would be more costly than building a new one altogether. The venue is now in the process of being dismantled, which is expected to take an extended period of time due to

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638-577: The major rival pharmacies in Canada was Shoppers Drug Mart . In 2018, the president of Rexall at that point, Beth Newlands Campbell , announced that the Pharma Plus brand would be discontinued and all stores would be converted to Rexall in order to create a more consistent look for the chain. The company was in partnership with Air Miles , which Rexall accepted as a loyalty program . In May 2020, Rexall discontinued its partnership with Air Miles as

667-832: The non-profit organization to pay off a loan by the City that was used to fund the 2009 expansion of the Edmonton Expo Centre . On September 13, 2017, the City of Edmonton reached an agreement to take over the arena from Northlands effective January 1, 2018 (the same date that control of the Edmonton Expo Centre transferred to the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation under a similar agreement), as it prepared to transition to primarily being an agricultural organization. The venue permanently ceased operations on that date; Oilers Entertainment Group also agreed to release

696-401: The presence of hazardous substances such as lead and asbestos . Final demolition of the building is not expected to be completed until 2025 at the earliest. The Coliseum opened in 1974 as a replacement for the aging Edmonton Gardens . While the Edmonton Oilers' ownership group, including Charles Allard , had initially pursued to construct their own arena, they backtracked and partnered with

725-677: The same time, Tamblyn Drugs was establishing itself in Toronto , Ontario, and would eventually become Pharma Plus. These two companies would later merge to form the Rexall Pharmacy Group. McKesson Canada purchased Rexall in December 2016 for $ 3 billion from the Katz Group of Companies . At the time, it was estimated that Rexall had an average annual revenue of approximately $ 2.0 to $ 2.5 billion. Around this period, one of

754-416: The side opposite the press box. This was increased to 17,498 in 1982 and to 17,503 in 1986. The arena underwent an extensive renovation in 1994 in which the seating capacity was reduced to make way for 52 luxury suites. 15 more suites were added in 2001. The arena could also be noisy, as noise levels reached 119 decibels during playoff games. Northlands Coliseum was the first NHL arena in Canada to have

783-538: The type of event. Football (be it association , rugby , gridiron , Australian rules , or Gaelic ) is typically played in a stadium, while basketball , volleyball , handball , and ice hockey are typically played in an arena, although many of the larger arenas hold more spectators than do the stadiums of smaller colleges or high schools. There are exceptions. The home of the Duke University men's and women's basketball teams would qualify as an arena, but

812-567: The usual smaller playing surface of most arenas; variants of other traditionally outdoor sports, including box lacrosse as well as futsal and indoor soccer , also exist. The term "arena" is also used loosely to refer to any event or type of event which either literally or metaphorically takes place in such a location, often with the specific intent of comparing an idea to a sporting event. Such examples of these would be terms such as "the arena of war", "the arena of love" or "the political arena". Rexall (Canada) Rexall Pharmacy Group ULC

841-602: Was placed on a circular track to help speed up construction. The final months of construction process in 1974 hit several setbacks, including strikes by steelworkers, cement workers, and elevator workers, and the last batch of 5,000 seats arriving only shortly before its inaugural event—the Oilers' home opener on November 10, 1974, against the Cleveland Crusaders . After its first game, the Coliseum received positive reviews by visitors and sportswriters. The EEA held an official grand opening event open July 1, 1975. By

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