It has been 40 years since the largest rink on Cape Breton Island – Centre 200 in Sydney, N.S. - was under construction. In many ways, it doesn’t look much different now than it did then. “It’s tired, it needs upgrading,” said Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM) Mayor Cecil Clarke. That’s why the CBRM is proposing a $78 million renovation to Nova Scotia’s second-largest entertainment facility. The plan would include connecting the arena via pedway to a new curling club - which has already been announced. Mayor and council plan to ask for money from the federal and provincial governments for the renovation. “Well, the other levels of government are paying attention to projects elsewhere,” Clarke said. “Charlottetown has a great project. (So does) Saint John. There are initiatives in Halifax and we have an initiative here in Sydney and I look forward to having the confidence of the province to see that this is an economic driver.” Paul MacDonald, general manager of Centre 200, said that seating capacity for hockey would go up to about 5,300 - roughly 300 more than the building can hold now. “Concerts and others would increase in between 400 and 500 - it depends on the configuration that we have,” MacDonald said on Wednesday. Upgrades inside the arena in recent years have included a new scoreboard and LED lighting but MacDonald said more needs to be done to bring the building into the future. “If we want the long-term viability of this facility, it’s important that we proceed with a modernization plan that would allow us to meet the needs of event rights holders,” MacDonald said, noting that Centre 200 has hosted a number of national and world-level events in recent years including the World Women’s Curling Championship, World Women’s Hockey Championship and Scotties Tournament of Hearts. With such a large renovation price tag, some may wonder whether that would be enough for the building and city to host Canadian junior hockey’s signature tournament – the Memorial Cup. Moncton hosted in 2006 and Saint John in 2022, Halifax has hosted the event twice in 2000 and 2019. “I think it’s entirely possible,” said Will MacLaren, a Cole Harbour, N.S.-based Q League analyst and contributing writer for The Hockey News. “It’s not like they are that far off the mark as it stands right now.” MacLaren said that while having a seating capacity above 5,000 would put Cape Breton in better contention, they would still likely have to wait a while. “It’s (hosting rights for the Memorial Cup) going to go to either Moncton or Quebec in 2028 and it stands to reason that one of those locales is probably going to get it soon after,” MacLaren said, noting that the QMJHL has long had a pattern of alternating between Atlantic Canadian and Quebec-based host cities. Clarke said that more than a third of the $78 million price tag - $28 million - would be earmarked through deferred maintenance at the municipal level. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
