From the very beginning, it was clear that CBC wanted to bring a Leppard show back to the city it left behind.
In 2005, the CBC and the city of Toronto announced a partnership to bring an iconic Canadian sports arena to Scarborough.
Since then, the Leispoll has hosted more than 1,200 events, hosted concerts and performances, and served as the home to many of Toronto’s most popular sporting events.
But the show has been an afterthought for decades, and many Canadians aren’t aware of its long history.
For many years, it seemed as though CBC would never return to the site of the former Scarborough Municipal Stadium.
But with the release of a video series this month called Leppard: Celebrating and Losing, CBC decided to get involved.
The show will bring the original Leppard arena to life and explore what the future might hold for the original site.
Leppard, Toronto’s first sports arena, opened in 1966 and has hosted many events since.
In 2018, the team won a Stanley Cup championship and won the inaugural Canadian Hockey League (CHL) championship in 1977.
But, as a result of a controversial agreement with Rogers Communications in the early 1980s, the arena’s lease expired in 2005 and was bought by Rogers.
The team was sold to BMO and relocated to Toronto in the mid-2000s.
Since that time, it’s been one of the most recognizable sports venues in North America.
In 2015, the Canadian Centre for Civic Arts announced it would be bringing a museum-style exhibit to the venue, including the original logo and some memorabilia from the original lease.
The exhibit will open to the public this fall.
But it’s the unveiling of the LeSPORT exhibit that will give Canadians a clear sense of what they might be missing out on.
The new exhibit will explore the legacy of the arena, from its inception to its final days.
The LeSPORTS exhibit will be open to visitors from March 1 to October 15.
There will be a free open-air tour of the building.
In the exhibition, a team of experts will discuss how the building’s legacy has changed over the years, from the building being built to its renovation.
For the first time, the exhibit will also include a photo gallery and interactive experience with the original equipment from the facility, which will also be on display.
“We’re hoping to show how the city has not only preserved the LeSPA, but that the city also has preserved it,” said Sarah Trewin, the director of LeSPPORT, in a press release.
“That’s something that we really think is really exciting for our visitors.”
What will you find?
The exhibit features original equipment including original equipment stands, helmets, jerseys, and other items from the venue.
There are also more than 200 photos and stories from the team’s history and fans who have come to remember it.
The exhibition will also feature artifacts from the construction of the original facility, including items like the original scoreboard and a new scoreboard that is being installed.
There is also a plaque that will be hung outside the original entrance, along with a plaque commemorating the last time the venue hosted an event.
The final product will be displayed in the Le SPORT exhibit.
The museum also plans to build a permanent exhibition of the site’s history.
“What we’re really hoping to do is really engage people in the history of the area, from when they got here, to when they left,” Trewi said.
“The LeSPA was built in the 1960s.
It’s a very important part of the history.”
The museum will also offer a free, on-site tour of a restored LeSPA court and will host a “live” event that will include a live band and some of the team members.
