“We stayed focused on this one because it’s a market I know well and am pretty passionate about,” said OVG co-founder and chairman Tim Leiweke, whose last job before starting OVG with Irving Azoff in 2017 was with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, about 40 miles away in Toronto. 

Live Nation joins OVG as the booking partner for the venue, which will be transformed into an 18,000-seat venue with a reimagined facade, improved audio/video systems, sightlines and concourses, and better amenities and spaces for performing artists and premium guests. Brisbin Brook Beynon Architects will design the renovation, which is part of a larger revitalization of Hamilton’s downtown, in which HUPEG has been involved. FirstOntario Concert Hall and the Hamilton Convention Centre will remain open and continue to host events during the arena’s renovation. 

The venue, formerly known as Copps Coliseum, first opened in 1985. It’s home to the National Lacrosse League’s Toronto Rock and sits on the shores of Lake Ontario, northwest of Buffalo and southwest of Toronto. The project joins OVG’s other active arena initiatives underway, including Co-op Live in Manchester, England, which opens next year, Anhembi Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil, a project in Cardiff, Wales, and a nascent arena and entertainment district in Las Vegas. 

OVG stayed the course on the Hamilton project despite shifts in local politics and inflation’s impact on the project’s costs.