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18-578: Saskatoon Arena was conceived as a replacement for the Crescent Rink , a small arena built in 1920 that was demolished in the early 1930s as part of the construction of the Broadway Bridge , a Depression -era relief work project that was completed in 1932. In 1936, a group of Saskatoon businessmen started lobbying and raising funds for the construction of a new artificial ice arena; the Depression presented

36-524: A challenge to this vision, but the group formed an organization—Saskatoon Arena Limited (SAL)—to formalize its efforts and manage the project. The arena group ultimately secured $ 13,000 in relief payments from the city and province and an additional $ 50,000 in public shares, which were sold for $ 0.10 each. The land purchase to build the arena involved a ten-year agreement to offer free skating and hockey for school children. Construction began in September 1937 and

54-496: A roof. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the lowest point, allowing maximum visibility. Arenas are usually designed to accommodate a multitude of spectators. The word derives from Latin harena , a particularly fine-grained sand that covered the floor of ancient arenas such as the Colosseum in Rome , Italy, to absorb blood. The term arena is sometimes used as

72-430: A synonym for a very large venue such as Pasadena's Rose Bowl , but such a facility is typically called a stadium . The use of one term over the other has mostly to do with the type of event. Football (be it association , rugby , gridiron , Australian rules , or Gaelic ) is typically played in a stadium, while basketball , volleyball , handball , and ice hockey are typically played in an arena, although many of

90-476: Is also the sport of indoor American football (one variant of which is explicitly known as arena football), a variant of the outdoor game that is designed for the usual smaller playing surface of most arenas; variants of other traditionally outdoor sports, including box lacrosse as well as futsal and indoor soccer , also exist. The term "arena" is also used loosely to refer to any event or type of event which either literally or metaphorically takes place in such

108-505: The Harlem Globetrotters . However, the facility had outlived its usefulness by the 1970s and had become infamous for its leaky roof and substandard amenities. The city proved hesitant to lose the landmark and a number of years passed between the first proposal to replace the structure in the 1970s and its eventual closure in the late 1980s. The situation was complicated when local sports promoter Bill Hunter instigated efforts to bring

126-673: The Western Canada Hockey League from 1921 to 1926 and the Prairie Hockey League from 1926 to 1928. After briefly relocating to Moose Jaw during the 1921–22 season , the team returned to Saskatoon and was known as the Saskatoon Crescents for the 1922–23 season before readopting the Sheiks name. The Sheiks won the last Prairie Hockey League championship in 1928. Crescent Rink was demolished in 1932 to make way for

144-445: The "arena rink", Saskatoon Arena seated just over 3,300 but was known to hold as many as 7,000 with standing room for big events. The arena hosted major events for half of a century, ranging from musical acts to wrestling matches. The rink hosted two national men's curling championships, in 1946 and 1965, and one national women's curling championship, in 1972. The 1946 Macdonald Brier was opened by Saskatchewan Premier Tommy Douglas and

162-407: The 2002 death of Hunter, the street was renamed Bill Hunter Avenue—even though Hunter was known to have opposed the location of Saskatchewan Place. The Saunders name was then transferred to Saunders Place, a street that provides access to Clinkskill Manor and runs through the former site of Saskatoon Arena. Crescent Arena Crescent Arena , also known as Crescent Rink and Saskatoon Arena ,

180-686: The City of Saskatoon, beginning in 1956; the City purchased the arena from SAL in 1958, although Couch remained the arena's manager until he retired in 1962. The arena was home to the Saskatoon Quakers hockey team and, from 1964, to the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League , who remained the building's primary tenants until it closed in 1988. The arena was renowned for having exceptional ice quality. Nicknamed "The Barn" and also known as

198-556: The NHL to Saskatoon, including a failed bid to purchase and relocate the St. Louis Blues in the early 1980s. Hunter's efforts included plans to build a modern, 18,000 seat arena, which was considered too big for any available site in downtown Saskatoon. Public plebiscites ultimately rejected the construction of a new downtown arena, and approved construction of Saskatchewan Place in the city's North Industrial area. The last hockey game at Saskatoon Arena

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216-596: The arena opened on October 30, featuring a sold-out hockey game between the New York Rangers and New York Americans of the National Hockey League (NHL). The new arena was "hailed as the only artificial ice surface between Winnipeg and Calgary". SAL secretary Norman Couch, who had been working for the McDonald Tobacco Company , became the arena's manager. SAL ran the facility until it was leased to

234-475: The city was considering a riverbank redevelopment project and it was thought that the Arena site could retain the amphitheatre. However, in 1992, city council decided instead to approve construction of Clinkskill Manor, a low-income retirement home, on the site. The old arena site also became the location of an ironic piece of street naming. For many years, a Saunders Avenue provided access to Saskatchewan Place; but after

252-473: The construction of the Broadway Bridge , a Depression relief-work project. A replacement for Crescent Rink, Saskatoon Arena , opened in 1937, two blocks to the west. Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre , musical performances , and/or sporting events . It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators, and may be covered by

270-574: The larger arenas hold more spectators than do the stadiums of smaller colleges or high schools. There are exceptions. The home of the Duke University men's and women's basketball teams would qualify as an arena, but the facility is called Cameron Indoor Stadium . Domed stadiums, which, like arenas, are enclosed but have the larger playing surfaces and seating capacities found in stadiums, are generally not referred to as arenas in North America. There

288-609: Was an indoor arena in Saskatoon , Saskatchewan . Crescent Rink was built in the late 1910s on Spadina Crescent East in downtown Saskatoon. This was the site of the former Auditorium Roller Rink, a hardwood-floor rink that could be repurposed for curling ; the Roller Rink had opened in 1910 but burned down in 1914. Crescent Rink opened in 1920, and it became the home of the Saskatoon Sheiks professional hockey team, which played in

306-628: Was played on February 2, 1988—Saskatoon beat the Regina Pats 7–0 before a sold-out crowd. The next week, Saskatchewan Place officially opened, becoming the new home of the Blades. Saskatoon Arena was demolished in 1989. During the summer of 1989, the Arena site was transformed into an amphitheatre to host cultural events during the Canada Summer Games , which were hosted in Saskatoon. During this time,

324-456: Was the first to be broadcast nationally on CBC radio , while the 1965 edition set a new tournament attendance record. The 1972 Macdonald Lassies Championship also set a new tournament attendance record and was won by Vera Pezer 's Saskatoon rink, their second in a run of three consecutive national titles. Even in its final decade, as the city debated replacing the aging facility, it continued to host major musical and traveling acts, including

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