Toronto city tours offered by Global Alliance allow our clients to experience Canada’s largest metropolis in comfort from the seat of one of our luxurious vehicles with an experience chauffeur as a guide, with the further option to be dropped off to explore Toronto’s many attractions on their own. We’ll provide details about the major live sports venues in the city today, as well as a special museum dedicated to a very special Canadian sport.
Air Canada Centre
Opened in 1999 on former railroad lands just south of Toronto’s Financial District, the Air Canada Centre is the city’s premier indoor sporting and events facility and the busiest arena in Canada. Seating up to 19,000, the Air Canada Centre (frequently abbreviated as the ACC and sometimes called the Hangar in reference to its airline name sponsor) hosts many concerts and other live events. But it is best-known as the home premises of two of Toronto’s flagship sports franchises: the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and the NHL’s legendary Toronto Maple Leafs. Connected to public transit and commuter rail via Union Station and studded with amenities such as bars, restaurants, merchandise shops, and private luxury boxes, the Air Canada Centre is Toronto’s premier sporting and live events venue.
Rogers Centre
Once called the Skydome, Rogers Centre is Toronto’s largest multi-purpose stadium. The home field of Major League Baseball’s Toronto Blue Jays and the Toronto Argonauts of the CFL, Rogers Centre can accommodate up to and above 50,000 attendees. Concerts and other events that attract more people than the ACC have often been held there since its opening in 1989. Most recently, the NFL’s Buffalo Bills have played occasional annual regular season games in the stadium. Rogers Centre has a fully retractable roof which allows the playing or performing surface to be protected from inclement weather or open to the sky on clear days. There is also a hotel inside the complex, with many of its rooms overlooking the stadium.
BMO Field and Ricoh Coliseum
BMO Field and Ricoh Coliseum are two historic sporting venues repurposed for contemporary use at Exhibition Place. BMO Field stands on the former location of Exhibition Stadium, the first home field of the Toronto Blue Jays and itself the fourth stadium to stand on the spot, making BMO Field the fifth. It is now a soccer-specific stadium, the home pitch of Toronto FC, the city’s popularly successful Major League Soccer franchise. It also hosts many Canadian national soccer team matches under the non-sponsored name of the National Soccer Stadium. Ricoh Coliseum is a smaller arena on the Exhibition Place grounds that is the home of the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs’ locally-based farm team. The Beaux Arts edifice also serves as the show ring during the annual Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in November.
Hockey Hall of Fame
Located in a former Bank of Montreal branch at the corner of Yonge Street and Front Street and stretching into the subterranean level of the modern Brookfield Place office building adjacent, the Hockey Hall of Fame is a museum and shrine to the history of Canada’s defining sport. Its exhibits are packed with memorabilia from the history of the game, from pucks, sticks, and jerseys of famous players to all of the National Hockey League’s trophies, including the Stanley Cup, displayed in the ornate Great Hall alongside entries on the Hall of Fame’s inductees. There are also interactive displays and a new 3D projection theatre, presenting an innovative multimedia approach to exploring the contours of the game. All told, the Hockey Hall of Fame is a must-visit for fans of Canada’s game.