Best Seats at Scotiabank Arena
Scotiabank Arena sits at the corner of Bay and Lake Shore, a covered walk from Union Station and the downtown Toronto waterfront, and it might be the busiest building in Canadian sports. It’s home to both the Maple Leafs and the Raptors, which means there’s something happening here almost every night from October through spring, plus a year-round concert calendar that pulls in the biggest tours in music. The building opened in 1999 as the Air Canada Centre, took the Scotiabank name in 2018, and just wrapped a $350-million, multi-year “Reimagination” that rebuilt the concourses, clubs, suites, and food halls from the studs. T
What to know: Leafs tickets are among the most expensive in hockey and the regular-season crowd can feel corporate and quiet, while Raptors and concert crowds run younger and louder. But the sightlines are excellent, the renovation genuinely modernized the place, and you’re dropped into the middle of a real downtown with bars, restaurants, and transit all within a two-minute walk. Here’s exactly where to sit, whatever you’re here to see.
Seating Guide
Scotiabank Arena is a two-bowl building: the 100 Level (lower bowl, sections 101–122, roughly 28 rows) wraps the floor, the 300 Level (upper bowl, sections 301–324, around 18 rows) sits above it, and the premium clubs and suites fill the levels in between. Capacity flexes with the event — about 19,800 for Raptors basketball, roughly 18,800 for Maple Leafs hockey, and up to around 20,500 for concerts depending on the stage setup. The single most useful thing to know here is that the best seat depends entirely on what you’re watching — a section that’s great for hockey can be mediocre for a concert, because the floor configuration changes underneath you. We’ll break it down by event.
Best Non-Premium Seats: Lower Bowl Centre
Sections 107–109 and 118–120 are the heart of the lower bowl and the best non-premium real estate for both Leafs and Raptors games. These centre sections put you at centre ice or centre court with clean, balanced sightlines to both ends. The sweet spot is rows 15–20 — high enough to see plays develop on the far end and (for hockey) to see cleanly over the glass, low enough to stay close to the action. These centre sections also have their own lower entry tunnels around row 3, so getting in and out is far easier than in the corners. The tradeoff is simple: this is the priciest non-premium zone in the building, and it climbs hard for the Leafs against Original Six rivals or any marquee Raptors matchup.
For hockey specifically, aim for rows 15–25 in these sections. Sit too low and the glass and dasher boards eat into your view of the near-side play; the mid-rows let you watch the whole sheet without constantly turning your head. The player benches run along the 118–120 side and the penalty boxes sit near 108, so the lowest rows there get you player interaction at the cost of clean sightlines.
Best Value Seats: Lower Bowl Corners
Sections 101, 106, 110, 117, and 121–122 are the value play — still lower bowl, still close, just at a corner or end angle that knocks the price down from dead-centre. You give up the perfectly square view but keep the proximity, which for most fans is the better trade. One quirk worth knowing: Section 110 is noticeably better for hockey than for basketball or concerts because of how the floor shifts between configurations, so it’s a smart budget pick for a Leafs game and a skip for the other two.
Budget Option: 300 Level Centre
The 300 Level centre sections — around 309 and 321 and the sections beside them — are your best budget seats. This is the upper bowl, but the rake here isn’t steep or distant the way it is in older arenas, so even the “cheap” seats are genuinely watchable. Stick to rows 1–10 for an elevated view that actually helps you read the play, and avoid the last few rows where the angle gets awkward. If being there matters more to you than being close, these deliver real value.
Concert Seating
Concerts flip the building into an end-stage setup, with the stage usually at the north end near sections 111–113, so the seating math changes completely. The best lower-bowl seats for a typical end-stage show are sections 109 and 118 — the front of the stage lines up almost exactly with the aisles of these sections, the closest seats aren’t pushed behind the stage, and it’s genuinely hard to find a bad view. Sections 108 and 119 are nearly as good for end-stage and become the best seats in the house for any in-the-round or centre-stage production. Sections 110 and 117 get you close at a sharper side angle for less money — just avoid the highest-numbered seats in 110 and the lowest in 117, which battle the worst angles.
Floor seats put you closest to the performer, and single-digit rows are electric, but the floor is flat with no rake, so a tall person in front can wreck your view — and the deeper floor rows (past the mid-20s) lose a lot of that proximity advantage. For a budget concert ticket, drop to the 300 Level centre for a clean elevated look at the stage and screens. The one constant: avoid anything behind or directly beside the stage, since those sections are usually curtained off or sell as obstructed.
Our Pick
If you only take one piece of advice for a game: rows 15–20 of sections 107–109. It’s the cleanest combination of view, comfort, easy access, and a price that isn’t fully premium — the seat we’d hand a first-timer for either the Leafs or the Raptors. For a concert, make it section 109 or 118, single-digit rows, and you’re set.
What to Avoid
Lower bowl rows 1–6 look tempting but sit too low — for hockey the glass and boards obstruct, and for basketball you’re too flat to see the far end develop. Fun for the up-close energy, frustrating if you actually want to follow the game. Seats directly behind the benches or penalty boxes are the same story: great for overhearing coaches and watching line changes, bad for sightlines when players and staff are standing. The deep 300-level corners and back rows put you far enough out that the angle turns uncomfortable. And as noted, Section 110 for a concert or Raptors game simply doesn’t work as well as it does for hockey.
Worth it once — glass or courtside. These aren’t “smart” seats for watching strategy, but a Leafs glass seat (pucks and bodies slamming the boards inches away) or Raptors courtside (on the floor, on camera, close enough to hear everything) is a bucket-list experience. Go for the visceral thrill, not the tactical view — and know you’re paying a steep premium for the story.
Premium Seating Options
The Reimagination project rebuilt Scotiabank Arena’s premium tier almost entirely, and the names below are current. The structure runs from on-the-floor splurges up through membership clubs and full suites.
Courtside & Glass: Raptors courtside (the lettered Courtside North/South/East/West rows) and Leafs glass seats are the top-dollar, on-the-action experience — padded seats, a VIP entrance, in-seat service, and for many of these tickets, access to the Platinum Club lounge. Pricing swings wildly by opponent and lands anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars per seat.
Scotia Club / Platinum seats (what “Scotia Club access” actually means): This is the question people search most, so to be clear — Scotia Club (also tied to the arena’s Platinum seats) is a premium membership tier in the prime lower bowl. Holders get the best non-premium-bowl locations plus access to dedicated club lounges and gallery mezzanines with their own upscale food and beverage, in-seat service, and priority windows to buy concert and event tickets before the general public. It’s pitched at season-seat buyers and corporate members more than single-game fans, but it’s the answer to “is there a club level here” — yes, and this is its backbone.
Mastercard Lounge & Air Canada Signature Club: The Mastercard Lounge, opened in the renovation’s first phase, is a shared members’ club on the 200 (suite) level with premium viewing and dining. The Air Canada Signature Club — formerly the Chairman’s Suite — is the most exclusive room in the building, an event-level fine-dining-and-lounge experience where reservations are mandatory. Both are about the lounge as much as the seat.
Suites & social spaces: The 200 Level holds the rebuilt Mastercard Executive Suites, with theatre and loge suites on the upper levels, all hosting roughly 8–40 guests with catering, private entry, and an attendant. The renovation also added fan-facing social spaces you don’t need a suite to enjoy on the right ticket: the Molson Brewhouse (a lively 100-level concourse bar built into the historic Toronto Postal Delivery Building windows — the new pre-game meet-up spot), the reborn Hot Stove restaurant (a Maple Leaf Gardens institution since 1963, now open to all ticket holders and for concerts), the new upper-level Loge Club, and a fully redesigned Coors Light Chill Zone on the 300 Level that’s gone from a dark hallway to a real social bar with a giant micro-LED screen.
Scotiabank Arena Seating Chart
Scotiabank Arena’s capacity shifts depending on what’s happening on the floor. When the Toronto Raptors take the court, the arena holds around 19,800 fans. For Toronto Maple Leafs hockey games, that number adjusts to about 18,900 seats. You can check out the updated seating chart on the arena’s website to see configurations for different event types.
Maple Leafs and Raptors Tickets (Some Tips)
Leafs and Raptors demand couldn’t be more different. The Maple Leafs are the most expensive ticket in the building and one of the priciest in the NHL — Original Six opponents (Montreal, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, New York) and weekend dates push prices to the ceiling, and even quiet weeknights rarely get cheap. Raptors games are the friendlier buy, especially weeknights against non-contenders, where the secondary market often dips well below face value. For both, the upper bowl and corner lower-bowl seats are where value hides, and the in-arena experience (the renovated concourses, the social bars) is the same wherever you sit. Concert pricing is tour-dependent; if a show isn’t selling, lower-bowl sides and the 300 centre drop late.
Grab Maple Leafs or Raptors tickets through our Vivid Seats partnership! This is your go-to source for great deals on any event at Scotiabank Arena. Raptors, Leafs, Concerts, Blue Jays over at Rogers, etc
Bag Policy for Scotiabank Arena
This is the rule that trips up the most people, so read it before you leave home: Scotiabank Arena allows only small purses, clutches, or fanny packs smaller than 6.5″ x 4.5″ (about the size of a phone). Anything bigger — including a clear bag — is not permitted in, and MLSE openly encourages fans to bring no bag at all. If you show up with something larger, your only options are a paid bag check ($25) in the Galleria across from Gate 1, which has limited first-come space, or, for genuine medical needs, an x-ray inspection available at Gates 1, 3, and 5. There is no free coat or bag storage, so if you’re carrying luggage, use a downtown storage service before you arrive. The honest move here is to go bagless and pocket the essentials — you’ll clear security far faster.
Key Venue Policies
A few more that catch people out. No outside food or drink — the one exception is an empty or soft, collapsible water bottle, which you can refill at concourse fountains (hard-shelled bottles are prohibited). No re-entry once you leave the gates. Signs and posters are allowed up to 22″ x 28″ but can’t be on poles or sticks, can’t block other fans, and aren’t permitted in courtside seats. And the building is fully cashless — debit, credit, and contactless only, with Mastercard as the preferred method — so there’s no need for cash anywhere inside.
Gates, Entry & Timing
People search specific gates here for a reason — entry speed varies. For the shortest lines, use Gates 3, 4, or 5B, which consistently move faster than the main Gate 1 entrance. Gates open one hour before puck drop or tip-off (concerts generally 60 minutes before the listed start), while premium and suite holders get in two hours early through the dedicated Premium Entrance at Gate 2B on Bay Street. The preferred gate prints on your ticket, but you’re free to enter through whichever line is shortest. For big games and sold-out concerts, lines can stretch 20–30 minutes, and Union Station below the arena clogs with commuters at rush hour, so give yourself a cushion.
Accessibility
Accessible and universal washrooms are on the 100 Level near sections 103/104 and 114/115 and on the 300 Level near 310/311 and 317/318, and the renovation added more elevator access to the upper levels. Wheelchairs are available at the Fan Services desks on the 100 and 300 Levels, and if you need a wheelchair escort to your seat, flag a gate attendant on arrival. For accessible parking or specific accommodations, contact Fan Services at (416) 815-5982 ahead of time. The arena was the first Canadian sports venue to earn the WELL Health-Safety Rating.
Here is a full list of Scotiabank Policies
Getting To Scotiabank Arena
Scotiabank Arena is one of the most transit-connected venues in North America, and the strong recommendation is to leave the car at home.
Public transit (your best bet): Union Station sits directly beneath the arena, with an indoor pathway you can use in bad weather — it’s a two-to-four-minute walk to the gates. The TTC subway (Line 1) stops at Union, as do GO Transit, UP Express from Pearson Airport, and VIA Rail, so the whole region funnels right to the door. After the game, the subway beats every other option; hop on at Union and you’ve skipped the street-level chaos entirely.
Rideshare: Uber and Lyft work but the immediate blocks turn to gridlock at the same moment everyone leaves. For pickup, walk a couple of blocks away from the arena before you request; for drop-off, aim for the Union Station side rather than the jammed stretch of Bay Street.
Parking: The on-site garage under the arena is largely reserved for suite and permit holders, so most fans should book a nearby lot in advance — there are over 13,000 public spaces within walking distance, and a service like SpotHero will get you the best rate and a guaranteed spot. Expect heavy traffic and downtown event pricing, and budget extra time on nights when there’s also a concert or Blue Jays game nearby.
Scotiabank Insider Tips
Scotiabank Arena is a polished, well-run building, but a few things separate fans who know it from fans who don’t — and the atmosphere shifts dramatically depending on whether you’re here for the Leafs, the Raptors, or a show.
Understanding Toronto Hockey: The Leafs Are the Yankees of Canada
If you’re coming for a Maple Leafs game, understand what you’re walking into. The Leafs are the most valuable, most scrutinized, and most emotionally loaded franchise in Canadian sports — an Original Six club, the centre of the hockey universe, carrying the longest active championship drought in the NHL (no Cup since 1967). That history hangs over every game. The flip side of all that pressure is a regular-season crowd that can feel oddly muted and corporate, heavy on suits and clients, because the most passionate fans often can’t afford or can’t get the tickets. Don’t let the quiet fool you into thinking it doesn’t matter — it matters more here than almost anywhere. Playoff Leafs hockey, when it happens, is a completely different and electric animal. And the Hockey Hall of Fame is a five-minute walk away at Brookfield Place, which makes a natural pre-game stop for anyone who cares about the sport’s history.
“We The North” and Jurassic Park
The Raptors are the louder, younger, more joyful ticket. Since the 2019 championship run, the crowd carries a real edge of belief, and the building feels alive in a way Leafs regular-season games often don’t. The signature experience even reaches outside the walls: Maple Leaf Square — nicknamed “Jurassic Park” — is the massive outdoor plaza with big screens where thousands of fans gather to watch playoff games for free. If you can’t get inside for a big game, showing up to Jurassic Park is one of the best free sports experiences in North America. Just know it fills hours early.
The $350-Million Reimagination
If you haven’t been in a couple of years, the building has been transformed. The multi-phase Reimagination project rebuilt the 100- and 300-Level concourses with modern, screen-heavy designs; added grab-and-go “Just Walk Out” markets (Grains and Greens on the 100 Level, Molson Market on the 300) where you tap in, take what you want, and leave with no checkout line; rebuilt the suites and clubs; and threaded a museum-quality art collection of dozens of commissioned pieces by Canadian artists throughout the concourses. The Molson Brewhouse and the revived Hot Stove restaurant are the social anchors of the new 100 Level.
Eat the Local Stuff, Not the Generic Stuff
The renovation leaned into local and chef-driven vendors, so skip the standard nachos. Cherry St. BBQ (a Michelin Bib Gourmand pitmaster) does excellent brisket and smoked meats on the upper concourse, Aloette — from the team behind Michelin-starred Alo — runs an elevated stand in the lower bowl, and The Poutinerie does the most “Toronto sports” thing you can eat: a loaded poutine with real curds and house gravy. This is Canada, so get the poutine at least once. If you have club access, the in-seat and lounge food is genuinely restaurant-quality.
Alcohol Cutoffs Catch People
For Leafs games, beer and alcohol sales stop at the end of the second intermission — if you want one for the third period, grab it before the second intermission ends. Raptors games follow the same general NHL/NBA pattern, with sales cutting off in the second half. Standard league policy, but it surprises people every time.
Practical Quirks
The arena runs ballpark-style behind-the-scenes tours that check in at Gate 6, if you want to see the building on a non-event day. Carlton the Bear (Leafs) and the Raptor mascot work the crowd at their respective games. And because the building sits right on top of Union Station, your fastest exit after a game is almost always straight down into the subway rather than fighting for a rideshare in the gridlock above.
Overall Vibe Check: I’ve been to Scotiabank Arena for both Leafs and Raptors games, and the energy difference is stark. Leafs games feel corporate and stiff during the regular season—lots of suits, quiet crowds, and people more interested in being seen than cheering. It’s one of the most expensive tickets in hockey, and it shows. Playoff Leafs games are a completely different animal (if they ever make it deep), but regular season feels weirdly muted for a building that seats 19,000.
Raptors games, on the other hand—especially during the championship run and post-championship era—feel way more alive. The crowd is younger, louder, and more engaged. If you’re choosing between the two and you’re not a die-hard hockey fan, I’d lean toward catching a Raptors game for the atmosphere alone. The Platinum Lounge for Raptors games also feels like better value than equivalent Leafs premium seating because ticket prices are slightly more reasonable across the board.
Bars/Restaurants near Scotiabank Arena
The pre- and post-game scene clusters tightly around Maple Leaf Square and the surrounding Front Street / Esplanade blocks, which is one of the densest restaurant-and-bar pockets in the city. The undisputed anchor is Real Sports Bar & Grill at 15 York Street, steps from the arena entrance — a cavernous sports bar with a giant HD screen, 100-plus beer taps, and elevated pub food that gets absolutely slammed before Leafs and Raptors games, so arrive early or expect a wait. For something a little quieter, The Pint on Front Street and the rustic Loose Moose nearby do solid pub food and beer with more breathing room, while E11even and the arena’s own Hot Stove restaurant cover the upscale, sit-down end. Walk a few minutes north into the Esplanade or up to King West and the options multiply — the whole district is built to absorb a game-night crowd.
Hotels Near Scotiabank Arena
You’re staying in downtown Toronto, and the arena’s location is the whole advantage — most of the best hotels are a walk away, so you can have dinner, catch the game, and head back to your room without ever touching transit. Game nights and concert weekends fill rooms quickly, so book ahead for marquee events.
Closest to the action: Le Germain Hotel Toronto Maple Leaf Square is essentially attached to the arena — a polished boutique hotel right on Maple Leaf Square, two minutes from the gates, with a bar on-site for pre-game drinks. It’s the move if you want maximum convenience and don’t mind paying for it. The Fairmont Royal York, the grand old dame across from Union Station, is the classic-luxury pick with unbeatable transit access and the Hockey Hall of Fame nearby.
Solid value: Delta Hotels Toronto on Lower Simcoe is a short walk and doubles perfectly for both arena events and Blue Jays games at Rogers Centre next door. Novotel Toronto Centre on The Esplanade and the aparthotel-style One King West give you a five-to-ten-minute walk at a friendlier rate. For genuine budget, Hotel Victoria near Yonge is the best-located lower-cost option, or stay a subway stop or two out and ride Line 1 straight to Union.
Why You Should Go
Scotiabank Arena is the beating heart of Toronto sports — the only building in the city where you can catch an Original Six hockey institution and a championship NBA team under one (newly renovated) roof, dropped into a walkable downtown with transit, food, and nightlife at the door. The $350-million reinvention fixed the things that needed fixing, the sightlines are excellent from nearly everywhere, and the energy on the right night — a playoff Raptors game, a sold-out concert, Jurassic Park in full roar — is as good as live entertainment gets in Canada. Sit lower-bowl centre if you can swing it, eat the poutine, and if it’s a Leafs game, soak in the weight of all that history.
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Written by Brad Richards, Founder of Gameday Guides. This guide includes insights from personal visits as well as updated info from team sources, fan forums, and stadium policies. We aim to help you plan with confidence — enjoy your gameday.