| Location | 99 Athol Street East Oshawa, Ontario L1H 1J8 |
|---|---|
| Owner | City of Oshawa |
| Operator | Spectra Venue Management |
| Capacity | *Hockey: 5,180, 6,125 with standing room
|
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | June 22, 2005 |
| Opened | November 3, 2006 |
| Construction cost | $45 million |
| Architect | NORR Limited |
| Project manager | WeirFoulds |
| Structural engineer | IBI Group, Inc. |
| General contractor | Giffels Design-Build Inc. |
| Tenants | |
| Oshawa Generals (OHL) (2007-Present) Durham TurfDogs (CLax) (2012-2016) Oshawa Power (NBL Canada) (2011-2013) Oshawa Machine (CLax) (2012) 2015 Pan American Games (Boxing and Weightlifting) | |
The Tribute Communities Centre formerly known as the General Motors Centre or GM Centre, GMC for short, is a multi-purpose arena located in downtown Oshawa, Ontario which opened in November 2006. The Tribute Communities Centre was constructed to replace the Oshawa Civic Auditorium. The main tenant is the Oshawa Generals of the Ontario Hockey League, and formerly the Durham TurfDogs of the Canadian Lacrosse League. The facility also features the Oshawa Sports Hall of Fame, Prospects Bar and Grill, an Oshawa Generals retail store, executive seating and special club seats. The arena name was changed to Tribute Communities Centre on November 1, 2016.
History
The Tribute Communities Centre is owned by the city of Oshawa. On October 5, 2006, General Motors obtained the naming rights of the arena. The City originally selected Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) to manage the building but, after disappointing results in the first year and a half of operations, MLSE requested in March 2008 that its contract be terminated.[1] MLSE had been attempting to get into the business of managing facilities beyond those where their sports teams played but decided to withdraw, with Bob Hunter, MLSE's Vice President of venues and entertainment, saying that managing the arena was "no longer a strategic focus for us".[1][2] Global Spectrum assumed control of the operations and management of the arena on June 30, 2008.[2]
On April 14, 2016, the City of Oshawa and the General Motors Centre announced an agreement to replace the videoboard in the building. The new videoboard meets Canadian Hockey League requirements for a future Memorial Cup bid, and replaces the old videoboard, which was a point of contention for Generals fans over the past few years.[3]
An announcement was made on October 7, 2016 that the facility would be renamed the Tribute Communities Centre effective November 1, 2016.[4] The new naming rights are currently set to last for ten years.[5]
2015 Pan American Games
For the 2015 Pan American Games the facility hosted both weightlifting and boxing events. During the games, the facility was configured to hold roughly 3,000 spectators per session. During Games time the facility was known as the Oshawa Sports Centre.[6]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 MLSE bows out of management contract with GMC (2008-04-01). Retrieved on 2014-01-29.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Verge, Jessica. "Global Spectrum takes over GM Centre", June 25, 2008.
- ↑ Wittnebel, Joel. "City all in on jumbotron", April 19, 2016.
- ↑ Follert, Jillian (October 7, 2016). Oshawa’s General Motors Centre becomes the Tribute Communities Centre Nov. 1.
- ↑ Wittnebel, Joel. "GM Centre no longer", October 12, 2016.
- ↑ Oshawa Sports Centre. TO2015. Retrieved on November 16, 2014.
External links
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Tribute Communities Centre. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA). |