Canada Life Place is a sports-entertainment centre, in London, Ontario, Canada – the largest such centre in Southwestern Ontario. Its previous names include John Labatt Centre and Budweiser Gardens.
Opened as the John Labatt Centre in 2002, it was named after John Labatt, founder of the Labatt brewery in London. The centre's name was changed to Budweiser Gardens (after Labatt's sister brand in AB InBev) in Fall 2012.[5][6] Naming rights of the stadium were attained by Canada Life, and finalized in October 2024.[7][8]
The arena is leased from the City of London by the London Civic Centre Corporation, an example of a public-private partnership. The London Civic Centre Corporation is owned in turn by EllisDon and Global Spectrum, the Philadelphia-based subsidiary of Comcast the American cable company. Global Spectrum manages the arena, and operates more than 100 other arenas.
In addition to the standard end stage configuration for large concerts, the arena can be set up to accommodate touring Broadway shows or smaller concerts in its theatre mode. The theatre mode features a small, intimate atmosphere and a 30-line fly grid to suspend scenery or lighting and sound.
When the sports-entertainment centre was originally being planned, estimates for sports seating were as low as 6,500 and high as 12,000 before settling on the original 9,090. It was decided due to several smaller arenas in the 4,000 to 7,000 range struggling financially and the cost on construction nearly doubling to have 12,000 or more seats.[9] The sports-entertainment centre features 38 luxury suites and 1,100 club seats.[10]
The north-east corner of Budweiser Gardens at Dundas and Talbot streets. This corner of the building is a replica of the facade of the now-demolished Talbot Inn, which stood here for more than 125 years.
John Labatt Centre was built at a cost of approximately $42 million by the London, Ontario-based construction company EllisDon Corp., builders of Toronto's Rogers Centre. The City of London contributed $32 million for arena construction and $10 million to purchase the land, while the London Civic Centre Corporation added $9.5 million to the arena's construction.[11]
The sports-entertainment centre was originally named the John Labatt Centre, after the Labatt Brewing Company which has a production plant in London, until 2012 when their 10-year naming rights expired. The Labatt Brewing Company had an exclusive first rights on a second deal and could change the name if they chose, which they did, to Budweiser Gardens to further promote the main brand of their sister corporation, Anheuser-Busch.[12] The original deal was $5-million for 10 years and the deal signed in 2012 was $6.4 million for 10 years. Global Spectrum, which manages the sports-entertainment centre, was selected by the City of London to choose the naming rights and they used a subsidiary called Front Row Marketing.[13] Proceeds from naming rights are put into the net revenue, though the exact divide of the amount going to the City of London and Global Spectrum is unknown.[14]
Sporting events
Within a few years of opening, the London Knights had a championship season in 2004–05 and the centre was well positioned to take maximum advantage of the team's popularity.
Budweiser Gardens hosted the 2005 Memorial Cup, the Canadian Hockey League's national major junior championship series, which the Knights also won after winning the OHL championship. The arena also hosted the 2014 Memorial Cup, in which the Edmonton Oil Kings were champions defeating the Guelph Storm by a score of 6–3.
The University of Western Ontario Mustangs hockey team used Budweiser Gardens as their home arena from 2005 until 2007. They have since moved back to Thompson Arena.
In addition to hockey, the arena is used as home play arena for the London Lightning professional basketball team.
The arena has also hosted many other well known artists and Broadway Shows. Budweiser Gardens was launched as a concert venue with Cher's "Living Proof: The Farewell Tour" in 2002. The tour returned for an encore performance in 2005. Sum 41 recorded their live album Go Chuck Yourself from their tour of the same name here on April 11, 2005.[15] In 2007, Meat Loaf's "3 Bats Live" DVD from the "Seize The Night" tour was recorded here. Cirque du Soleil chose Budweiser Gardens to stage its first-ever arena show, a rebuilt production of Saltimbanco. Sting performed during his Symphonicities Tour on July 21, 2010, along with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
In 2010, Budweiser Gardens was awarded as the Canadian Venue of the Year[16] at the Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards.
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