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The Edmonton Expo Centre, formerly the Northlands AgriCom and also known as the Edmonton Exposition and Conference Centre is a multi-purpose
convention centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...
in
Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city an ...
, Alberta, Canada. Operated by
Explore Edmonton Explore Edmonton Co. is a destination marketing organization in Edmonton, Alberta. It is involved in promoting Edmonton tourism, operating two of the city's event facilities—the Edmonton Convention Centre and the Edmonton Expo Centre, and ser ...
on behalf of the City of Edmonton, it is located in Edmonton's Montrose neighbourhood, across the street from the (now closed)
Northlands Coliseum Northlands Coliseum is a now-unused indoor arena located in Edmonton, Alberta, situated on the north side of Northlands. It was used for sports events and concerts, and was home to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) a ...
.


History and use

The facility was built in
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
on the site of the old
Edmonton Gardens The Edmonton Gardens was the first indoor hockey arena built in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was originally built as Edmonton Stock Pavilion in 1913, and held 5,200 spectators after its 1966 renovations. It was home to the World Hockey Associat ...
, the first home of the Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers moved across
118 Avenue 118 Avenue is the designated name of two major arterial roads in central Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, separated by the Edmonton City Centre Airport. The west side services both an industrial area, and a residential area, while the east 118 Avenue ...
in 1974 to the new
Northlands Coliseum Northlands Coliseum is a now-unused indoor arena located in Edmonton, Alberta, situated on the north side of Northlands. It was used for sports events and concerts, and was home to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) a ...
. Prior to 2009, the EXPO Centre was known as the Northlands AgriCom, or simply The Agricom, from the agricultural and commercial
trade shows A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and cu ...
which it was built to host. From 1996 to 1998, a portion of the venue was used as the home arena of the
Edmonton Ice The Edmonton Ice were a junior ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that played two seasons in the Western Hockey League from 1996 to 1998. History The WHL expanded to Edmonton in 1996, and the Ice began play at the Northlands Agri ...
of the
Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior ...
. It was considered a substandard venue for the team, which was prevented from using the nearby Coliseum; ''
Edmonton Sun The ''Edmonton Sun'' is a daily newspaper and news website published in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It is owned by Postmedia following its 2015 acquisition of Sun Media from Quebecor. It began publishing Sunday April 2, 1978 and shares many c ...
'' writer
Terry Jones Terence Graham Parry Jones (1 February 1942 – 21 January 2020) was a Welsh comedian, director, historian, actor, writer and member of the Monty Python comedy team. After graduating from Oxford University with a degree in English, Jones and ...
described the arena as being an "abomination of a building", "with the atrocious situation of a reasonable $13.50 ticket price but a $10 Northlands parking price to go with it." The team would subsequently re-locate to Kootenay. In 2002 the arena became host of the 2002 World Ringette Championships. In December 2009, renovations were completed that doubled the facility's size to , which was expected to make it the largest such facility in Canada outside of Toronto. The additions included four new exhibition halls, and new conference centre named the Alberta Ballroom. The Alberta government contributed $50 million to the project, while the federal government contributed $25 million. The city loaned $48 million. In 2010, the Edmonton Expo Centre hosted the last Powerama Motoring Expo, which it had hosted since the expo's inception in 1984. In February 2016, as part of the " Northlands Vision 2020" proposal, it was revealed that Northlands hoped to upgrade the existing arena to a more modern standard 5,000-seat indoor arena to the Expo Centre for concerts and sporting events. However, the 2016 opening of the new downtown arena Rogers Place, which replaced Northlands'
Rexall Place Northlands Coliseum is a now-unused indoor arena located in Edmonton, Alberta, situated on the north side of Northlands. It was used for sports events and concerts, and was home to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and N ...
as the home of
Edmonton Oilers The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...
games and other major events, caused the organization to incur an increasing amount of debt due to lost event revenue. In July 2017, it was reported that Northlands had been in private discussions with the city about its future. The organization intended to divest itself of Rexall Place, Northlands Park, and the Edmonton Expo Centre in order to focus on promoting agricultural innovation. On August 29, 2017, the city of Edmonton announced that it would take ownership of the Edmonton Expo Centre and forgive $42 million in debt. The venue's operations were merged with those of the downtown Shaw Conference Centre under the Edmonton Economic Development Corporation in 2018. The Northlands Coliseum was similarly taken over by the city on the same day, although it also ceased operations. In June 2018, it was announced that the
Edmonton Stingers The Edmonton Stingers are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Edmonton, Alberta. They compete in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) and play their home games at the HIVE arena at the Edmonton Expo Centre. The Stingers' masc ...
of the newly established
Canadian Elite Basketball League The Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) is a men's professional minor league basketball organization. The CEBL was founded in 2017 and began play in 2019 with six teams competing all owned and operated by ownership group Canadian Basketball V ...
would play their home games at the Expo Centre.


Facilities


References


External links

* {{Authority control Indoor arenas in Alberta Sports venues in Edmonton Western Hockey League arenas Convention centres in Canada Music venues in Edmonton Event venues established in 1984 1984 establishments in Alberta