Keystone unveils seating plans for Westoba Place

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This article was published 20/02/2024 (688 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Keystone Centre has unveiled its plans for new arena seating that will be part of this year’s renovations for Westoba Place.

Beginning early this summer, the 5,101 fixed seats will be replaced by seats that will be bigger, padded, and fitted with cup holders, said Keystone Centre general manager Connie Lawrence.

“We want to make sure that any person, any size is comfortable sitting in our seats,” Lawrence said during a press conference at the Keystone Centre concourse on Monday.

”This is our one opportunity to change the look to give a good fan experience — to open those doors and say, ‘Let’s go back to Westoba Place.’ This is our opportunity to give back to the community. And we really want the community to be a part of this.”

The current seats in Westoba Place have been there since 2005. They came from the old Winnipeg Arena when it closed.

The new plan includes two rows of premium seating, available at arena ice level in the two corners, Lawrence said, with drink rails as well.

Additionally, loge suites will be installed around the top of the concourse.

Loge suites are areas of semi-private premium seating with in-suite service. They will be bordered by a railing and have enough space for people with mobility issues.

“We put a lot of time and effort into every scenario,” Lawrence said. “We want to make sure we can accommodate everyone. And the other nice thing about our loge boxes, we can actually drop them down, so someone who is in a wheelchair can enjoy them as well.”

The number of accessible seats will be increased, along with flexible areas to create even more barrier-free spaces.

The new larger seats will mean a reduction in the current number of seats within the arena, said Jared McKenzie, Keystone Centre’s director of marketing and ticketing.

But McKenzie added they are currently limited in providing space for Brandon’s diverse population of older people, people with disabilities, and those with different mobility needs.

“It’s not finalized yet, but from 5,101 seats it will be between 46 and 4,700 seats. Essentially, the change, as we’ve seen thus far, is really only about one seat per row, so it won’t feel like it’s affected the capacity as much when you’re actually in the arena. And the larger seats will be better for comfort,” McKenzie said.

The funding for the new seats, as well as a dehumidification and cooling system, came through in March 2023 from the Progressive Conservative government’s Arts, Culture, and Sport in Community Fund grant.

The rest of the project will be paid for out of the Keystone Centre’s capital fund, said Bruce Luebke, chair of the Keystone Centre’s board of directors.

“Between the two projects, it’s going to be close to somewhere between four-and-a-half and $5 million,” said Luebke.

“Hopefully, it comes in what they say it is, but I would say that that actually has come up significantly since we originally got the grants a year ago,” he said.

“But having said that, we feel both of those projects are vital for the facility and the main arena and something that we need to do, to have that modernized fan experience and modernized look for our arena. And hopefully it also adds some life to the arena as well.”

The seat replacement will be done in stages, with the goal of completion by Aug. 27.

Immediately following the Professional Bull Riders competition in May, the seats will be dismantled on the west side of the arena and crews will work their way around to the east side.

Lawrence said there will be no interruptions for the annual graduations they host at the Keystone for Assiniboine Community College, Vincent Massey and Crocus Plains Regional High School.

“We didn’t want to affect any of our graduations, so that’s why we’re starting work on the west side, because most of those graduations never use the west side of our arena. They use the east side and the half bowl at the end,” Lawrence said.

“And then once we’re done our graduations at the end of June, we will be closing the main arena for a couple of months to get everything up.”

If all goes according to plan, by the time the puck drops for the Wheat Kings’ 2024-25 pre-season in September, fans will be in the new seats.

Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said staff at the Keystone Centre has done well to “keep up the building.”

“Even though it is one of the oldest, maybe second oldest arenas in the WHL, it has been more than kept up, it has had a lot of work done to it,” Fawcett said.

“Some of the original bones of the building might be old, but the arena itself has been refreshed many times. And this is keeping up with the Joneses, so to speak. It may become one of the better arenas again, and hopefully we can host large tournaments, even national junior tournaments,” he said.

After the seat replacement phase, the next stage will be renovating the bathrooms inside the arena.

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