Bay Street is a lower city arterial road in Hamilton, Ontario , Canada. It starts at Inglewood Drive, just South of Aberdeen Avenue , as a collector road with only two lanes, then eventually becomes a six lane thoroughfare at its peak. Bay Street also passes through downtown Hamilton, where many high-rise buildings are found. Bay Street is a one-way street from Aberdeen Avenue to Cannon Street West . Bay Street continues as an arterial route to Strachan Street, where it is downgraded to a neighbourhood collector and eventually ends at a curb at Pier 4 Park at Burlington Street in the city's North End.
32-536: FirstOntario Centre (originally Copps Coliseum ) is a sports and entertainment arena at the corner of Bay Street North and York Boulevard in Hamilton , Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1985, it has a capacity of up to 19,000. Hamilton was left without a large ice hockey venue after the Barton Street Arena was demolished in 1977, and even that arena had a small seating capacity by modern standards. Construction on
64-627: A number of games in the 1991 Canada Cup , including the finals, when Canada defeated the United States . The first WWF Royal Rumble , which was shown on the USA Network , was held in the arena on January 24, 1988. Copps hosted the WWF pay-per-view Breakdown: In Your House on September 27, 1998, and the Billy Graham crusade that year, attended by 19,000 spectators each night. The Grateful Dead played
96-514: Is a sports and entertainment arena with a capacity of up to 19,000 (depending on event type and configuration) on the corner of Bay Street North and York Boulevard . It was named after the former Hamilton mayor, Victor K. Copps . Construction began in 1983 and was completed in 1985 at a cost of $ 33.5 million, and an addition $ 2.3 million for a parking garage. The construction was overseen by local Hamiltonian, Joseph Pigott. In 1987, #99 Wayne Gretzky and #66 Mario Lemieux combined forces to capture
128-687: The Canada Cup at FirstOntario Centre as Team Canada defeated the Russians. Canada wins series 2 games to one. All three games ended in 6-to-5 scores. In 1999, Detroit Rock City was filmed at the FirstOntario Centre starring the Rock group Kiss . In 2004, FirstOntario Centre was used again to film Meg Ryan 's Against the Ropes . Herkimer Apartments , on the corner of Bay Street South and Herkimer Street ,
160-668: The Hamilton Farmer's Market , 120 King Street West and the former Eaton's Centre now known as the Hamilton City Centre . It is also known as an "indoor core connector" to the Hamilton Convention Centre / Ellen Fairclough Building ), Art Gallery of Hamilton and FirstOntario Concert Hall across the street: all three downtown landmarks are connected to the mall by a skywalk that crosses over King to Jackson Square. FirstOntario Centre (formerly Copps Coliseum),
192-678: The Harbour West Marina Complex . Then the route hangs a left on Discovery Drive, the site of the Parks Canada Discovery Centre. Also at this site is the Hamilton Harbour Queen (cruise boat), Hamiltonian ( tour boat ) and the Hamilton Waterfront Trolley . The Hamilton Waterfront Trolley is a narrated tour along the 12 kilometre Hamilton Waterfront Trail. The main stop and departure spot is at
224-585: The Parks Canada Discovery Centre . The route circles Hamilton's downtown core around York Boulevard (north), Bay Street South (west), King Street West (south) and James Street North (east). Then it travels north along James Street and the Art District until it reaches the waterfront at Guise Street past the Leander Boat Club, Royal Hamilton Yacht Club , Hamilton Chamber of Commerce and
256-694: The Soviets 6–5 in the final. The Dukes of Hamilton replaced the Steelhawks as the city's OHL team and played in Copps Coliseum from 1989 to 1991. The arena hosted the 1990 Memorial Cup and set the single game attendance record, on May 13, 1990, with 17,383 spectators watching the Oshawa Generals defeat the Kitchener Rangers , in the final, 4–3 in double overtime on a Bill Armstrong goal. The venue hosted
288-659: The April 19 match at Maple Leaf Gardens, but were unsuccessful. The American Hockey League expanded to Copps in 1992 in the form of Vancouver's affiliate, the Hamilton Canucks . After two seasons, the team was moved to Syracuse , where they became one of the league's most stable franchises. In October 1996, Copps Coliseum became home to the Hamilton Bulldogs of the American Hockey League . The Bulldogs, who were
320-719: The Brantford Bulldogs and will play home games at the Brantford Civic Centre . The renovations were delayed until December 2023 which allowed the Rock to play their first couple games of the 2023–24 season at the arena, before moving to the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, Ontario . This also allowed five Cirque du Soleil performances at the arena before its closing. However, in September 2023, it
352-533: The Bulldogs banner, and Hamilton's traditional black and yellow colours, in the junior league. The Bulldogs are the primary tenant in the facility. Copps Coliseum was built to National Hockey League capacity and specifications in the hope that it would allow Hamilton to acquire an NHL expansion franchise . However, said arena is just 36.3 miles from the home venue of the Toronto Maple Leafs and 57.9 miles from
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#1732847567878384-583: The Centre into a state-of-the-art facility in anticipation of an NHL franchise coming to Hamilton. It is unknown whether these renovations will come to fruition since Balsillie lost his bid to buy the Coyotes. In 2008, it was announced that the Golden Horseshoe would be bidding for the 2015 Pan American Games . On February 18, 2009, Copps Coliseum was identified as the proposed site for the volleyball competition for
416-616: The Coliseum on four occasions, with two dates in 1990 and two dates in 1992. In November 2022, it was announced that beginning in the late summer of 2023, the arena would close for 20 months due to renovations. This would force the Bulldogs and Rock to relocate for all of the 2023–24 season and most of the 2024–25 season. As a result of the closure, the Honey Badgers decided to permanently relocate to Brampton , Ontario. The Bulldogs rebranded as
448-532: The Games, but it did not host any events. On January 3, 2014, Nitro Circus performed at the stadium for the first ever and only stop in Canada. Due to the high-risk nature of their stunt-based shows, most North American venues will not host the events. On January 27, 2014, Hamilton City council voted unanimously to approve a $ 3.5-million deal to rename Copps Coliseum after local credit union First Ontario . The city unveiled
480-650: The Hamilton Waterfront Scoops ice cxream parlour. There are a dozen stops along the way between Princess Point at the western-end of the route to the eastern-end, the site of HMCS Haida . Also near this eastern-end route is the site of the Hamiltonian Tour Boat , which is a 12-passenger tour boat that offers a leisurely guided tour of Hamilton Harbour . 43°16′06″N 79°52′09″W / 43.2682°N 79.8693°W / 43.2682; -79.8693 2024 NLL season The 2024 NLL season
512-644: The Skyhawks formed the National Basketball League for 1993, but the Hawks moved to Edmonton for the playoffs, then folded. The Coliseum was host to the 1994 FIBA World Championship , along with Maple Leaf Gardens and SkyDome . The next year, the Centre hosted the FIBA Americas Championship for Women , which was won by Canada. During their first two seasons of play (1995–96 and 1996–97), prior to
544-704: The completion of construction on their new home the Air Canada Centre , the Toronto Raptors played three regular season games at Copps Coliseum, as well as a preseason game in 1997. In 1998 a strange twist of scheduling conflicts led the Toronto Raptors to play their final regular season game in Hamilton, as the Toronto Blue Jays had first right of refusal for all SkyDome dates. The Raptors had attempted to play
576-579: The festival is to improve people's knowledge of how everyone can improve and protect the fresh water within the Great Lakes . In 2007 the festival was held the last weekend of May. A waterfront shuttle is provided as a free service offered by the Hamilton Street Railway . It has a seasonal schedule that runs weekends from May-to-October connecting Hamilton's downtown core to the waterfront and attractions that can be found there like HMCS Haida and
608-510: The franchise to southwestern Ontario. Balsillie applied for a lease option which, should the relocation have succeeded, would have invoked a 20-year lease for the team to play at Copps Coliseum. On May 9, 2009, the Toronto Star , Hamilton Spectator and others reported that Hamilton mayor Fred Eisenberger was to meet with a second group interested in securing a lease. The group, led by Vancouver businessmen Tom Gaglardi and Nelson Skalbania ,
640-628: The home venue of the Buffalo Sabres , both of which have opposed an NHL franchise in Hamilton. Copps hosted 8 regular-season neutral-site games during the 1992–93 and 1993–94 seasons, mostly featuring the Maple Leafs or Sabres. In 2007, Waterloo billionaire Jim Balsillie , co-CEO of Research in Motion , made an offer to purchase the Nashville Predators for $ 220 million US. His intention
672-798: The initiative, the NLL hosted a regular season game known as the NLL Unboxed Series in Laval, Quebec (a suburb of Unboxed market Montreal, which previously had an NLL team in 2002 in the form of the Montreal Express ) featuring the New York Riptide hosting the Toronto Rock at Place Bell . On February 21, 2024, the NLL announced that the New York Riptide would relocate to Ottawa , and will be renamed
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#1732847567878704-666: The new look signage, FirstOntario Centre, later that spring. A smaller sign reading "In honour of Victor K. Copps" appears to its right on the Bay side of the arena, and below it on the York side. In 2007, from March 3 to 11, Copps Coliseum hosted the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier , the annual Canadian men's curling championship. The Coliseum hosted the West 49 Canadian Open, from September 20 to October 1. Bay Street (Hamilton, Ontario) Bay Street derives its name from its proximity to Hamilton Harbour, which
736-501: The new site was started in 1983 and completed two years later at a cost of $ 33.5 million, with an additional $ 2.3 million spent on a parking garage. The project was overseen by Hamiltonian Joseph Pigott. The arena was originally named Copps Coliseum after long-time mayor Victor Copps , the patriarch of a Hamilton political family that includes his daughter, former Member of Parliament of Canada and Member of Provincial Parliament of Ontario Sheila Copps , and wife, Geraldine, who
768-739: The top affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers (1996–2003) and the Montreal Canadiens (2002–2015), brought over 2 million fans to the arena. On June 7, 2007, the AHL Hamilton Bulldogs won their first Calder Cup Championship in franchise history at home in Copps Coliseum, defeating the Hershey Bears. In 2015, Montreal moved its AHL affiliate to St. John's , and the Ontario Hockey League 's Belleville Bulls moved to Hamilton to carry
800-497: The years. The Hamilton Steelhawks of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) began play at the arena in 1985. The 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships were held in Southern Ontario , with Copps Coliseum used as the primary venue. In a decisive game, the undefeated Soviet Union handed Canada its first loss, 4–1. Copps was the primary host for the 1987 Canada Cup , and the site of the famous Gretzky to Lemieux goal that beat
832-571: Was Burlington Bay until 1919. The Bay Street Urban Renewal was completed in 2006. This project was made possible through investments by the Governments of Canada , Government of Ontario and the City of Hamilton. Jackson Square , is a mall and is part of Hamilton's "Super Block" , which includes the Hamilton Public Library , 100 King Street West , FirstOntario Centre , Sheraton Hamilton ,
864-587: Was a long-time councillor. The arena's first scoreboard was purchased from the Winnipeg Arena for $ 214,000. That original Day Signs/Naden scoreboard, built in Toronto, was replaced in the early-1990s by a centre-hung scoreboard with an electronic message centre on each side, which, in return was replaced by the current scoreboard, which was built in Hamilton by Media Resources , featuring an LED video board on each side. The arena has hosted many teams and events over
896-661: Was announced that renovations would be delayed once again and that the Toronto Rock would play the entirety of the 2023–24 season in Hamilton. Major construction finally began in May 2024 with completion planned for November 2025. The Hamilton Skyhawks debuted with a 101–99 win over the Halifax Windjammers in World Basketball League play, in 1992. The league folded during the season, and several Canadian teams, including
928-589: Was interested in securing an interest in the Atlanta Thrashers and moving them to the centre for the 2010–11 NHL season. The team moved to Winnipeg in 2011, becoming the second incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets instead. On May 13, 2009, The Canadian Press reported on TSN .ca that Balsillie won the exclusive rights to Hamilton's Copps Coliseum until November after a unanimous vote by Hamilton city council. On May 29, 2009, Balsillie unveiled his plans to renovate
960-703: Was the 37th season of play of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The season began on December 1, 2023, and ended on May 18, 2024, with the Buffalo Bandits sweeping the Albany FireWolves 2–0 in the NLL Finals series to claim their sixth league title. On November 16, 2023, the NLL announced "NLL Unboxed", a new initiative to promote lacrosse among youth via branded "lacrosse communities" in strategic markets that do not currently have NLL teams. As part of
992-520: Was the first Hamilton apartment installed with an elevator, which ran from the basement to the fifth floor. A New York-style structure was built of fireproof reinforced concrete dressed in rug brick with white, glazed terracotta trim. The building today looks much as it did when it opened in July 1915, minus a wooden pergola that once graced the roof. The Great Lakes Expo7 is a 3-day annual springtime festival held at Bayfront Park and Pier 4 Park. The purpose of
FirstOntario Centre - Misplaced Pages Continue
1024-459: Was to move the team to Hamilton and either use Copps Coliseum as a temporary home while a new state-of-the-art arena could be built, or to renovate the Coliseum to bring it up to modern NHL standards. The bid was unsuccessful. In the spring of 2009, the Phoenix Coyotes filed for bankruptcy and Jim Balsillie immediately offered a rumoured $ 212.5 million US, while stating he wanted to move
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