WFCU Centre is an arena and entertainment centre in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, Canada. WFCU Centre replaced the 84-year-old

Windsor Arena Windsor Arena (nicknamed The Barn, because of its age, wooden construction, and its appearance of a giant barn) is an indoor arena located in Windsor, Ontario. Its capacity is approximately 4,400 with standing room. The arena's ice is an asymme ...

as the primary home of the

Windsor Spitfires The Windsor Spitfires are a Canadian junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). The team is based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1971, the franchise was promoted to the Ontario Major Junior Hockey League for the 1975� ...

. It opened on December 11, 2008, in the east end of the city. WFCU Centre is owned by the City of Windsor, operated by

Comcast Spectacor Comcast Spectacor is a Philadelphia-based American sports and entertainment company. It owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the Maine Mariners of the ECHL, the Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League, the Phi ...

, and named for Windsor Family Credit Union.

History

City council approved the project on October 4, 2006, and the

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such ceremonies are o ...

ceremony took place on January 22, 2007. The WFCU Centre was built at a cost of approximately $71 million by the Windsor, Ontario-based construction company, PCR Contractors. The land was purchased from

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...

developer Farhi Holdings Corporation. The construction of this sports-entertainment centre was decided upon as a part of the city government's overall effort to add excitement to the economy. As part of that effort, Windsor city council committed to building the centre, and agreed to fund most of the cost. During the initial stages of planning, several other committees and companies proposed building arenas and venues in the area, including a privately owned skating arena, as well as proposed a relocation of the Windsor Raceway Slots to

Tecumseh, Ontario Tecumseh is a town in Essex County in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is on Lake St. Clair east of Windsor and had a population of 23,229 at the 2016 census. It is part of the Windsor census metropolitan area, and is a part of the Windsor-Es ...

, owned by the

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation, known for corporate branding purposes simply as OLG since 2006, is a Crown corporation owned by the Government of Ontario, Canada. It is responsible for the province's lotteries, charity and Aboriginal c ...

. In August, 2013 Windsor City Council approved a $6.5 million addition to the WFCU Centre, adding a 25-metre pool in advance of the city hosting the

2016 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) Sixteen or 16 may refer to: *16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17 *one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016 Films * '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film * ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film d ...

which were held inside the WFCU Centre. The WFCU Centre complies with the

Ontarians with Disabilities Act The ''Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005'' (AODA) is a statute enacted in 2005 by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada. Its purpose is to improve accessibility standards for Ontarians with physical and mental disabil ...

Sports

The WFCU Centre is home to both the OHL's

and the NBLC's

Windsor Express The Windsor Express is a Canadian professional basketball team based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. The Express are an expansion team of the National Basketball League of Canada that began play in the 2012–13 season. The Express play its home gam ...

. The Windsor Spitfires won both the 2009 and 2010 OHL Championship final series on home ice, and the Windsor Express won the 2014 League Championships on home court. The WFCU Centre has played host to a variety of large-scale events in hockey including the 2012

World U-17 Hockey Challenge The World U-17 Hockey Challenge, originally known as the Quebec Esso Cup, is an international ice hockey tournament held annually in Canada. Prior to 2011, the tournament did not operate during years in which the Canada Winter Games were held. ...

, the OHL All Star Game and the

CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game The CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game is an annual event in which forty of the top NHL Entry Draft eligible prospects in the Canadian Hockey League play against each other in an all-star game environment. Players are able to boost their draft ranking ...

. The WFCU Centre also hosted both the Skate Canada Synchronized Skating Championships and the

Skate Canada International The Skate Canada International is an international, senior-level invitation-only figure skating competition organized by Skate Canada. It is the second competition of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating season. The location changes yearly. Medal ...

in 2012, the latter being broadcast internationally. The WFCU Centre also played host to the Grey Power

World Cup of Curling The Masters is a Grand Slam event on the men's and women's World Curling Tour. It is the second Grand Slam event and first major on the women's and men's tour. The event is an amalgamation of the men's World Cup of Curling and the women's Sun L ...

in 2010. The WFCU Centre hosted the

2017 Memorial Cup The 2017 Memorial Cup (branded as the 2017 Mastercard Memorial Cup for sponsorship reasons) was a four-team, round-robin format tournament held at the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario from May 19–28, 2017. It was the 99th Memorial Cup champi ...

References

External links

WFCU Centre official websiteCity of Windsor WFCU Centre information pageEastside Arena web site, operated by arena building consortiumWindsor Spitfires, WFCU Centre Ontario Hockey League tenantPhoto gallery from the WFCU Centre's interior
{{NBL Canada Arenas Sports venues in Windsor, Ontario Indoor arenas in Ontario Indoor ice hockey venues in Canada Ontario Hockey League arenas Music venues in Ontario Windsor Express 2008 establishments in Ontario Sports venues completed in 2008 Basketball venues in Ontario