2025-26 Impact Report

Looking back at a history-making year

In 2025-26, Scotiabank Centre welcomed a year of firsts for the region: the first Professional Women’s Hockey League games in Atlantic Canada, the first of four U SPORTS Championship tournaments, the first Montana's Canadian Curling Trials in Halifax, record-setting fan attendance for the Halifax Thunderbirds and their first-ever playoff game at home in the Nest. These moments brought fans together, strengthened Halifax’s reputation as a major event destination, and created meaningful economic activity and foot traffic for the downtown core.

Our primary tenants, the Halifax Mooseheads and Halifax Thunderbirds, remained key drivers of that success. With strong attendance and loyal fan communities, both teams contributed to the year-round vibrancy of Scotiabank Centre and helped keep downtown Halifax active beyond major one-time events.

Of course, this success is possible thanks to the passion and hard work of people behind the scenes. We were honoured that Scotiabank Centre received the Best Teamwork in a Small Venue Award at the 2026 Canadian Live Music Awards, recognizing the collaboration, coordination, and care that define how our teams deliver high-quality live experiences.

Enhancing the moment for every guest

After nearly five decades of live events, sport, and community moments, Scotiabank Centre remains one of Halifax’s most iconic gathering places. New investments are helping strengthen the fan experience and shape the venue’s next chapter.

In the first year of our renewed naming rights partnership with Scotiabank, and with support from Halifax Regional Municipality, strategic upgrades were completed to improve the fan experience throughout the venue. These included a new public address system with distributed audio, digital LED signage, a digital ribbon, digital concourse displays, and a new performance stage. Over the summer, additional enhancements improved the look and feel of our Premium Seating spaces, including modernized signage, refreshed paint, and upgraded digital assets.

Food and beverage also played a larger role in the fan experience this year. Premium Seating food and beverage services transitioned to the Halifax Convention Centre’s in-house culinary team, introducing a curated menu that showcased some of our 100+ local food and beverage suppliers across the province.

This year, Scotiabank Centre also welcomed Aramark Canada as our new concessions partner. The team introduced new service technologies to improve speed of service, including more points of sale, new self-checkouts, and refreshed menus. 

Celebrating Indigenous voices, tradition, and culture

Scotiabank Centre is located in Kjipuktuk, in Mi’kma’ki, the traditional and ancestral territory of the Mi’kmaq people. With our long-standing relationship with the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, and in partnership with the Halifax Regional Municipality, Scotiabank Centre was honoured to host The Gifts We Carry during Truth and Reconciliation Week in September.

Presented by the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, The Gifts We Carry was a transformational 90-minute program created for Indigenous youth from across Nova Scotia. The program offered space for learning, reflection, and connection, while recognizing the profound injustices experienced by First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples through the residential school system. It was a meaningful step in truth-telling, healing, and reconciliation, centred on the voices and future of Indigenous youth.

Throughout the year, our venues continued to create platforms for recognizing Indigenous community and culture in authentic ways. On October 4, the Halifax Convention Centre hosted the Wije’winen Kjipuktuk Gala, presented by the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre. The Gala brought together Indigenous Elders, leaders, artists, and community members to raise funds for the new Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre development.

Together, these events honoured Mi’kmaw history, resilience, and future generations, creating powerful moments of community, ceremony and reflection across our venues. Hosting The Gifts We Carry reinforced Scotiabank Centre’s role as a gathering place where youth, community, culture, and reconciliation can come together in a meaningful way.

Rocking the house with thousands of fans

Scotiabank Centre hosted the 2025 Montana’s Canadian Curling Trials for the first time and welcomed fans from across Canada for the tournament, held every four years. This event determined the country’s men’s and women’s curling teams for the 2026 Winter Olympics.

The impact extended across Nova Scotia, with pre- and post-Trials qualifiers in Liverpool and Wolfville, and well beyond the ice. At Scotiabank Centre, the Trials became a major live sport moment that brought people of all ages together, elevated national pride, and showcased Halifax as a premier host city for world-class competition.

The local host committee, which included members of our team, prioritized inclusion and community through the first-ever Festival of Rings. This multi-site engagement initiative was designed to make curling more accessible, inclusive, and culturally connected. Through newcomer programs, African Nova Scotian inclusion, engagement with Indigenous Elders, and enhanced youth access, the Festival created new pathways for participation and helped strengthen the sport’s long-term legacy.

Meanwhile, at the Halifax Convention Centre, the Curling Patch added energy throughout the Trials, drawing fans downtown and supporting local restaurants, hotels, artists, and businesses.

Together, the Trials, the Festival of Rings and the Patch created an iconic and memorable week for Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Canada, celebrating the joy of sport and demonstrating the community impact major events can create. 

Welcoming the PWHL's first games in Atlantic Canada

Since launching in 2024, the Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) has quickly become North America’s premier elite women’s hockey organization, showcasing some of the best players and coaching staff in the world.

This year, Scotiabank Centre hosted two PWHL Takeover Tour games in December and January. Alongside major cities like Chicago, Denver, Dallas, Detroit, and Edmonton, Halifax showed it could deliver a professional women’s hockey experience that matched the quality, energy, and ambition of the game itself. And the impact extended well beyond the ice.

In partnership with the PWHL, Hockey Nova Scotia, the Halifax Convention Centre, and our community partners, Scotiabank Centre created meaningful opportunities for young players, coaches, fans and community leaders. More than 800 community members attended team practices, local minor hockey teams welcomed players at the Halifax Airport, minor athletes participated in on-ice Community Clinics, and officials attended a PWHL Coaches Clinic. The Halifax Convention Centre also hosted a Welcome Breakfast, welcoming more than 200 business, government, and community stakeholders for a panel on The Business of Women’s Sport.

From 2SLGBTQIA+ fan celebrations to hand-beaded welcome gifts presented by the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre to PWHL team captains, the games created a powerful moment of representation, inclusion, and inspiration. They gave the next generation of hockey players in Nova Scotia a chance to participate, grow, and see themselves reflected in the future of the sport.