A home isn’t really a home until you decorate.
That’s the case Toronto Sceptres fans are making as they push to have the team’s logo and branding prominently displayed at Coca-Cola Coliseum.
Most sports venues are adorned with home team logos and photos of stars, like fans can see at Rogers Centre for the Blue Jays, or at Scotiabank Arena for the Maple Leafs.
But even though the Sceptres have called the Exhibition Place rink home for two seasons, there’s a near total lack of representation throughout the venue — something season-ticket holder Jessica Tang says is a disservice to the PWHL team’s fans.
“You go to the rink and it’s like the Sceptres don’t exist,” she told CBC News.
Instead, the arena is awash with branding for The Toronto Marlies, the AHL farm team of the NHL’s Maple Leafs — and a team owned by Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment (MLSE), which is also the venue operator.
The City of Toronto, which owns the venue, directed questions about the lack of Sceptres branding to MLSE, which did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
The Sceptres, whose season ended this week after a loss to the playoff-bound Ottawa Charge, similarly directed questions about branding to MLSE. Team officials did not answer when asked if they have been pushing for more Sceptres branding inside the arena.
“We love seeing the passion from Sceptres fans and how strongly they’re connecting with the team,” The Sceptres said in a statement.
Tang, a lifelong hockey fan who grew up cheering for the Maple Leafs, says she understands why the Marlies would have such a presence at the rink, considering the team has been playing in that space for over two decades now.
“But now you’ve got this [other] team that has a huge following, and everywhere you look [The Sceptres] have to put up the temporary backdrops for people to take photos,” she said.
“It wouldn’t hurt to acknowledge the fact that there’s another team that brings in probably way more people and way more fanfare than The Marlies.”
The Marlies are about to share the space with yet another team, with the WNBA’s Toronto Tempo playing its first preseason game Wednesday night, and its inaugural home opener happening at Coca-Cola Coliseum on May 8.
Ward 10 Coun. Ausma Malik, who is the chair of the Exhibition Place board of governors, told CBC News that she has heard concerns about the lack of branding from “dedicated fans.”
In turn, this month she moved a motion directing Exhibition Place’s CEO to bring requests to leaseholders at both Coca-Cola Coliseum and at nearby BMO Field to “improve the sports team experience,” including displaying memorabilia and the placement of team logos to “better recognize women’s sports in Toronto and at Exhibition Place.”
“It’s important to me that women and girls see themselves reflected in the highest levels of competition and that includes in the arenas in which they play,” Malik said in a statement.
Tammy DeGasperis-Symes, who is also a Sceptres season-ticket holder, told CBC News in an interview that Coca-Cola Coliseum still doesn’t feel like the team’s home — and until the Sceptres logo is painted on the ice alongside the Marlies logo, it will continue to feel like “borrowed space.”
“I don’t want to take away from the Marlies’ achievements, they’re still a Toronto team and we’re going to love them forever,” she said.
“But these women have worked hard, these players have worked hard, the league has worked hard — they deserve their space.”
