Re-opening act for Hamilton’s coliseum
After 18 months and $300 million in renovations, Hamilton’s downtown entertainment complex will re-open as TD Coliseum on Nov. 21. It’s going to feel familiar — and entirely different.
In many ways, TD Coliseum is a completely new, unrecognizable place. But for many Hamiltonians, it’s also a beloved and familiar building full of memories.
It’s also one of the biggest private sector investments downtown Hamilton has ever seen, and is expected to become a much-needed economic catalyst, and a key venue in the Golden Horseshoe in an era of large-scale arena tours.
So for all those reasons, Nov. 21 will be a historic day in this city.
That’s when Sir Paul McCartney takes to the stage as the first performer in the reopened 18,000-seat venue where $300 million has been pumped into making this a modern concert venue, with plenty of premium experiences, a full-scale restaurant and multiple concession options, enhanced sound technology, and a much better flow of people through the building.
“Anytime you can have a Beatle open your building, I mean you say yes all day long,” says Nick DeLuco, general manager of TD Coliseum for developer and venue operator Oak View Group.
“You move up your opening three weeks to make it happen. To have someone of Sir Paul’s stature come to Hamilton again, to really kick off the retrofit and the renovation and a new era for the live entertainment world in Hamilton, it couldn’t be better.”
There’s excitement, of course, about the talent coming to the stage, but there’s also plenty of buzz around the transformation of the arena that has sat at the corner of Bay Street and York Boulevard since 1985. And after about 18 months of construction, the grand unveiling is around the corner.
“The TD Coliseum has always been more than a venue — it’s a cultural touchstone for generations of Hamiltonians,” Mayor Andrea Horwath tells HCM. “I still remember the energy and excitement of big shows at Copps Coliseum, moments when the whole city seemed to come alive. I can’t wait to feel that energy again, and to see how the redeveloped space brings new life to our downtown at night. I’m especially looking forward to seeing Hamilton’s own Arkells perform there — it would be a perfect way to celebrate this incredible new chapter for our city.”
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At the time of this writing, about 20 events have been announced and more are coming each week. They include Rod Stewart, Nine Inch Nails, Brad Paisley, Big Wreck, The Offspring, The Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the opening of the Toronto Rock season on Dec. 13, and Cardi B and the JUNO Awards next year. There has been no news on the hockey front, but OVG has said it’s actively exploring options.
In some cases, including renowned tenor Andrea Bocelli and Indian singer Sonu Nigam, Hamilton is the only Canadian date yet announced. This is the first time the Jonas Brothers have ever come to the city.
The venue will be music-first content wise, with Live Nation as booking partner, though the Toronto Rock will be a tenant and a hockey franchise is expected to come down the road.
'Game-changer' for concert market
The Denver-based Oak View Group manages about 400 sports and entertainment venues around the world. It has also led the new builds or renovations of a number of facilities, including the music-first venues in the new Co-op Live in Manchester, and CFG Bank Arena in Baltimore, a $200 million renovation.
The demand for stadium and arena shows is growing, driven by superstars and touring veterans but also by hugely popular international acts, says Wayne Zronik, president of business development at Live Nation Canada.
But sports tenants at Rogers Centre and Scotiabank Arena mean the broad regional market risked missing out on some tours entirely without secondary venues.
“This is going to be an extraordinary world-class facility and it’s a game-changer in the local market,” says Zronik, who grew up in Brantford and saw many shows in downtown Hamilton, including his favourite, The Tragically Hip.
“Copps Coliseum has a special place in my heart,” he says. “Hamilton is what I call the downtown of the Golden Horseshoe. It’s an area of 10 million people and it’s only been serviced by one major arena, and that's just that hasn't been enough.”
“It’s hard not to be impressed by the musical acts booked to open the remodelled TD Coliseum,” says Graham Rockingham, the now-retired music editor at The Hamilton Spectator. “Paul McCartney and Andrea Bocelli are two of the biggest draws in the world. Brad Paisley is a top-level country, Trent Reznor fans will flock to the Nine Inch Nails and Twice will bring in the K-Pop kids. It seems Live Nation is making a big push to show they intend to book the big acts at the former Copps Coliseum across all genres.”
Tickets for McCartney and Bocelli sold quickly and overall sales have been brisk, says DeLuco. OVG is promising 90-plus concerts a year in the arena, along with family shows, and sporting events. Among announced shows, Hamilton is among the highest-selling shows on the tours for MGK, Jonas Brothers, and Nine Inch Nails.
“We’ve got a great mix of shows, different genres and age demographics, whether that is country, classic rock, heavier stuff, or family shows like Disney on Ice,” says DeLuco. “You want everybody to be able to come to the building and see something they want to see again. Always a big part of what we do is diversifying content. We are getting as many big names as we can, but also making sure we touch as many bases as possible.”
DeLuco says those who have been visiting the venue over the last decades will no longer recognize it.
“You're honestly going to walk into a new building. And I think that's what people will say. I hope it is.”
What’s new in TD Coliseum?
Gone will be the long hikes up or down from your seat to a single concourse to get a drink or go to the washroom.
“This is one of the greatest stories of this building,” says Paul Young, senior vice-president of project management for OVG. “When they built this building, it was a 17,000- or 18,000-seat stadium. It was on par with all the other NHL and NBA buildings. It’s a big building, a full-size building in the bowl, but it had one concourse. That was the third floor, and so everybody from the upper bowl came down to that concourse, everybody from the lower bowl went up to that concourse.”
The street level and below-grade concourses were blocked off from public access from the time the building opened. OVG officials have said it’s unclear why that was the case but it could have been built that way for future expansions that didn’t happen or to accommodate large-scale conventions.
So all kinds of space was unlocked in areas that previously were either entirely empty or used for storage. There’s now a concourse for those with floor seats, and a completely new concourse on the second level.
“So in theory, you've distributed the top floor to the third floor, the middle bowl to the second floor, and the four seats to the first floor. And on every single one of those levels, we've added food, beverage, more bathrooms and amenities for each of those levels.”
In order to give access to the concourses below-grade and at street level, openings with the evocative name of vomitories had to be cut into the concrete bowl.
The food options at TD Coliseum are getting a major upgrade.
A collaboration with celebrity chef Matty Matheson includes The Iron Cow Public House, a 185-seat full-service restaurant and speakeasy-style pub. It will have a separate street entrance off York Boulevard, to the east of the new box office, and will be open regardless of whether the venue has an event. Matheson’s restaurant group Our House H.C. will also design and curate the menu for three concession stands featuring items from Matty’s Patty’s and Rizzo’s House of Parm.
Matheson has also been involved in developing food and drinks being served in premium suites.
A much more hidden aspect of the venue is state-of-the-art tech infrastructure hidden in giant closets on each floor that connect ticketing systems, point-of-sale, security cameras, and the lighting systems that are preprogrammed for when crowds are coming in, for show blackouts, and for exits.
“The building has the same tech system as the new UBS Arena for the New York Islanders and the Seattle Kracken arena,” says Young. “It is the same companies. It's the same system, it's the same processors, it's the same switches, the Cisco switches. And so this Hamilton arena is on par with the newest, most modern arenas in the industry.”
At any given time, there have been between 350 and 380 people working on the project, which has been managed by construction contractor EllisDon. The subcontractors and workers in the Hamilton area have been great to work with, says Young.
“They are taking a lot of pride in the project. We see that they are proud of the building so many of them went to their first concert there or they have a story about a Bulldogs game.”
When HAMILTON CITY Magazine got a tour of the arena exactly one month before opening night, speakers are being lifted to the rafters, final sections of seating are being installed in the concert bowl, banquettes and other furniture is being installed in premium suites, lounges and artist dressing rooms, and exterior lighting is about to be lit up.
Soon point-of-sale systems will be installed and testing of major systems will begin, such as the lighting controls, fire and smoke alarms, ventilation and air handling, and health inspections will be completed for all areas preparing food.
The sleek floor-level suites will have a tremendous view of the stage, as will premium lounges at the opposite end of the bowl. The north end of the building, where once there were expansive staircases out to York Boulevard — used only to exit the building — has now been converted into a massive restaurant and lounge space for those holding club-level tickets.
What stands out almost immediately as we stand on the floor level and look up into the bowl is the absence of colour. Gone are the 1980s-have-called red, orange and yellow seats. No more orange press box or red ceiling. Everything is black now.
Outside, the building has been painted a palette of gray, including a steel colour that seems appropriate for this city, replacing an off-white and orange colour scheme. The box office has been moved to the corner of York and Bay, right at the base of the large electronic sign.
It’s worth noting that when Copps opened in 1985, its entire price tag was $33.5 million. This renovation, which kept the exterior shell, the concrete concourses and the bowl, has spent nine times that amount.
Copps Coliseum ‘punched above its weight’
With the reopening of Hamilton’s venue, there are only two 18,000-seat venues in the GTHA. The one in Toronto is tough to book. Scotiabank Arena is home to both the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Toronto Raptors, both of which have 41 home games a season.
“Most major acts want to play Toronto because it's Toronto, but sometimes they can sell two or three or four shows in this market, but they can't get the dates in Toronto,” says DeLuco. “So, we can be complementary to that. You want to play two in Toronto and come down the road to Hamilton to do one? We'll do that all day.”
Despite its limitations, Copps Coliseum and then FirstOntario Centre has long been successful when it comes to attracting big shows and selling tickets. It was consistently ranked by industry trade magazine Pollstar among the top 100 concert venues in the world by tickets sold in the 1990s and early 2000s. It even broke into the top 50 in 2008, the first time Bruce Springsteen appeared at Copps.
“I think Hamilton's always kind of punched above its weight, which I think is why this is such an appealing project to us, too,” says DeLuco. “There is a proof of concept there. And I just think the venue and the upgrades and everything we're adding to it, you know, gives people more reason to come to play.”
And as the GTHA grows and congestion continues to plague the highways, coming to downtown Hamilton becomes a more attractive option over going into Toronto for those in Peel, Halton and to the west and north of Hamilton, says DeLuco.
The 10 floor-level suites that are lined up in the lower bowl are a unique feature and will offer a fantastic experience, says DeLuco. They are sold out. There are a dozen more suites on the 100 level, and then a range of premium club and lounge spaces, too. Most of them are sold out, too.
Suites have been so popular that there are conversations about adding additional suites, says DeLuco. “Everything we're doing sales wise in the premium areas, whether it's clubs or lounges, we're trending ahead of schedule.”
Behind the stage on the lower level is what has been dubbed The Compound, featuring five luxury hotel-like private dressing rooms, each with exposed brick and expansive washrooms, and a large lounge area for performers. There are also four show-day production offices for promoters and tour managers, a meet-and-greet lounge, and dedicated lounge space for crews. None of this is hockey locker rooms, which is often the case in sports stadiums. Two sets of home and away locker rooms are in separate spaces.
These tour amenities will make TD Coliseum stand out to artists, agents and promoters, says DeLuco.
“Anytime you can tell them that they have dedicated spaces, and we're not putting pipe and drape up in dressing rooms or bringing in awful furniture in rooms that are not really designed for them, it's different and unique. So you send them the photos, or people come in for tours too, and they're super impressed. It’s a big selling feature. Anything that can differentiate you from other venues and elevate the experience and give them a reason to think of Hamilton as something different and better, that's why we spent the money, and that's why that's important to all the projects we do. Because artists first, and artist focused is very important to us.”
TD Coliseum will also get huge touring productions in and out quicker, with improved loading areas that have been opened up so that equipment can be rolled right off a truck and onto the stage.
“That’s very appealing to the modern touring rock band. They might be coming from Toronto, they go to Hamilton, and they’ve got to be in Detroit the next morning,” says Paul Young, senior vice-president of project management for OVG.
There are also new sound-absorbing baffles and a bass trap to prevent echo that improve the sound in the bowl, says Young.
“The bands will like it, but more importantly, the fans will notice that the sound in the bowl is better. So the whole experience for a touring act is greatly improved.”
Venue will be catalyst for downtown Hamilton
TD Bank announced it would buy multi-year named rights for the building in June. The company has a strong presence in music events, including sponsoring the JUNOS.
“We are proud to take part in the revitalization of this iconic landmark,” Raymond Chun, group president and CEO, TD Bank Group, said at the time. “By securing the naming rights to TD Coliseum, we are not just investing in bricks and mortar – we're investing in the heart of the Hamilton community. TD Coliseum will be a catalyst for community growth and an inclusive space that brings people together. It's an honour to be part of that vision."
The arena is the anchor, along with the Hamilton Convention Centre and the FirstOntario Concert Hall, of a vision for The Commons, a downtown entertainment district, similar to what’s found in Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Toronto. The future of The Commons, led by local partners HUPEG (Hamilton Urban Precinct Entertainment Group), also calls for $450 million in residential development, alongside related commercial and office spaces.
“I am absolutely thrilled about what the transformation of the TD Coliseum means for Hamilton,” says Mayor Andrea Horwath. “This project is a cornerstone of our downtown revitalization strategy, and its impact will be felt well beyond the walls of the venue.”
The investment by OVG and its partners in the venue will attract “world-class entertainment, new visitors, and significant economic activity from across the GTHA, the Golden Horseshoe, Kitchener-Waterloo, Oxford County and beyond. Their faith in our city is a testament to Hamilton’s growing reputation as a place where culture, creativity, and community thrive.”
Zronik at Live Nation Canada agrees that TD Coliseum will be a major driver of hotel stays, restaurant meals, and local shopping and tourism. That injects dollars and jobs into the local economy.
“We believe it'll be a catalyst for revitalization. Having a Matty Matheson restaurant down there that'll be open 365 days a year, in addition to the 150 events that'll play out there, which will attract several hundred thousand fans, you’re going to have more activity down there than there has been in a long, long time,” he says.
“We know Hamilton and the Golden Horseshoes is one of the strongest live entertainment markets in North America. If you put up the shows, fans will come.”
