Planned Toronto Esports Arena has 7,000 seats and looks wild

Toronto’s esports world is getting a makeover. A new $ 500 million entertainment venue, which can accommodate up to 7,000 fans, is currently slated to open in 2025.

OverActive Media, owner of Overwatch League’s Toronto Defiant and Toronto Ultra from the Call of Duty League, plans announced for the new location Monday. The currently unnamed site, which will be located on a four-acre lot north of Lakeshore Boulevard in Toronto’s 192-acre Exhibition Place Park, will be the first sports or entertainment venue built in the city since BMO Field was built. in 2007.

Check out concept art for the arena, which shows what it will look like from the outside and the inside.

OverActive Media says the facility plans to host more than 200 events each year, mostly entertainment and music bookings, while also facilitating conventions, corporate events, awards and esports competitions. The site will host both Toronto Defiant and Toronto Ultra, but OverActive hopes it will attract other esports organizations and teams as well.

“It has always been our intention to develop a venue and accommodation strategy and build a facility that could not only serve as an iconic home for our two franchises, but which ultimately emerge as a global hub. for major international esport events, ”he added. CEO Chris Overholt said in a statement: “We are already in active discussions to attract some of the biggest esports events in the world.”

The venue is designed by Populous, a design firm responsible for working on events such as the London Olympics, the Super Bowl and the Yankee Stadium.

However, the site plan is still in its early stages. Toronto City Council and the Exhibition Place Board of Directors have yet to give final approval to the proposal.

“We are in the final stages of setting up our business terms with city officials and we are optimistic that we will soon be able to conclude our discussions to everyone’s satisfaction,” a spokesperson for OverActive told the Toronto Star.
Joseph Knoop is a Senior Writer / Producer / Mercy for IGN.