Winnipeg – True North Sports & Entertainment Limited and the MTS Centre are pleased to announce PollStar Magazine, one of the leading entertainment industry journals, has revealed the MTS Centre has once again finished 19th in the entire world on their Top 100 list of arena venue ticket sales for the entire year of 2008.

Throughout 2008, the MTS Centre sold 385,427 tickets. These tickets sales include only non-sporting touring events, and do not include such things as hockey.

The MTS Centre now sits 13th amongst facilities throughout North America and remains in third place behind only the Air Canada Centre in Toronto (fifth overall) and the Bell Centre in Montreal (sixth overall) in Canada.

The MTS Centre’s considerable success of over 385,427 tickets sold throughout 2008 is the strongest showing ever since the facility opened in November 2004. Last year, the MTS Centre finished 27th in the world with over 355,000 tickets sold while in 2006, the facility sold just over 281,000. In its first year in 2005, the MTS Centre sold 259,000 tickets. Acts which were instrumental in pushing MTS Centre to new heights in 2008 were two nights of Elton John and Celine Dion, along with sold-out shows such as Neil Young, Rush, and Tom Petty.

“We at True North Sports & Entertainment are very proud of the fact that our positioning in the top 20 and the top three in Canada has remained strong over the last half of 2008,” said Jim Ludlow, President & CEO of True North Sports & Entertainment Ltd. “We would like thank Manitobans for continuing to support the facility and for coming out to enjoy the events and shows in such record numbers. We look forward to an even more exciting 2009 with big things on the horizon.”

To date, over five million fans, including hockey, have come to the MTS Centre since it opened on November 16th, 2004.