Canada's largest indoor arena carries the heaviest banner collection in hockey. The Bell Centre - Centre Bell - at 1909 Avenue des Canadiens-de-Montreal opened on 16 March 1996 as the Molson Centre, replacing the sainted Montreal Forum as home of the Montreal Canadiens. Construction had begun in June 1993, two weeks after the club's 24th and most recent Stanley Cup, and the building was threaded ingeniously into the downtown core above the historic Windsor Station, with direct connections to the metro and commuter rail. Bell Canada acquired the naming rights in September 2002; the Molson family owns the building today through Groupe CH, with subsidiary Evenko as exclusive promoter. The hockey bowl seats around 21,000 - the second-largest ice hockey capacity in the world - beneath the 24 Stanley Cup championship banners and retired numbers of Richard, Beliveau, Lafleur and the rest of the pantheon, and Canadiens games remain the hottest recurring ticket in Quebec. The engineering brief was versatility: a revolutionary floor-to-ceiling curtaining system and, in a North American first, a rolling gantry allow configurations from a 2,000-seat hemicycle through 5,000-9,000-seat theatre and 10,000-14,000-seat amphitheatre modes up to 15,000-plus for end-stage concerts. That flexibility has kept the building perennially among the world's busiest arenas - fifth globally for non-sporting ticket sales in 2012 and Canada's second-busiest amphitheatre in 2024 per Pollstar - hosting every major tour that crosses the border, plus UFC cards, WWE, world championship boxing, the 2024 ISU World Figure Skating Championships, IIHF World Junior finals and NBA pre-season games. Six restaurants, some 120-134 luxury boxes on two levels and a giant centre-hung jumbotron round out the plant. Downtown location seals its status: atop the underground city, steps from Lucien-L'Allier and Bonaventure stations, the arena is Montreal's indoor town square - the place the city gathers whether the occasion is a playoff run or a farewell tour.

Type: Stadium / Arena

Address: 1909 Avenue des Canadiens-de-Montreal, Montreal, Canada, H3B 5E8

Website: https://centrebell.ca

Capacity: 21273

Opening Date: 16/03/1996

Serves Food

Accessible