Toronto Maple Leafs sell arena naming rights to Scotiabank

The Toronto Maple Leafs have agreed to a 20-year, $640 million ($800 million Canadian) deal with Scotiabank for the naming rights of their arena. Their arena is currently named the Air Canada Centre.

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs, have announced they are selling the naming rights to their arena. Now known as the Air Canada Centre, the Leafs have agreed to a 20-year, $640 million ($800 million Canadian) deal with Scotiabank for the naming rights.

The original report of the $640 million figure came from TSN’s Rick Westhead, who says sources close to the deal said that is the figure to expect. Despite not being confirmed by the Leafs or Scotiabank, multiple sources have confirmed this.

The deal will take effect on July 1, 2018, effectively renaming Air Canada Centre to Scotiabank Arena. This massive deal is, as Rick Westhead stated, believed to be the biggest sponsorship/naming rights deal in North American sports history.

The previous deal that MLSE had with Air Canada was struck all the way back in 1999. The deal with Air Canada saw MLSE being paid roughly $4 million per season, a number that now pales in comparison to this new deal. If the $640 million is correct, MLSE will be paid $32 million per season.

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Unsurprisingly, MLSE had multiple offers for naming rights to their arena. MLSE chief commercial officer David Hopkinson said,

"“To be honest, it wasn’t that difficult to find interested suitors,” Hopkinson said. “This is already firmly established as Canada’s premier entertainment venue… We felt we had a very good sense about what the market would bear and Scotia and ourselves have agreed on what that number should look like.”"

This is not the first arena that Scotiabank has bought the naming rights to, with the Calgary Flames’ arena being named the Scotiabank Saddledome.