Maple Leaf Gardens
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Image:Mlg.jpgMaple Leaf Gardens is an indoor arena in Toronto, Ontario, on the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street. One of the temples of ice hockey, it was home to the Toronto Maple Leafs from 1931-1999. It was also home to the Toronto Toros of the WHA from 1974-1976, the Toronto Marlboros of the OHL (junior hockey), and the Toronto Huskies in their single season in the NBA. The Toronto Raptors played a handful of games at the arena each from 1995-1999 (mostly when SkyDome was unavailable), and the Buffalo Braves played a few home games each year at the arena as well.
History
The Gardens was built by Leafs owner Conn Smythe in a five-month period during 1931-32, at a cost of C$1.5 million. At the time, the arena sat about 12,000. Over the years, as the Leafs became a Toronto institution, Smythe and the notorious and colourful Harold Ballard, who later owned the team and arena, conspired to put additional seats in almost anywhere they could be fit - and probably a few where they shouldn't have - building 85 luxury suites and adding balconies above the stands at the end of the ice sheet. Ballard also eliminated some of the Gardens' more unusual features, including the gondola from which Foster Hewitt regularly broadcast games across Canada (the gondola was unceremoniously thrown in a Gardens incinerator) and a large portrait of Queen Elizabeth II (when asked on why he removed the picture, Ballard replied with "She doesn't buy tickets, does she?"). When it was closed, the stadium sat 15,847. The Leafs were so popular that the team sold out every single game from 1946-1999, an unmatched feat in professional sports. It was often called "The Carlton Street Cashbox" in sports reporting.
The Beatles made a stop at Maple Leaf Gardens during each of their three American tours (1964, 1965, 1966). It was one of only three venues in North America to host the group that often.
The video for "The Reflex" by Duran Duran was shot in Maple Leaf Gardens in March 1984.
During the 1990s, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment ("MLSE") considered a number of sites for a new, modern arena to replace Maple Leaf Gardens, including the southeast corner of Bay and Dundas Streets near the Toronto Eaton Centre (currently the site of the new Ryerson University School of Business). By this time, Maple Leaf Gardens was considered too small and lacking in revenue-generating luxury boxes.
The Leafs had no plans to occupy the Air Canada Centre, then under construction by the owners of the Toronto Raptors, and it appeared for a time as though the stalemate between the two sports franchises would result in two new arenas being constructed in Toronto -- one for hockey, one for basketball. When MLSE acquired the Toronto Raptors, however, the Air Canada Centre, which was still under construction, was quickly retrofitted to accommodate both hockey and basketball.
Future
Maple Leaf Gardens has been mostly dormant since the ACC opened up, though it has hosted a few ice hockey and indoor lacrosse matches. MLSE refused to sell Maple Leaf Gardens to anyone, most notably Eugene Melnyk, the owner of the Toronto St. Michael's Majors hockey team, who proposed to use it as an arena in competition with the Air Canada Centre. Various redevelopment schemes were proposed, most notably an entertainment complex containing retail shops and cinemas, but these plans were abandoned when it was discovered that the tiered arena seating was holding up the exterior walls of the building, acting as a form of interior flying buttress. If the bowl of seating were removed, therefore, the exterior walls would lose most of their support.
Loblaw Companies, Canada's largest food retailer, has purchased the Gardens and, as of 2005, has presumably determined that it can overcome the above-noted engineering difficulties as it is converting the interior to accommodate a Real Canadian Superstore and parking. There has been some criticism that the conversion of the building to retail uses deminishes its heritage value, and that Maple Leaf Gardens should continue to serve as an arena in accordance with its rich history and traditions. Others, however, note that the structure has been deteriorating for a number of years, and that its ongoing use for minor league sports and events would not generate sufficient income to secure the building's preservation and restoration. Further, the active re-use of the building would allow it to remain open to the public for years to come.
See also
