CHL Arena Analysis

What follows is a review of the home arenas of the CHL, courtesy the board's resident ArenaGeek. Arena name, year of construction, and total capacity are included, followed by a thoughtful analysis. This is what us History Majors do over the holidays. This is all formatted into a lovely table, or at least it would be if HTML was allowed on the board. If you want the info in a table, please check out http://balder.prohosting.com/ohlguide/analysis.htm


OHL Team Arena Year Built Total Capacity
Barrie Colts Barrie Molson Centre 1996 4,195
Belleville Bulls Yardmen Arena 1978 3,257
Brampton Battalion Brampton Centre 1998 5,000
Erie Otters Tullio Arena 1983 5,600
Guelph Storm Guelph S&EC 2000 5,026
Kingston Frontenacs Kingston Memorial Centre 1950 3,300
Kitchener Rangers Kitchener Memorial Auditorium 1951 6,700
London Knights John Labatt Centre 2002 9,140
Mississauga Ice Dogs Hershey Centre 1998 6,000
Oshawa Generals Oshawa Civic Auditorium 1963 4,205
Ottawa 67's Ottawa Civic Center 1968 10,347
Owen Sound Attack J.D. MacArthur Arena 1982 3,640
Peterborough Petes Peterborough Memorial Centre 1956 4,000
Plymouth Whalers Compuware Arena 1996 3,800
Saginaw Spirit Wendler Arena 1972 4,727
Sarnia Sting Sarnia S&EC 1998 5,000
Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds Sault Memorial Gardens 1949 3,950
Sudbury Wolves Sudbury Arena 1951 6,000
St. Michael's Majors St. Michael's College Arena 1956 1,617
Windsor Spitfires Windsor Arena 1924 4,307



WHL Team Name Arena Year Built Total Capacity
Brandon Wheat Kings Keystone Centre 1973 5,000
Calgary Hitmen Pengrowth Saddledome 1983 17,104
Everett Silvertips Everett Event Center 2003 8,300
Kamloops Blazers Sport Mart Place 1993 6,400
Kelowna Rockets Skyreach Place 1999 6,007
Kootenay Ice Cranbrook Recreational Complex 2000 4,264
Lethbridge Hurricanes Enmax Centre 1975 6,500
Medicine Hat Tigers Medicine Hat Arena 1971 4,000
Moose Jaw Warriors Moose Jaw Civic Centre 1960 3,146
Prince Albert Raiders Prince Albert Comuniplex 1971 3,567
Prince George Cougars Prince George Multiplex 1995 5,967
Portland Winter Hawks Memorial Coliseum 1960 12,888
Red Deer Rebels Red Deer Centrium 1991 5,987
Regina Pats AgriDome 1977 5,647
Saskatoon Blades SaskPlace 1988 11,159
Seattle Thunderbirds Key Arena 1983 11,018
Spokane Chiefs Spokane Arena 1995 10,440
Swift Current Broncos Centennial Civic Centre 1967 3,239
Tri-City Americans Tri-Cities Coliseum 1988 5,861
Vancouver Giants Pacific Coliseum 1967 16,150



QMJHL Team Name Arena Year Built Total Capacity
Acadie-Bathurst Titan Centre Régional K.C. Irving 1996 3,700
Baie-Comeau Drakkar Centre Henry-Leonard 1970 3,042
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles Centre 200 1987 4,670
Chicoutimi Saguenéens Centre Georges-Vézina 1948 4,649
Drummondville Voltigeurs Centre Marcel-Dionne 1963 3,622
Gatineau Olympiques Robert Guertin Arena 1952 4,906
Halifax Mooseheads Halifax Metro Centre 1978 10,000
Lewiston MAINEiacs Central Maine Civic Center 1958 3,756
Moncton Wildcats Moncton Coliseum 1973 7,200
PEI Rocket Charlottetown Civic Centre 1991 3,850
Québec Remparts Colisée de Québec 1940 15,399
Rimouski Océanic Colisée de Rimouski 1966 5,062
Rouyn-Noranda Huskies Aréna Dave Keon 1939 3,500
Shawinigan Cataractes Aréna Jacques-Plante 1937 3,700
Val D'Or Foreurs Palais des Sports 1949 3,504
Victoriaville Tigres Colisée de Bois-Francs 1980 2,750



The OHL's 20 rinks have an average capacity of 4998.2 people, and were built in a mean year of 1973.

The WHL's 20 rinks have an average capacity of 7849.55. This includes facilities built to house professional sport. The average capacity is diminished to 5861.0625 not including the four pro rinks in Calgary, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. The mean year of construction is 1982.

The QMJHL's 16 rinks have an average capacity of 5206.875 people. This falls to 4527.4 when the lone professional arena, the Colisée de Québec, is disincluded. The mean year of construction is 1964.

For the record, I have considered any arena "professional" that was built expressly for professional sport, or with the intended purpose of housing professional sport, or that housed professional sport for more than five years. The Portland Memorial Coliseum, the Colisée de Québec, the Calgary Olympic Saddledome, Key Arena in Seattle and the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver are considered professional for the purposes of this analysis. The Ottawa Civic Centre, while it did serve as the home of the Ottawa Senators from 1992-93 to 1995-96, is not considered professional given that A) it was only intended as a temporary home for the Sens while the Corel Centre was being built, and B) the arena is most closely associated with its longest tenant, the 67's, who have been resident since the building's construction in 1967-68.

The Portland Winter Hawks are unique among CHL teams in that they use two home arenas, the old Memorial Coliseum and the new Rose Garden. This analysis did not consider the Rose Garden at all, given that it is only used by the Hawks for special events and games that are expected to sell large numbers of tickets. The Coliseum is their de facto home, and only one could be considered by my study.

The BIGGEST Arenas in the CHL:
Calgary, Pengrowth Saddledome, 17,104 (W)
Seattle, Key Arena, 17,072 (W)
Vancouver, Pacific Coliseum, 16,150 (W)
Québec, Colisée de Québec, 15,399 (Q)
Portland, Memorial Coliseum, 12,888 (W)

The BIGGEST arenas in the CHL, Excluding Professional Venues:
Saskatoon, SaskPlace 11,159 (W)
Ottawa, Ottawa Civic Centre, 10,347 (O)
Spokane, Spokane Arena, 10,440 (W)
Halifax, Halifax Metro Centre, 10,000 (Q)
London, John Labatt Centre, 9,140 (O)

The SMALLEST Arenas in the CHL:
Toronto, St. Michael's College Arena, 1,617 (O)*
Victoriaville, Colisée des Bois-Francs, 2,750 (Q)
Baie-Comeau, Centre Henry-Leonard, 3,042 (Q)
Moose Jaw, Moose Jaw Civic Centre, 3,146 (W)
Swift Current, Centennial Civic Centre, 3,239 (W)
Belleville, Yardmen Arena, 3,257 (O)
*I have included six on this list given that the St. Michael's College Arena is only intended to be the temporary home of the Majors and is not a CHL-calibre arena. There are several arenas over 3,300 seats in the CHL, and from here the capacity numbers increase very incrementally.

The NEWEST arenas in the CHL:
Everett, Everett Event Center, 2003 (W)
London, John Labatt Centre, 2002 (O)
Guelph, Guelph S&EC, 2000 (O)
Kootenay, Cranbrook Recreational Complex, 2000 (W)
Kelowna, Skyreach Place, 1999 (W)
For the record, the newest arena in the QMJHL is the Centre Régional K.C. Irving in Bathurst, New Brunswick, which opened in 1996. It is tied for 9th newest in the CHL with Plymouth, MI's Compuware Sports Arena and also with the Barrie Molson Centre. There are probably exact dates which differentiate within the year but I couldn't be arsed to find them.

The OLDEST arenas in the CHL:
Windsor, Windsor Arena, 1924 (O)
Shawinigan, Aréna Jacques-Plante, 1937 (Q)
Rouyn-Noranda, Aréna Dave Keon, 1939 (Q)
Québec, Colisée de Québec, 1940 (Q)
Chicoutimi, Centre Georges-Vézina, 1948 (Q)
For the record, the oldest arena in the WHL is the Moose Jaw Civic Centre (aka "The Crushed Can" which opened in January of 1960. The second oldest, the Portland Memorial Coliseum, opened in November of 1960. The Crushed Can is only the 15th oldest arena in the CHL.

So what can we take from all this? The CHL, like every other sporting league, is moving slowly away from its older buildings and its roots. New buildings are built either beside a highway or downtown while older buildings are razed and abandoned - usually at the cost of some atmosphere. Interestingly, there is a huge discrepancy in the average ages of the arenas between leagues, with the average QMJHL rink about to turn 40, the average OHL rink about 30, and the average WHL rink the same age as the author, 21. There are also far more extremes in the QMJHL and the OHL. The OHL's arenas range between the 80-year-old Windsor Arena and the just-over-a-year-old John Labatt Centre in London. The QMJHL ranges between the 7-year-old Centre Régional K.C. Irving in Acadie-Bathurst and the 67-year-old Aréna Jacques-Plante (aka the Shawinigan Municipal Auditiorium) in Shawinigan. Meanwhile, in the WHL, the Moose Jaw "Crushed Can" is the 43-year-old aged grandfather of the league, while in both the QMJHL and the OHL there are 7 older rinks apiece. The WHL's ticket prices are also much higher than the OHL's or the QMJHL's (see the ticket price thread). There is probably a co-relation between high ticket prices and new buildings. Any hockey fan can tell you that a new building means higher ticket prices. Of course, distances are much greater in the WHL, and that probably has a lot to do with the discrepancy as well.

So what have we learned? Hopefully something. Now I'm off to play midnight pond hockey with Biff Malibu. Outdoor rinks never age, and the atmosphere is free.

A word on Capacity: All figures include standing-room and all from "official sources", usually a team or a league website. The QMJHL's figures are from the league's excellent official website. If you have any problem with capacity figures, then write your own damn analysis.
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*I have included six on this list given that the St. Michael's College Arena is only intended to be the temporary home of the Majors and is not a CHL-calibre arena. [/url]


What do you mean by it is not CHL calibre? Its too small?

Do the Majors play all their home games there??? Does the areana usually sell out? Why is it only a temporary home?

Do they play on building a new barn?

Do you have any information on the Niagara Falls Memorial Areana, home of the former Niagara Falls Thunder?

Seattle, Key Arena, 17,072 (W)


17,072 is the Key Arena's capacity for basketball. For hockey, the capacity is down to 11,018

Here is the seating plan:

http://www.seattlecenter.com/images/plans/ka_hockey_fp.gif


Here is a photo showing where the seats end. On the left, you can see the door from which both teams enter and exit the ice surface.

http://www.seattlecenter.com/images/plans/hockey/ka_hockey_127.jpg

Thanks for the picture. I'll make the change.

As for the Niagara Falls Memorial Arena, all info I have (admittedly not much) is at http://balder.prohosting.com/ohlguide/thunder.htm.

The St. Mike's Majors used to play out of Maple Leaf Gardens, but after the place closed they were forced to find a new home. The ACC was too overbooked and too big anyway, and the Ricoh Coliseum hadn't been built yet, so they were forced to improvise. The "temporary" solution is into its fourth year now. As for the arena itself, there are pictures at http://balder.prohosting.com/ohlguide/majors.htm. The rink has six rows of seats on either side and nothing in the ends, and is nowhere near a CHL-calibre rink. Owner Eugene Melnyk is looking for a new home.

The St. Mike's Majors used to play out of Maple Leaf Gardens, but after the place closed they were forced to find a new home. The ACC was too overbooked and too big anyway, and the Ricoh Coliseum hadn't been built yet, so they were forced to improvise. The "temporary" solution is into its fourth year now. As for the arena itself, there are pictures at http://balder.prohosting.com/ohlguide/majors.htm. The rink has six rows of seats on either side and nothing in the ends, and is nowhere near a CHL-calibre rink. Owner Eugene Melnyk is looking for a new home.
It must be fun to watch a game there though!

For Seattle, the players bench is actually on the near side of the photo and the players leave through the door in the lower left part of the picture. As for Portland, most their games are played in the Rose Garden in Portland now, a handful each year are in Memorial Coloseum.

For Seattle, the players bench is actually on the near side of the photo and the players leave through the door in the lower left part of the picture.

I pointed that out. ;)