After 20 years working professionally in the Toronto sports world, and a lifetime attending sports events and concerts in the city, I was surprised to hear about the refurbishment of the old Copps Coliseum in Hamilton.
Sure I had been there a few times in my life, most recently to work on a Hamilton Honey Badgers game in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. As a child I attended a pro wrestling card there with my dad and brother. And, sadly, I missed the Grateful Dead concerts there in 1990 and 1992, the most epic events in the arena’s history – just ask the Deadheads.
But then I learned that the Honey Badgers were moving to the CAA Centre in Brampton, shortly after winning the CEBL’s championship in August, 2022. I was told the re-named Brampton Honey Badgers were leaving town because the arena was being remade.
I was not told that Oak View Group was taking over the building, investing $300 million into it and aiming to make Hamilton a key player in the region’s entertainment.
According to David McPherson’s story in The Globe and Mail, “global venue developer and manager OVG decided to revitalize the structure to meet evolving customer needs and artist expectations.”
This also gives Hamilton its first opportunity to really compete with not only Toronto for the entertainment dollar, but with Buffalo, New York. The soon-to-be opened TD Coliseum unleashes its entertainment calendar on November 21 with none other than Paul McCartney, the rock ‘n’ roll icon who co-founded The Beatles and continues to astonish audiences with his live show, at age 83. That’s right, 83.
A friend of mine was unable to purchase tickets for McCartney’s TD Coliseum show, instead pivoting to get ducats for his family of four to see the show in Buffalo. Plenty of fans, plenty of money to go around the entire region.
Interestingly there is no date at Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena, the usual destination for music’s biggest acts.
“it’s common in the concert industry these days for people to travel to see a big artist and make seeing a concert the reason for a mini road trip,” Paul Young told McPherson in the Globe article. Young is senior vice-president of project management at Oak View.
This is the telling sign in the industry, and the ripple effect in live events in Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe area. For years and even decades people from Toronto and suburbs, and Hamilton area have been making the trip to Buffalo for sports – the NFL’s Bills, the NHL’s Sabres. Hamilton is a point in between, and now offers the music promoter Live Nation a place for artists to land when Scotiabank is busy with the Leafs or Raptors.
In theory, you could have an autumn night with the Leafs playing in Buffalo, the Raptors playing at Scotiabank Arena, and a top music artist playing in Hamilton. The entertainment options are growing for fans in the region.
And what of sports to be played at TD Coliseum? Most North American arenas of this size are built with sports in mind as the main tenant. We know that the Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League will play their home games at TD Coliseum, but that’s only nine regular season dates. The former Hamilton Bulldogs of the Ontario Hockey League have a deal with Brantford to play there for 15 years. An NHL team is unlikely. Both the Maple Leafs and Sabres would be opposed as it would infringe on their territorial rights in terms of ticket sales and television, although you could make the argument that ticket sales wouldn’t be impacted much, certainly not in Toronto.
The Honey Badgers of the CEBL could return some day and other fringe sports might see their day but it’s safe to say TD Coliseum is a music-first arena. The Globe and Mail article states that “back-of-house additions include four new artists dressing rooms, an artist’s lounge, four production offices for promoters to use on show days and a dedicated crew space.
These have little to nothing to do with sporting events. The plan for TD Coliseum is to make money off music. Selling the naming rights of the building was just another notch in the belt for OVG, who have 40 naming rights deals in North America and England.
It’s Hamilton’s time to rock ‘n’ roll.
Follow Dan on Instagram and Blue Sky: @dgontheroad
