Sobeys Stadium, formerly Rexall Centre and Aviva Centre, is a

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

stadium in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, located on the grounds of

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

's Keele Campus. The 12,500-capacity Stadium Court is the largest stadium at the tennis complex. Sobeys Stadium is the venue for the National Bank Open presented by Rogers, a professional tournament on the ATP World Tour and WTA circuits, held annually. Beginning 2021, Sobeys Stadium hosts the men's tournament in odd-numbered years and the women's event in even-numbered years, with the other gender's event held in Montreal in those years. The facility also is a year-round tennis training facility. The main stadium is occasionally used for seasonal concerts.

Description

Built in 2004, the main venue holds 12,500 spectators. There are 11 other small courts next to the stadium. All twelve courts use the DecoTurf cushioned acrylic surface, the same surface as the US Open Tennis Championships. The stadium has 39 executive suites and two party suites. Sobeys Stadium is also the home of the Toronto offices of Tennis Canada and the Ontario Tennis Association. The grounds serve as the national and provincial tennis training centre year-round, offering 16 courts (eight of which are indoors). The stadium is also used for the staging of interuniversity competitions and practices and winter training. During the academic year, a discounted fee on indoor courts is offered to York students weekdays during daytime hours. This is the venue for York University's Convocation Ceremony every year.

History

The stadium was built to replace the National Tennis Centre, which was demolished in 2003. The facility opened on July 26, 2004 as the Rexall Centre in a

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

deal with the Rexall pharmacy chain. The first match at the stadium was an opening round match between

Andre Agassi Andre Kirk Agassi ( ; born April 29, 1970) is an American former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players, world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 101 ...

and Tommy Haas attended by 10,500. It is one of two venues for the Canadian Open, alternating hosting the men's and women's events annually with IGA Stadium in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. In 2011, the stadium became the venue for the BlackCreek Summer Music Festival, a series of concerts of jazz, opera, popular and symphonic music. In 2014, the venue was named as the host of the tennis events at the

2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...

. In 2015, the venue was renamed the Aviva Centre after reaching a new naming rights deal with British multinational insurance company Aviva. In 2017, Aviva Centre hosted the opening ceremonies for the 2017 North American Indigenous Games. In 2022, the stadium was renamed Sobeys Stadium after Canadian supermarket chain

Sobeys Sobeys Inc. is a national supermarket chain in Canada with over 1,500 stores operating under a variety of banners. Headquartered in Stellarton, Nova Scotia, it operates stores in all ten provinces and accumulated sales of more than C$25.1 bil ...

acquired the naming rights to the venue, giving Empire Company naming rights to both major Tennis Canada venues (the Montreal stadium had been named after its IGA brand since 2018).

Mystery tunnel

In February 2015, Toronto Police Service announced the discovery of a "mystery" tunnel located a few hundred metres from the facility, a story which later became popular. It was later revealed to be a " man cave." The two men in their mid-20s who excavated the cave had no criminal intent and are not affiliated with York University, Rexall Centre (as it was then called), or the Pan Am Games, and the tunnel was created as a hobby. The ''

Toronto Sun The ''Toronto Sun'' is an English-language tabloid format, tabloid newspaper published daily in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The newspaper is one of several ''Sun'' tabloids published by Postmedia Network. The newspaper's offices are located at Pos ...

'' identified one of the men as 22-year-old Elton McDonald. He faced an $800 fine instead of receiving a criminal record. McDonald's employer said that he borrowed and lost his tools used to dig the tunnel.

Location and access

Sobeys Stadium is located at the intersection of Shoreham Drive and Pond Road on the northwestern edge of the York University campus, southeast of the intersection of Jane Street and Steeles Avenue West. To the west of the facility are forested park lands along the Black Creek. The Saywell Woods and Stong Pond are located to the south and east of the facility. There are an estimated 7,000 parking spaces in the vicinity. subway station of

Line 1 Yonge–University Line 1 Yonge–University is a rapid transit line of the Toronto subway. It serves Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It is operated by the Toronto Transit Commission, has 38 stations and is in length, making it t ...

is situated a short walk from the stadium or transit users can take the 106 Sentinel bus between the stadium and the subway station.

References

External links