Future of Downtown

Winnipeg's downtown is changing for the better, and this significant new project provides the power to accelerate this positive change and bring hundreds of thousands more people downtown on a regular basis

True North Sports & Entertainment Limited is a private sector group that has come together with government support to create the MTS Centre, a bright new 15,000+ seat entertainment, sports and performing arts facility that will occupy a site in the heart of downtown Winnipeg that has for decades been considered the premiere piece of real estate in the city.

Downtown is already home to well-established major arts, cultural and sports venues, and it is the logical and preferred place for a new sports and entertainment centre, a fact confirmed by several feasibility studies over the past 20 years.

This visionary project has the potential to energize our city's centre by bringing 800,000 people into the downtown every year while providing a new public and community amenity that meets the high standards our community deserves.

The distinctive design of the entertainment centre will reflect and illuminate Portage Avenue and the surrounding area, bringing new light, life and animation to Winnipeg streets.

Project Features

The design incorporates the best, well-tested features and spectator amenities of the many new-generation entertainment and sports centres built across North America over the past decade. It represents the leading-edge of facilities now being designed.

Features Include: private suites, event suites, club seats, quality food outlets, a club seat lounge and a restaurant and sports bar - all surrounding the action. It will also include three concourses, retail outlets, ample washrooms and easy entry and exit. It will be one of the most modern, state-of-the-art facilities in North America.

The MTS Centre provides excellent sight lines from every seat, superb acoustics for concerts and the best ambiences and amenities for sports of all kinds - hockey, basketball, curling, arena football, lacross, indoor soccer - including international and championship events like World Junior Hockey and the Brier.

It is also flexible. It can accommodate up to 17,000 concert-goers, but can just as easily be curtained to create an intimate concert entertainment setting for audiences as small as 2,500.

The ice surface converts from standard North American professional dimensions (85 ft. by 200 ft.) to international hockey dimensions (100 ft. by 200 ft.). The rinkboards and first six rows of seating are easily removed to create 30,000 square feet of exhibition floor space.

Four separate pedestrian bridges over Hargrave Street, Graham Avenue and Donald Street connect the MTS Centre to the downtown walkway system creating a new hub that links the facility with major downtown shopping centres, indoor parking, several hotels and major office towers.

Location

According to the facilty's entertainment-centre design consultant, Don Dethlefs, this is the best urban site he has ever seen for an entertainment centre in North America.

As the former retail heart of downtown, this pivotal location is directly connected to all parts of the city by major transportation arteries and more than 40 transit routes. Parking already exists nearby with over 7,000 spaces available withing a five minute walk, including 2,700 that are indoor and heated.

In addition, the location and design concept enhance the value of the existing investment in our skaywalks and recent Portage Avenue streetscaping. Also it strengthens Portage Place and City Place by increasing pedestrian traffic and enhancing downtown safety.

To provide the experience today's audiences and performers expect, Winnipeg needed this entertainment centre.

Project Funding

The MTS Centre will cost $133.5 million. The MTS Centre Project group will contribute about 70% of this or $93 million.

The Government of Canada, The Province of Manitoba and the City of Winnipeg will contribute about 30% or $40.5 million. For every two private-sector dollars, there will be less than one dollar of public-sector investment.

As part of the business plan, the MTS Centre Project Group will own and operate the new entertainment centre and the Manitoba Moose.