Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2018 - 10

GOULD STREET

GRAPHIC DETAILS

The MAC
turns five

A building steeped in history gets new
life as a student and community hub

IN 2012, Toronto's historic Maple Leaf Gardens
reopened as Ryerson's Mattamy Athletic Centre
(MAC). Now celebrating its fifth anniversary, the
world-class athletics and recreation facility stands as
one of the most ambitious legacies of Ryerson's community engagement mandate.
The MAC has revitalized a building that is central to
Toronto's history. In its active years from 1931 to 1999,
Maple Leaf Gardens was the official home of the Toronto
Maple Leafs, and held historic concerts with Elvis
Presley, Bob Marley and The Beatles. After shutting its
doors in 1999, the site lay inactive until a partnership
between Ryerson University (funded by a student levy),
the Government of Canada's Infrastructure Stimulus
Fund, Peter Gilgan (founder and CEO of Mattamy
Homes), and the Loblaw Companies Ltd. (which opened
a store on ground level).
The venue's impact has been felt around the world.
The more than 220,000-square-foot facility includes
an NHL-sized ice rink, a multi-purpose court for basketball and volleyball, fitness centre, studio and high-performance gym for Ryerson teams and athletes. Ryerson
athletes give back to the community with Rams Care,
a youth mentorship program created in partnership
with Toronto Community Housing, Nike Canada and
the Jays Care Foundation.
Its facilities are used for intramural sports, student
recreational club participation, varsity team practices and games, and community skates. Over the past
five years, the MAC has been the venue for the 2015
CIS Men's National Basketball Championships, the
2015 Pan Am Games, the 2017 CIS Women's National
Volleyball Championships and the 2017 Invictus Games.
A $750,000 donation from Sportsnet created a state-ofthe-art broadcast centre for RTA's sport media program,
and cutting-edge scholarships.
"This is a model site for the innovative repurposing
of a heritage building, keeping its historical significance intact and maintaining its vital relationship to its
community," said Ward 27 Councillor Kristyn WongTam.- Will Sloan
10

Ryerson University Magazine / Winter 2018

THE TEAMS
THAT CALL
MAC HOME

Basketball

Hockey

Volleyball

Figure Skating

2,300

FEET ABOVE STREET
LEVEL, MAKING IT THE
HIGHEST-ELEVATED
SKATING RINK IN TORONTO

THE NUMBER
OF SEATS IN
THE NHL-SIZED
RINK

Students from the RTA School of Media
work at the Sportsnet RTA Production
Centre, creating TV broadcasts and colour
commentary segments for varsity home
games and hosted championships.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Ryerson Alumni - Winter 2018