Can Hamilton compete with Toronto after $280-million arena revamp?

FirstOntario Centre is located at the corner of York and Bay streets in downtown Hamilton. It’s a centrepiece of the core. An unmissable focal point.
But make no mistake, the president of Oak View Group Canada told dozens of Toronto-based businesspeople this week, the $280-million renovation being done to the 40-year-old facility isn’t just about the city in which it sits.
“The arena is in Hamilton, but this is a southwestern Ontario project,” Tom Pistore says.
Some in this city may blanch at that. Of course it has to be about Toronto. Everything has to be about Toronto.
Others will embrace it. Whatever it takes to make this work is fine, they’ll say. Our stores and restaurants and businesses will happily accept anyone’s money. We’re not picky. It’s all helpful.
Either way, those listening heard a very clear message that this really is about more than just Hamilton.
During an open house at OVG Canada’s office near Exhibition Place, business leaders were given an introduction to the building as it will be when renovations are done. The clear hope is obviously these folks might be inclined to spend some of their cash — or pull out the company’s credit card — here. 
The picture Pistore painted for them was that of a facility that’ll be comparable in every way to Scotiabank Arena. Better in some facets.
“This is going to be a major venue attracting major acts,” he says. “We’re not going to get second-run shows. We’re going to get the second night of major acts.”
Or the first. Maybe the only.
Standing in front of a screen that at one point said “A GTA Touring Relief Valve,” he outlined much of the same things he has pitched here over the past months.
Toronto has only one major concert arena. That puts it far behind other big cities that have three or four or five. There are tons of musical acts touring these days because the entertainment industry has changed. Record and CD sales no longer count for as much. Live shows are what brings in the dough.
Yet with the Leafs and Raptors filling up many nights at Scotiabank, there isn’t space for all the acts to find a spot. This will provide that.
Pistore vowed that on the 120-plus nights it’ll be used for music, it’ll attract the biggest of the big names.
“The artists will come,” he says.
The confidence stems in part from stuff you’ll never see. Rather than housing them in spartan hockey dressing rooms, there will be specially designed lounges for the performers and their families and friends that’ll make their experience better.
It also comes from that promised ease of getting dates.
And then there is the bottom line. With fewer private boxes than Scotiabank, there is room for more seats (18,040 capacity for sports and roughly 15,000 for concerts). That means the artists will be able to make more money.
This’ll all turn Hamilton into a destination, he promised. Then create spinoffs that’ll revitalize the area. Quickly.
“This isn’t a gamble for us,” Pistore said. “This is going to succeed.”
That was the pitch. One that’ll surely be given many times again before the building opens a little more than a year from now.
It’s impossible to know what impact it had on those who attended. There was no booth to sign up for memberships for the fancy clubs or suites on this night.
But Hamilton’s director of economic development was there and he thought it made sense. Even the part about this being a southwestern Ontario project rather than specifically a local one.
“I think we’re going to have money coming in from all over the province,” Norm Schleehahn said. “I think it’s a great opportunity.”
There was one key issue that wasn’t mentioned.
Some of these people might never — or rarely — make the trip to Hamilton. If so, they might be unfamiliar with the giant mess that is the traffic between cities, especially at rush hour. Because this event wasn’t here, they didn’t find out on this night.
So what happens on a weeknight when there’s a show at 7 p.m. and they find themselves stuck in impenetrable gridlock after work? Will experiencing that a couple times make them decide it’s not worth the hassle?
“Traffic patterns into Toronto now are bad,” Pistore admits. “But you know, I spent almost four years in New York. So bad is not worst, right?”
The GO train naturally becomes a key part of the solution.
Hamilton Urban Precinct Entertainment Group partner Lou Frapporti says figuring out how to best get people from Aldershot or West Harbour stations to the arena is key.
“That’s being thought about and work is being done,” he says.
As for the other question that some asked when they heard about this event (and you may be asking now while reading about it) — why was it held in Toronto instead of Hamilton? — Pistore says people shouldn’t read too much into that.
Something like this will soon be held in town for the local business community, he insists. This was just easier to do now because OVG has an office in Toronto and the arena is currently in no shape to host such a thing.
“This is our Toronto base,” he says. “We’ll have a Hamilton base in the next couple months.”