Scotiabank Arena rises over Bay Street in downtown Toronto, a glass-and-steel bowl that shares one roof with the Maple Leafs and the Raptors. Its bank of harbor-facing windows and skyline views make it one of the more distinctive sightlines in pro sports, while the concourse doubles as a shrine to both franchises' history. On hockey nights the building runs closer to 18,800 and skews traditional and tense; on Raptors nights it swells to 19,800 and turns into a sea of red-and-black "We The North" noise. Either way, the downtown location means the arena spills directly into the bars and streets of the Entertainment District after final horns.
The building opened February 19-20, 1999 as Air Canada Centre, replacing the storied Maple Leaf Gardens as the Leafs' home and giving the Raptors their first true NBA arena. Scotiabank took over naming rights in a landmark $800-million CAD deal in 2018, rebranding it Scotiabank Arena. Its signature moment came in June 2019, when the Raptors' championship run turned the plaza outside into "Jurassic Park," with tens of thousands packing giant screens as Toronto won its first NBA title. The arena has also hosted the 2000 and 2016 NBA All-Star Weekends, world-title boxing cards, and countless sold-out concerts, cementing its status as one of the busiest arenas in North America.
Source: RateGame editorial