A New Era: TD Coliseum Opening Transforms Ontario Concert Landscape, Raises The Bar For Mid-Sized City

Following its Nov. 21 opening concert with Paul McCartney and with a full slate of concerts on the books into next spring, TD Coliseum has already changed the concert landscape in Hamilton, Ontario, the $300 million transformation of Copps Coliseum transforming a venerable hometown venue into a world-class indoor facility in a growing, underserved market.

“We’re particularly excited about this,” said Chris Granger, recently named CEO of venue developer Oak View Group. “The region needed a second big building. As we all know, there’s such an increase in touring right now, such an increase in demand for live entertainment. To not have a second major world-class building in the market was a tragedy. So to do it in Hamilton where the people are so hard working and industrious and have such an appreciation for live, this is a perfect setup for us.”

Granger was taking part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony ahead of the McCartney concert, joining other participants including Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath, representatives from TD Bank, and Live Nation Canada’s Wayne Zronik. OVG is parent company to Pollstar.

“We have found everyone here to be wonderfully friendly and industrious, hardworking and gracious with their time with us, and we feel very much a part of the Hamilton family,” added Granger. “We have also found that people tend to underestimate and underappreciate Hamilton, and we believe that ends today. At OVG, we build and we operate arenas and stadiums and convention centers all across the world. And, fortunately, in my 30 years of doing what we do, I have been to almost every arena of consequence on the planet. And I can tell you that this arena lacks nothing.”

The arena did not lack an opening act worthy of the task, as Paul McCartney’s “Got Back” tour more than delivered. With a three-hour setlist borrowing from a catalog few could compete with, from early Beatles deep cuts to more recent Wings and solo-album classics, Sir Paul was clearly moved by the response from the opening-night crowd. He even did a curtain call from inside his tour bus after the show, waving to fans exiting the arena as his Prevost coach breezed by, met with delighted fans soaking it in.

“From our perspective, it couldn’t have gone much better,” said Nick DeLuco, general manager and senior vice president of the arena for Oak View Group. Attendance was 14,625. “We got them all in on time and ready for Paul. When people finally got into the venue and could see the changes and the transformation, how truly different it was from what they’ve seen in the past, that was amazing. The show itself with Paul was obviously second to none, somebody you dream of having to open your building. I think it was a great night for the city bars, restaurants, hotels, the downtown was packed. It’s exactly what we envisioned when we talked about the project a few years ago.”

REIMAGINED

TD Coliseum, formerly known as FirstOntario Centre and opening as Copps Coliseum in 1985, already boasted a capacity of about 18,000, suitable loading docks and the ability to host sports and concerts.

However, the city-owned venue’s outdated rigging grid made hanging modern large-scale productions difficult or impossible.

A replacement of the rigging grid, now with more than 250,000 pounds of loading capacity, full new seat install, upgraded acoustic paneling and cosmetic enhancements got the arena interior up to snuff, leaving most of the heavy-duty construction to be done on the perimeter.

That means a whole slate of new hospitality spaces, premium clubs and a full dedicated artist compound, as well as a swanky, ornate The Iron Cow restaurant located within the arena complex with a separate entrance. Developed in partnership with celebrated hometown chef Matty Matheson, the restaurant officially opened to the public Dec. 8.
Paul Young, SVP of project management at OVG, said the concept is all about speed and convenience for touring crews loading in and out, coupled with a positive experience from the artists and their teams on stage and behind the scenes.

A unique feature of the arena is nine event-level suite spaces, offering premium hospitality and spacious seating and viewing while located within the traditional arena seating bowl area, allowing guests to enjoy the suite experience while missing none of the action on stage or on the ice.

It’s a concept considered unique for a traditional arena venue, and the response from the industry and corporate Canada has been positive.

Gobs of previously unused space made the old Copps Coliseum ideal for this kind of project, Young said, leading to the ability to create a whole new concourse as well as hospitality spaces, including multiple clubs and spacious lounges.

Each space has its own concept or aesthetic, ranging from the intimate, custom-curated Vinyl Room decked out with memorabilia, real vinyl records and cassette tapes on display (and even spinning tunes in the room) to multiple and additional spacious clubs, including the extra-premium TD Lounge, Rogers Club restaurant and more laid-back House of Peroni.

A purpose-built, dedicated artist compound includes five dressing rooms, a private lounge, catering space and direct stage access while expanded locker rooms and production offices support teams and touring personnel.

DeLuco said the arena was a hit with McCartney’s team. “They were e raving about the sound in the venue, the back-of-house spaces, all the amenities we wanted to put together for that specific reason, for artists to enjoy coming to Hamilton,” DeLuco said.

The perks and extra touches are something the city of Hamilton, population about 520,000 and an hour drive from Toronto (heavily dependent on traffic), has not seen at its sports and entertainment venues before. Local media, residents and the business community were clearly impressed, some even shocked, to see the results.

“At Live Nation Canada, our mission here has been to build national tours that go play various markets in the country,” said Wayne Zronik, president of business operations for Live Nation Canada. Live Nation is a partner in TD Coliseum.

“Particularly for Hamilton, the Golden Horseshoe has grown so much in the last 20 years it’s gotten harder and harder to get to Toronto, and Toronto’s a big place, so there’s multiple plays in the market. Hamilton is a great place to do that, but it’s also great for individual plays. It’ll route nicely in our arena tour business that we do across Canada and fits within an ecosystem of a bunch of great arenas from coast to coast in Canada.”

The arena opening was personal for many involved, including Zronik, who grew up in nearby Brantford.

“As a child, for me, Hamilton was my downtown, and Hamilton is really effectively the downtown of the Golden Horseshoe,” he said. “Now, it has the world-class venue that it so richly deserves and it’ll attract artists, events and visitors from around the region and beyond. We couldn’t be more proud and excited to be a part of it.”
Its first run of shows also included mgk (Dec. 8), Andrea Bocelli (Dec. 9); Brad Paisley (Dec. 12); the Jonas Brothers (Dec. 14), Trans Siberian Orchestra (Dec. 28) and Matt Rife (Dec. 30).

“Ticket sales have been great, across genres as well,” Granger said. “Everything we have on sale right now is tracking very favorably, so there are no concerns on that end. I don’t want to say we were pleasantly surprised, but the numbers have been robust in every category so far.”

The Toronto Rock lacrosse club will open its nine-game home schedule on Dec. 13, and the arena’s first hockey game will be a PWHL Takeover Tour Game on Jan. 3.

Also on deck is the JUNO Awards, Canada’s equivalent of the Grammys, which will include a tribute to Joni Mitchell, who will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award presented by the National Arts Centre, and 10-time JUNO winner Nelly Furtado, who will be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. It will be broadcast live on CBC March 29.

“The JUNOs are a great tourism event, great to showcase the city, and great for us to showcase the arena,” says DeLuco, no stranger to the JUNOs from his time with Oilers Entertainment Group in Edmonton. “The CARAS team is first class and knows how to host an amazing event. For us to get to do that just months after we opened is a privilege.”

Looking forward, Granger says OVG will be selective but is always looking for opportunities for venue development, which could mean similar renovation projects to TD Coliseum, PeoplesBank Arena in Hartford, Connecticut, or CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, which involved overhauling the old Royal Farms Arena that opened in the 1960s.

“I would say broadly that every building is different and every opportunity is different, but to the extent that we can find these renovation projects, we are always on the lookout for that,” Granger said. “Obviously, doing a renovation rather than a new build saves you metric tons of waste along the way, so it’s a smarter way to do things. We will always look to build new, but we will seriously consider any renovation project as well, because we think these make a lot of sense.”

Communities can also benefit from using an existing facility, often built in the heart of downtown.

“These buildings in Hartford, Baltimore, there’s such a history to these venues,“ Granger said. “To be able to give a reimagination of the space and a reimagination of the building, adds to the story of the building and to the connection between generations within the city.”

In Hamilton’s case, the added traffic to the city’s downtown is much welcomed and appreciated, as expressed by Mayor Horwath and Premier Ford.

“We know that our business drives the economy around it,” says Zronik, referencing the 2,000-capacity History venue in Toronto, opened in partnership with superstar rapper Drake in 2021, as an example. “This will be a catalyst to bringing people back downtown to the core, and with the 365-day-per-year restaurant. When you bring in hundreds of thousands of people per year through shows, you start to see businesses pop up around it. So that’s exciting as well.”