The Aud: ‘Near and dear’ to community, but needs upgrades

The future of The Aud will be decided by the City of Kitchener and its partners, the Rangers, in the coming years because of the aging structure.

The home of the Kitchener Rangers turned 73 years old this year.

The city has made investments into keeping The Aud in shape over the years, but no significant upgrades have been made on the arena in over 12 years when they raised the roof, adding 1,000 seats and a second-level concourse.

The conversation started back up after Sudbury made the decision to spend $200 million on a new venue.

The Chief Operating Officer for the Rangers, Joe Birch, said that the decision now makes The Aud the oldest arena in the Ontario Hockey League.

“I think it’s a really, really special place that’s been created, not just by the physical building itself because that is part of it – we have the best fans in the Canadian hockey league and they create this environment that they care and are so passionate about our players that they feel it and they really enjoy their experience when they are drafted here – it’s really near and dear to our heart and that’s also part of this balancing act,” Birch said.

Some things that require upgrades to keep the facility elite, modern and able to attract new players include the player’s dressing rooms, the player’s lounge and the weight room.

“It’s not like the roof is going to fall in tomorrow or anything like that right, were really fortunate in the upgrades that have gone on here over the past decade, but just to be able to plan properly requires some time. As it stands currently were in great shape.”

Kitchener’s Mayor, Berry Vrbanovic, told CityNews 570 that city staff have plans to bring the conversation about the future of The Aud back to city council before the end of 2026.

“A building that is quickly approaching 75 is going to need some love and attention and some direction in terms of what the future might look like. That’s really what the city is going to have to grapple with in the next couple of years,” said Vrbanovic.

The Aud also hosts the Kitchener Titans and other community events.

“Maple Leaf Gardens has become the Mattamy athletic centre for Toronto’s metropolitan university as well as what Hamilton’s First Ontario Centre is going through right now – in terms of complete overhauls as opposed to complete new builds. That’s some of the stuff well want to look at as a community,” said Vrbanovic.

The rink in The Aud currently holds about 7,700 fans but Vrbanovic said it’s been hard to get back to those kinds of numbers since the pandemic ended, so the Rangers might not see it as necessary to expand the facility.

Vrbanovic added that the budget currently allows them fund maintenance for The Aud to keep the building’s infrastructure in shape but in terms of a new building its not in the budget right now and would need to be included in a future business plan.

“We’ve got a number of venues in the community for different things, ranging from The Aud at 7,700 seats to Centre in the Square at 2,000 and of course the Conrad Centre and The Registry Theatre that are in the hundreds each. There are a variety of facilities for different purposes.”

The mayor added that a complete overhaul could cost about $100-150 million versus building a new 12,000-seat arena for $400 million.

The city and the Rangers need to look at how it can be around for another 75 years for the community before any decisions can be made.

“The building is reaching a point in its lifespan where its only prudent to have some of that dialogue to continue to understand what the needs of the Rangers are as a team going forward,” said Vrbanovic.