General Motors Place

Infobox Stadium
stadium_name=General Motors Place
nickname="GM Place, The Garage"


location=800 Griffiths Way
Vancouver, British Columbia V6B 6G1
opened=1995
owner=Canucks Sports and Entertainment
operator=Canucks Sports and Entertainment
construction_cost=C$160 million
architect=Brisbin, Brook and Beynon
tenants=Vancouver Canucks (NHL) (1995-present)
Vancouver Grizzlies (NBA) (1995-2001)
Vancouver Ravens (NLL) (2001-2004)
Vancouver Voodoo (RHI) (1996)
seating_capacity=Hockey: 18,630
Basketball: 19,193
Concert: 14,000

General Motors Place (nicknamed The Garage and GM Place), sponsored by General Motors Canada, is an indoor arena at 800 Griffiths Way in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Completed in 1995 at a cost of C$160 million in private financing, the arena is home to the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL, and was formerly home to the Vancouver Grizzlies of the NBA and the Vancouver Ravens of the NLL. The Grizzlies have since moved to Memphis, and the Ravens have become defunct for the time being. The arena seats 18,630 for ice hockey and 19,193 for basketball. It has 88 luxury suites, 12 hospitality suites, and 2,195 club seats. The arena replaced the Pacific Coliseum as the main venue for events in Vancouver.

As corporate sponsors are unable to brand sporting venues during the Olympics, GM Place will be renamed Canada Hockey Place during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, in February 2010. [ [http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/WinterGames/2010GamesVenues/Competition/GMP Vancouver 2010 ] ]

Entertainment upgrades

In mid-2006 GM Place was upgraded with a ProAd LED ribbon board encircling the upper bowl and shortly thereafter with a $5 million Daktronics ProStar LED scoreboard. The original Mitsubishi Mark IV displays needed to be removed since the worldwide supply of replacement parts was not large enough to keep them operating throughout the 2006-2007 hockey season.

The new LED scoreboard is built around four of the largest video displays in the NHL. Measuring 13.5 feet by 24 feet they are capable of displaying widescreen images in 14-bit colours. Their size combined with their 10 mm pixel spacing gives them an image that is unrivaled in any NHL arena. The corners hold 5.5-foot by 13.5-foot displays with two ring displays each capping the top and bottom. The entire scoreboard weighs 49,000 lbs, 2% less than the one it replaced.cite web | publisher=Canucks.com | title=Canucks Insider | url=http://canucks.com/theinsider/default.asp?sectionID=5&id=1693 | accessdaymonth=31 October | accessyear=2006] cite web | publisher=Canucks.com | title=Canucks Insider | url=http://canucks.com/theinsider/default.asp?sectionID=5&id=1705
accessdaymonth=31 October | accessyear=2006] The normally three-week assembly period was completed in only one week and as a result there were some minor technical difficulties during the first home game.

Proposed Additions

There are plans in the works to adjoin a 22 storey, 312,000 square foot office tower to the stadium. cite web | publisher=lestwarog.com | title=Les Twarog News Articles | url=http://www.lestwarog.com/newsArticle-3599.html | accessdaymonth=4 May | accessyear=2008] This building will be energy efficient, environmentally sustainable, and will accommodate much-needed office space in downtown Vancouver - the vacancy rate downtown is at an all-time low of 3.5%. The plan is to have the concourse of the stadium to directly join to the lobby of the tower. Also, the extra concourse space will accommodate more fan-oriented areas to have a meal, to mingle, or to buy merchandise.

Past major events

*The first event held there was a Bryan Adams concert.
*Venue for the 1996 World Cup of Hockey.
*Venue for WWF In Your House "International Incident" Pay-Per-View on July 21, 1996
*Venue for the 1998 National Hockey League All-Star Game.
*Venue for the 1998 NBA Draft.
*Venue for WWF In Your House "Rock Bottom" Pay-Per-View on December 13, 1998
*Venue for WWF Monday Night Raw live TV show with Kid Rock performing on May 29, 2000
*Venue for the 2001 World Figure Skating Championships.
*October 2002 - Queen Elizabeth II dropped the ceremonial first puck in an NHL exhibition game between the San Jose Sharks and the Vancouver Canucks.
*Riot when Axl Rose failed to show for Guns N' Roses show.
*U2 2005 rehearsed and launched their Vertigo Tour, rehearsals and "City of Blinding Lights" music video shoot.
*Venue for the 2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.
*Venue for the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
*Venue for the first show in The Police's Reunion Tour.
*GM Place played host to Game 8 of the 2007 Super Series between Canada and Russia junior hockey teams on Sunday, September 9, 2007.
*NBA Pre-Season exhibition game between the Phoenix Suns and the Seattle Supersonics on October 26, 2007. This was the first NBA game held in Vancouver since April 2001.
*Venue for the first show in Spice Girls' The Return of the Spice Girls tour on December 2, 2007.
*Janet Jacksons Rock Witchu Tour kicked off at this venue on September 10, 2008 to rave reviews.

Future major events

* GM Place will host the ice hockey events in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. These will be the first Olympic games to use NHL sized ice. This decision was made in order to maximize the potential crowds and revenue, instead of building a smaller, temporary venue with the international-size ice surface, as has been done for most other Winter Games.

References

External links

* [http://www.canucks.com/subpage.asp?sectionID=180 Canucks.com - General Motors Place]
* [http://www.generalmotorsplace.com General Motors Place Home Page]

succession box
title = Home of the
Vancouver Grizzlies
years = 1995 – 2001
before = first arena
after = Pyramid Arenasuccession box
title = Home of the
Vancouver Canucks
years = 1995 – present
before = Pacific Coliseum
after = currentsuccession box
title = Home of the
Vancouver Voodoo
years = 1996 –
before = Pacific Coliseum
after = last arenasuccession box
title = Host of the
NHL All-Star Game
years = 1998
before = HP Pavilion at San Jose
after = St. Pete Times Forum