Katz Group officially announces new name for downtown arena district

Artist rendering of an outdoor plaza connected to Rogers Place in Edmonton. Supplied

It was Edmonton’s worst kept secret, but the Katz Group officially released the name for the city’s new sports and entertainment district.

In a news conference Monday, Katz Group officials said the area around the new downtown arena, Rogers Place, would be called the Ice District.

The timing of the announcement fits nicely with a viral media campaign seen around Edmonton last week that centred around an ice theme.

The icing on the cake seems to be a glossy leaked video that showed up on YouTube calls the area The 'Ice District.'

The area around Rogers Place, the new home to the Edmonton Oilers in 2016, is undergoing a transformation with billions of dollars in development.

Appearing just before midnight on a YouTube account by MARKETNEWSVIDEO, the video was made private after it was posted.

The video was shown during the Monday news conference, and called the district ‘Canada's largest mixed-use sports and entertainment district in the heart of Edmonton and talks glowingly about twenty-five acres of prime land being changed into 'twenty-five awe-inspiring acres of modern urban living.'

New images in the video include an outdoor public plaza, movie theatres and exterior of the Grand Villa Casino.