MLSE shows off Scotiabank Arena upgrades, including tunnel club, with more to come

Fans at Scotiabank Arena for concerts or Toronto Maple Leafs and Raptors games will notice bigger, brighter walkways and more technology these days.

But the venue remains a work in progress.

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is halfway through the second phase of its $350-million four-phase renovation to the arena that opened in February 1999.

“At that time it was a cutting-edge, state-of-the-art, major-market arena,” said Nick Eaves, MLSE’s COO. “Over time obviously so much has happened to change the whole sport-entertainment experience.”

Renovations to the north half of the 100 concourse are complete, with wider corridors and an expanded Gate 1, one of the major entry points to the arena. LED screens across the ceiling and displays on the walls will trumpet what’s on, as well as “partner content.”

“The experience starts as you’re approaching the front door,” said Eaves.

The north section of the concourse — about half of the arena on the ground level — has already been completed, with crews working around some 50 concerts at the building since the end of the Raptors’ and Leafs’ last season.

Concourses have been slightly widened, by stealing space from washrooms (although the number of washroom fixtures remains the same). Directional signage is also clearer.

There is also a new all-gender washroom, with floor-to-ceiling stalls, with another in the works.

“We really wanted the space to be even more inclusive than it has already been in the past,” said Eaves.

There is also a “quiet room” available on the concourse and open to anyone.

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Construction will continue through the regular season on the south side of the 100 level. And the next phase of the so-called arena, scheduled for next summer, will see similar upgrades to the 300 level.

Work on the suites on the 400 level is also planned, as well as putting in a club area to replace suites on the 500 level.

Phase 1, now complete, focused on the 200 level of the arena, a section primarily dedicated to luxury boxes, and the creation of Mastercard Lounge, which allows members to dine while watching the evening’s action. The level’s distinctive art, related to sports and entertainment, will be expanded to the rest of the facility.

Scotiabank Arena had the smallest retail footprint of any NHL or NBA venue — “a function of the real estate we had,” explained Eaves.

The existing team store has been renovated and a second store installed. One will focus on Leafs or Raptors depending on who is playing that night while the other displays all of MLSE teams’ merchandise plus concert-related product.

The move away from traditional concessions stands, where you line up and give your order to a server, continues. While they still exist, the arena will have more “grab-and-go” self-service concessions as well as Amazon’s Just Walk Out concessions, where you enter by scanning your credit card or other payment method and cameras track and charge you for what you select.

Test runs showed the technology worked well. Eaves said wait times have been halved.

The 100 concourse will feature some 16 quick-service concession stands, two-thirds of which will be self-service. The rest will be traditional concessions, staffed by servers.

For the well-heeled, there’s the new MNP Pass Social Club on the event level, essentially a tunnel club that features a brand new 220-capacity restaurant next to the glassed-in player tunnel that the Leafs will use to take to the ice. To make room for the facility, 16 existing event-level “bunker” suites were removed with suite-holders offered first crack at membership in the new club, which includes two private rooms for parties.

The glass is such that while the diners can see the players clearly, the view the other way is limited.

The new club offers a variety of different membership options that includes season seats and access to the club beginning at $30,000.

BMO Field has a similar Tunnel Club for Toronto FC games, as does New York’s Madison Square Garden, Seattle’s Lumen Field and Detroit’s Little Caesars Arena, among other venues.

Members can dine, watch the players take to the ice and then head to their premium seats.

Last-minutes work was underway on the arena renovations this week ahead of a media tour Friday and the Leafs’ home opener Saturday against the Pittsburgh Penguins. MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum checked out the MNP Pass Social Club earlier in the week and president and CEO Keith Pelley offered suggestions as he toured the venue.

The Hot Stove Lounge, part of Maple Leaf Gardens’ lore, has been remodelled and will be open on non-game nights.

The arena “reimagination” will result in reducing the number of suites in the building from 100-plus to 75, to provide different premium options. As a result, attendance may increase by a couple of hundred.

The arena underwent another round of renovations in 2019, which produced a pedestrian bridge over Bay Street to ease the post-game flow of fans and an improved video board on the west side of the arena.