Northlands Coliseum

Lore & Background

The Coliseum opened in 1974 as a replacement for the aging Edmonton Gardens. While the Edmonton Oilers' ownership group, including Charles Allard, had initially pursued to construct their own arena, they backtracked and partnered with the Edmonton Exhibition Association (EEA, now Northlands) after they expressed concern that Allard's proposed arena would 'greatly impact and damage' the organization. The 16,000-seat arena used the same architect and plans as Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum.

A crane was placed on a circular track to help speed up construction. The final months of construction hit several setbacks, including strikes by steelworkers, cement workers, and elevator workers, and the last batch of 5,000 seats arriving only shortly before its inaugural event—the Oilers' home opener on November 10, 1974, against the Cleveland Crusaders. The EEA held an official grand opening event on July 1, 1975. By the early-1990s, the Coliseum had begun to lag behind newer NHL arenas in terms of amenities such as luxury boxes.

Team owner Peter Pocklington threatened to re-locate the Oilers unless he was given full control of the Coliseum and all of its revenue, and could build luxury boxes. In 1994, he reached a rent agreement with Northlands valued at $2.8 million per-year. In 1997, a proposed sale to Leslie Alexander triggered a clause requiring the team be offered to local investors, resulting in the Edmonton Investors Group (EIG) being formed to purchase the team. Northlands regained control of the Coliseum, with the Oilers agreeing to pay operational costs and $1 in rent per-year, in exchange for revenue from hockey games and designated parking spots, and the ability to sell naming rights.

In October 1998, the Coliseum was renamed Skyreach Centre after a naming rights agreement with Skyreach Equipment. In November 2003, the naming rights were acquired by the pharmacy chain Rexall, under which it was renamed Rexall Place. Before the 2007–08 season, the Oilers dressing room underwent a $3.5 million renovation. Given the age and small size of the Coliseum, the construction of a new arena for the Edmonton Oilers was proposed by the Katz Group in 2010.

An agreement was reached in January 2012 for the construction of Rogers Place, which opened in September 2016. The Oilers' final game at Rexall Place was played on April 6, 2016, against the Vancouver Canucks.

Reader's Guide

The arena hosted the 1981 and 1984 Canada Cup hockey tournaments, the 1978 Commonwealth Games, seven Stanley Cup Finals (Oilers losses in 1983 and 2006, and Oilers victories in 1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, and 1990), many other hockey events, along with other sporting events and major concerts. The final NHL game played at the arena was on April 6, 2016. The building closed on New Year's Day 2018, after ownership of the facility was transferred from Northlands to the City of Edmonton.

The venue is now in the process of being dismantled, which is expected to take an extended period of time due to the presence of hazardous substances such as lead and asbestos. Final demolition of the building is expected to begin in summer 2026, and be completed by 2028. The official capacity for hockey when the arena closed was 16,839, which was slightly less than the 17,100 the arena held before the 2001–02 NHL season. When it opened, the capacity was 15,423, but it was increased to 17,490 after the Oilers joined the NHL by adding an extra tier of seating on the side opposite the press box.

This was increased to 17,498 in 1982 and to 17,503 in 1986. The arena underwent an extensive renovation in 1994 in which the seating capacity was reduced to make way for 52 luxury suites. 15 more suites were added in 2001. Northlands Coliseum was the first NHL arena in Canada to have a centre-hung scoreboard with an electronic message board; the original scoreboard included a black-and-white dot matrix board. This was replaced in 1987 by a centre-hung scoreboard with a colour matrix screen, which in 1994 was replaced with an eight-sided scoreboard with four video screens.

The last centre-hung scoreboard featured eight message boards at the top and four video screens at the bottom, separated by LED rings. The arena also featured 360-degree fascia signage by Daktronics. The Coliseum was the last NHL arena with the player benches on the same side as the TV cameras.

Did You Know?

• Noise levels during playoff games reached 119 decibels.
• The final NHL goal at the arena was scored by Oiler Leon Draisaitl.