The Ford Performance Centre, formerly Mastercard Centre For Hockey Excellence, is a hockey facility located in the

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district of, and one of six municipalities amalgamated into, the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west-end, Etobicoke was first settled by Europeans in the 1790s, and the municipalit ...

district of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

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. It has four ice pads and is the official practice facility of the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Div ...

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

hockey team, and their AHL affiliate the

Toronto Marlies The Toronto Marlies are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the American Hockey League (AHL) as a member of the North Division of the Eastern Conference. The Marlies is owned by Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment, a c ...

. The building also houses offices for

Hockey Canada Hockey Canada (which merged with the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association in 1994) is the national governing body of ice hockey and ice sledge hockey in Canada. It is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation and controls the majority ...

and the

Hockey Hall of Fame , logo = Hockey Hall of Fame Logo.svg , logo_upright = 0.5 , image = Hockey Hall of Fame, Toronto.jpg , caption = The Hall's present location on Yonge Street since 1992 , map_type = , former_name = , established = 1943 , location = 30 Y ...

and was home to the

Toronto Furies The Toronto Furies were a professional women's ice hockey team that played in Toronto, Ontario, as members of the Canadian Women's Hockey League. The Toronto Furies played their home games at the Mastercard Centre in Toronto. The team was establish ...

of the

Canadian Women's Hockey League The Canadian Women's Hockey League (CWHL; french: Ligue canadienne de hockey féminin ‒ LCHF) was a women's ice hockey league. Established in 2007 as a Canadian women's senior league in the Greater Toronto Area, Montreal, and Ottawa, the league ...

. The land is owned by the

Toronto District School Board The Toronto District School Board (TDSB), formerly known as English-language Public District School Board No. 12 prior to 1999, is the English-language public-secular school board for Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The minority public-secular franco ...

as 400

Kipling Avenue Kipling Avenue is a street in the cities of Toronto and Vaughan in Ontario, Canada. It is a concession road, 6 concessions (12 km) west from Yonge Street, and is a major north–south arterial road. It consists of three separate section ...

Facility

The Ford Performance Centre was built as a joint venture between the

, the

City of Toronto government The municipal government of Toronto ( incorporated as the City of Toronto) is the local government responsible for administering the city of Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a rec ...

and the Lakeshore Lions Club at a cost of million, after cost overruns drove up the cost from $33.65 million, to replace the nearby

Lakeshore Lions Arena The Lakeshore Lions Arena (Lakeshore Lions Memorial Centre) is a former ice hockey facility in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was operated in the Long Branch neighbourhood of Etobicoke by the Lakeshore Lions Club. It is the former practice facility ...

. The Lions Club contributed $40 million to the project, with the city providing a $35.5 million loan guarantee. The

leased the land for the arena to the Lakeshore Lions for a 50-year term.

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) is a professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With assets that include franchises in four of the six major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(MLSE) spent a further $5 million on training and medical facilities to make the building the practice rink of their two hockey teams, the Toronto Maple Leafs and

. The Toronto Maple Leafs Hockey School is also held at the arena. MLSE pays $600,000 annually to rent the building. Mastercard purchased the naming rights to the facility for $525,000 a year. The facility, which is located at 400 Kipling Avenue in the

New Toronto New Toronto is a neighbourhood and former municipality in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located in the south-west area of Toronto, along Lake Ontario. The Town of New Toronto was established in 1890, and was designed and planned as an indust ...

neighbourhood of Toronto, opened in September 2009. It has four NHL-sized rinks, one of which can be expanded to Olympic dimensions with 1000 seats, as well as extensive training facilities. According to Mastercard, the arena is "the first community ice facility to be built in the Toronto-area in the last 25 years." The arena was originally operated by the Lakeshore Lions Club, but in June 2011, with the arena unable to deal with its rising debt and on the verge of defaulting, the City of Toronto decided to take control and assume its $43.4 million debt. The arena had planned to have a restaurant and sporting goods store at the facility, but were unable to find a tenant leading to the financial difficulties. The city established the Lakeshore Arena Corporation, an arms-length corporation, on September 8, 2011, to take over the running of the arena, with the intention to return it to private management within 2–3 years. A city councillor suggested that MLSE, which operates

BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, which is home to Toronto FC of Major League Soccer and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Constructed on the site of the former Exhibit ...

and the

CNE Coliseum Coca-Cola Coliseum is an arena at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, used for agricultural displays, ice hockey, and trade shows. It was built for the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE) and the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair (the Roya ...

on behalf of the city, would be "the logical party" to take over the arena, and a spokesperson for the company said "while we don’t have any interest in purchasing the facility, we are open to discussing the possibility of managing the facility on behalf of the City of Toronto. MLSE's executive vice president of venues and entertainment Bob Hunter said they would bid for the right to run the building. After the arena's original loans expired and it was unable to find refinancing, the city provided a short-term loan. In November 2015, after finding that the debt was unsustainable, the city voted to write off $8.1 million of the $40 million it was owed by the arena. The arena is used by

for its national teams, as well as by numerous visiting

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

teams. The NHL Alumni Association is also based at the Ford Performance Centre. The rink is also available for ice rentals by the public for leagues, tournaments, private rentals and special events. The Faustina Hockey Club offers both community house league and Select Hockey programs at the Ford Performance Centre. On Saturdays from September through June, Ford provides open, free ice skating for families. In 2011, it was the host venue for the third season of the CBC reality figure skating competition ''

Battle of the Blades ''Battle of the Blades'' (or ''BOTB'' for short) is a Canadian figure skating reality show and competition that airs on CBC Television. The show originally aired for four seasons between 2009 and 2013. It was revived for a fifth season in 2019. ...

'', and subsequently hosted the fourth season in 2013. The venue hosted an international short track competition for the first time in November 2015. In the first half of 2019,

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

acquired the naming rights to the facility for an undisclosed amount, renaming it the Ford Performance Centre.

References

External links

*
Ford Performance Centre Official WebsiteFaustina Hockey Club
{{Sport venues in Toronto Indoor arenas in Ontario Indoor ice hockey venues in Canada Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto Marlies Toronto Furies Ice hockey venues in Toronto National Hockey League practice facilities Sports venues in Toronto Sports venues completed in 2009 Etobicoke Schools in the TDSB Toronto Lands Corporation 2009 establishments in Ontario Ford Motor Company of Canada