City of Surrey to unveil 10,000-seat arena partner and sports team within weeks | Daily Hive

City of Surrey to announce selected proponent and sports team for new 10,000-seat arena within weeks

Not the actual design; preliminary conceptual design of the new 10,000-seat arena, hotel, conference centre, and commercial space project at the site of BC Lions' training facility in Surrey City Centre. (Perkins&Will/City of Surrey)

In July 2026, potentially just days before or after the FIFA World Cup comes to a close, significant new details could emerge on at least two potential future major entertainment and sports venues in Metro Vancouver.

One is Vancouver City Council’s consideration of City of Vancouver staff’s recommended proponent to advance the City’s ambitions for a Major League Baseball (MLB) expansion team, including preliminary details on the concept and proposed location for a new MLB stadium. Vancouver’s municipal government launched an open bidding process this past spring after receiving an unsolicited proposal deemed to be highly credible.

The other is the project initiated and spearheaded by the City of Surrey to build a 10,000-seat indoor arena in Surrey City Centre as part of a mixed-use commercial and residential development, creating a major new anchor for activity in the city’s emerging downtown.

There is also a potential third major stadium project on the horizon: a new soccer-specific home for Vancouver Whitecaps FC, aimed at improving the club’s long-term financial viability in the city. The team could remain at BC Place Stadium under a greatly improved interim arrangement until the new venue is completed. Negotiations surrounding the efforts to save the team are actively occurring behind closed doors, with potential milestone dates for those discussions not publicly known.

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On Monday, during an event hosted by the Surrey & White Rock Board of Trade (SWRBOT), City of Surrey city manager Robert Costanzo reaffirmed that the municipal government is on track to make a major announcement early this summer about its 10,000-seat arena project.

“We are going to be making a major announcement soon. And I mean, like, within the next few weeks,” said Costanzo.

surrey city centre arena bc lions training facility site

Site of the BC Lions’ training facility in Surrey City Centre. (Google Maps)

Not the actual design; preliminary conceptual design of the new 10,000-seat arena, hotel, conference centre, and commercial space project at the site of BC Lions’ training facility in Surrey City Centre. (Perkins&Will/City of Surrey)

Costanzo did, however, share a few key details.

He confirmed the arena will have a sports team associated with it. Whether this will be a brand-new sports franchise or the relocation of an existing team currently based elsewhere in the Lower Mainland will soon be revealed.

Costanzo also reaffirmed that the project will be a mixed-use development with commercial uses — including a luxury hotel — supporting the arena as part of the entertainment district for Surrey City Centre.

“It’s not going to be like a traditional hockey arena. It’s going to be more of a conventional type of building with the restaurants and nightclubs and shops around the perimeter of the site,” he told business and community leaders.

“It will have a plaza, an outdoor plaza, a five-star hotel, a convention space, and residential towers. And so, that will be announced in the coming weeks. I think I’ve given too much away, but I’m pretty confident that this room can hold a secret.”

This arena complex would be a redevelopment of the City-owned property currently home to the BC Lions training facility. There are no artistic renderings of the actual design at this early stage, with the renderings in use previously created by the City’s contractors intended to serve as conceptual placeholders for the previous preliminary planning process.

Aerial of Whalley Athletic Park, Tom Binnie Park, Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre, and the BC Lions’ training facility in Surrey City Centre. (Google Maps)

Bill Aujla, president and CEO of the Surrey City Development Corporation (SCDC), the for-profit real estate development company owned by the City of Surrey, further elaborated on the arena’s role as a major economic catalyst for the area.

Aujla argued the arena is intended to serve as far more than a sports facility, saying it is designed to unlock broader private investment in Surrey City Centre and address a shortage of hotels.

He noted that many visitors attending youth hockey tournaments and other sporting events in Surrey currently stay in hotels elsewhere in the region because the city lacks sufficient accommodations and attractions to justify additional hotel development.

“I’m hearing from individuals that say, you know, parents are bringing their kids for hockey tournaments, but they’re staying in hotels in other locations. Because there’s not enough events for, like, a critical tipping point to have that type of investment. To get, you know, a luxury hotel, you’re looking at a $100 million investment,” he said.

Aujla said the proposed arena is intended to create that critical mass of activity by functioning as both a sports venue and a destination for concerts, cultural events, and other entertainment.

“So, that will happen, but we’ve got to invest in, you know, Rob mentioned a 10,000-seat arena. That’s a cultural, it’s not just a sports arena, it’s a cultural event venue. We have so much diversity, there’s so many shows coming. If we have that type of venue, hotels are going to follow. It’s inevitable,” said Aujla.

He added that the arena and surrounding mixed-use development would also encourage further private investment nearby while generating additional employment and economic activity.

“Not only that, but you’re going to actually get other businesses that are going to be, other developers that are going to be investing in that area. And it’s all going to be the externalities that are going to follow through with more jobs, more investment. But we need that to trigger it,” he continued.

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke also highlighted the arena project during her annual State of the City address this past May, revealing that the “market response has been strong” to the municipal government’s procurement process to select a developer, arena operator, and sports tenant for the mixed-use complex anchored by the 10,000-seat venue. The competitive bidding process opened in late January and concluded in late May.

The City is aiming to move quickly once a contract is awarded, with the project expected to immediately enter the detailed design phase. Construction could begin as early as 2027.

To help advance the project, the municipal government has committed up to $200 million towards the construction of the arena component of the broader mixed-use development.

Locke first unveiled the arena vision during her 2024 State of the City address. Since then, the City has retained consultants to undertake preliminary technical studies and market demand analyses, which concluded that the project is commercially viable and well-positioned to meet the region’s growing demand for a mid-sized sports and entertainment venue. That led to the launch of the procurement process seeking a development partner earlier this year.

From the outset, the City had expressed a desire for the arena to be accompanied by retail, restaurant, hotel, and conference space uses, and potentially residential uses as well, to improve the project’s financial viability.

If Surrey City Centre Arena is built as planned as a 10,000-seat venue, it would be the third-largest venue of its kind in the Lower Mainland — behind the 19,000-seat Rogers Arena and 16,000-seat Pacific Coliseum, and ahead of the 7,500-seat Thunderbird Sports Centre at the University of British Columbia.

PWHL’s Vancouver Goldeneyes at the Pacific Coliseum. (PWHL)

UBC’s Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre during the 2010 Paralympics. (UBC)

During Monday’s event, Costanzo also highlighted the first phase of SCDC’s Centre Block redevelopment next to SkyTrain’s Surrey Central Station and Civic Plaza. The first phase will feature a brand-new, purpose-built, 13-storey office building for Simon Fraser University’s newly launched medical school.

He also highlighted the municipal government’s decision to proceed with building a new standalone building for the new Interactive Art Museum next to Civic Plaza and Surrey City Hall, and the planned transformation of the Cloverdale fairgrounds into “a regional destination similar to Granville Island or The Shipyards of North Vancouver.” The municipal government is expected to finalize its revised Cloverdale Town Centre Plan this summer.

As well, Costanzo reaffirmed the project to build the new Newton Community Centre, which will carry a cost of over $310 million, making it the municipal government’s most expensive single investment ever into community and recreation facilities. The 175,000 sq. ft. facility will have a 50-metre, Olympic-sized lap swimming pool, a leisure pool, a hot tub, a sauna, two gymnasiums, and other community and recreational spaces. As well, it includes a 45,000 sq. ft. public library branch — more than double the size of the existing Newton public library branch, and making it Metro Vancouver’s fourth largest municipally operated public library location. Site preparation and early work is underway this summer, with a Spring 2030 completion and opening targeted.

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