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Bell Centre (French: Centre Bell), formerly known as Molson Centre, is a multi-purpose arena located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Opened on March 16, 1996, it is the home arena of the Montreal Canadiens of the National Hockey League (NHL), replacing Montreal Forum and it is the largest indoor arena in Canada. It is owned by the Molson family via the team's ownership group Groupe CH, and managed via Groupe CH subsidiary Evenko.
With a seating capacity of 21,105 in its hockey configuration, Bell Centre is the second largest ice hockey arena in the world after the SKA Arena in St. Petersburg, Russia. Alongside hockey, Bell Centre has hosted major concerts, and occasional mixed martial arts and professional wrestling events. Since it opened in 1996, it has consistently been listed as one of the world's busiest arenas, usually receiving the highest attendance of any arena in Canada. In 2012, it was the fifth-busiest arena in the world based on ticket sales for non-sporting events.
On October 14, 2015, it was announced that Bell Centre would undergo renovations, including the replacement of all the seats, renovated hallways and concessions, new restaurants, public Wi-Fi, and the planned conversion of Avenue des Canadiens-de-Montréal (the section of De la Gauchetière Street on which the arena is situated) into a pedestrian-only street. The renovations, which were not expected to interfere with normal operations, have a budget of $100 million.
Capacities of the arena from highest to lowest are:
A new scoreboard was installed prior of the 2008–09 season. This scoreboard consisted of four video panels. It was the biggest in the NHL until 2012.
It is one of only two NHL arenas that uses an old-style siren to mark the end of periods instead of a horn; the other being the TD Garden in Boston Bruins. The sirens were inherited from the arenas' predecessor facilities, coming from the disused Montreal Forum and the Boston Garden respectively.
Bell Centre is arranged in a three-tier layout: The lower 100 section, commonly referred to as "the reds" since these seats are coloured red; the 200 section situated between the two levels of private and corporate boxes, known as "Club Desjardins Group" (which features premium amenities such as larger seats and free food and non-alcoholic drinks), and the upper 300–400 section.
The 300–400 section is divided into three zones by seat colour: white section rows AA–FF, the grey section rows A–D, and the blue section, labelled "400," and consisting of rows A–D. The ends of the 400 section are further divided into two more groups. At the end where the Canadiens shoot towards twice is the Coors Light Zone, featuring section cheerleaders and a band playing in the hallway. At the opposite end is the Family Zone, which features child-specific ticket prices and limited alcohol.
Seats behind the press gondola, in Sections 318, 319, and 320, feature their own scoreboards on the back of the gondola due to the normal scoreboard being blocked.
The singer who has performed the most times at the Bell Centre is Céline Dion with 50 performances between 1996 and 2020 from her tour in 1996 and 1997, Let's Talk About Love World Tour in 1998 and 1999, Taking Chances World Tour in 2008 and 2009, Summer Tour 2016 in 2016 and Courage World Tour in 2019 and 2020. On December 31, 1999, she performed the final show of the Let's Talk About Love World Tour, which was her last performance before a three-year hiatus from the music industry.
In August 1999, the third national tour of Les Misérables visited for a 12-day run. Robert Marien, who originated the role of Jean Valjean in Paris in 1980, as well as in the bilingual Canadian tour which started in Montreal in 1991, joined the cast exclusively for the Montreal stop.
Montreal Canadiens home games have been consistently sold out since October 2005. Additionally, the Canadiens have one of the top attendance figures in the NHL. For the 2009–2010 season, the Habs had the highest attendance played at their home arena. NHL attendance All 21,273 seats were sold in 45 minutes on May 12, 2010, for fans to watch Game 7 of the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs against the Pittsburgh Penguins, which was shown on the big screens. Noise levels in the arena allegedly reached as high as 115 dB when goals were scored by the Canadiens, but most notably, during Game #6 on May 10, 2010, making the loudest NHL arena of all time.
On December 9, 2014, the Canadiens hosted the Vancouver Canucks, the first home game since the death of Jean Béliveau. The game was preceded by a memorial tribute to him. Bell Centre remained sold-out that night with 21,286 fans in attendance and one empty seat left for Jean Béliveau, with the official attendance shortened by one to honour him.
Bell Centre hosted its first Stanley Cup Finals in 2021, with Game 3 and 4 against the defending champion Tampa Bay Lightning played inside the arena. The Canadiens were allowed to have 2,500 fans during the first and second round, then 3,500 for the semifinals and the Stanley Cup Finals due to Quebec government public health restrictions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, although multiple sources stated that the limit was exceded. The Canadiens had hoped to further increase their arena capacity limit to 50% of the arena's total capacity for the Stanley Cup Finals, however that request was denied by the Quebec government. While the arena's capacity was limited during the playoffs, thousands more fans gathered outside the arena to watch the games on a TV screen outside of the La Cage sports bar situated adjacent to the Bell Centre.
From September 26th to October 8th, 2021, 7,500 fans were allowed at Bell Centre for the pre-season games, and for the opening night on October 16, the Quebec government made new rules and stated that the Canadiens could return to its full capacity of 21,105 people.
On April 20, 2024, the Bell Centre hosted its first home game for the new club named Montreal Victoire of the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), a match against the Toronto Sceptres that was marketed as the "Duel at the Top", reflecting the two teams' position atop the league standings at the time. The sellout crowd of 21,105 set a new attendance record for a women's hockey game. The PWHL returned to the Bell Centre on March 1, 2025 between the Montreal Victoire and the Boston Fleet.
The Bell Centre was one of two host venues for the NHL 4 Nations Face-Off in February 2025, alongside TD Garden in Boston. The first four round robin games were played at the Bell Centre, featuring national teams representing the United States, Canada, Sweden and Finland.
During Survivor Series 1997, Bell Centre was the site of the infamous "Montreal Screwjob"—a match where Calgary-native Bret Hart controversially lost the WWE Championship to his rival Shawn Michaels. Hart had signed a contract to leave WWF for the rival World Championship Wrestling (WCW) the following month, and did not want to lose a championship match to Michaels in his own country. The original plan was for the match to end by disqualification after a brawl between the wrestlers' allies, which would have allowed Hart to lose or vacate the championship at a later date before leaving the promotion. However, WWF owner Vince McMahon Screwjob, and had the referee declare a Michaels victory by submission after performing a Sharpshooter on Hart, even though he had not actually submitted. Wrestling writer Mike Johnson considered the match to be "arguably the most talked-about match in the history of professional wrestling". Eight years later, in the same venue, Michaels cut his infamous "Who's your daddy, Montreal?" heel promo in the lead-up to his impending match with Hulk Hogan at SummerSlam 2005, where he referenced the Screwjob during his promo, receiving plenty of heat from the Montreal fans.
Brock Lesnar made his televised WWE debut at Bell Centre on the March 18, 2002 Raw after WrestleMania X8 in Toronto, interfering in the Hardcore match that was taking place between Maven and Al Snow. A wall on the concourse of the arena depicting iconic events that took place inside the arena includes Lesnar's debut among others.
In December 2023, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) made its Montreal debut, with broadcasts of AEW Collision and AEW Dynamite.
| Montreal Canadiens retired numbers |
| October 7, 1995 |
| October 26, 1985 |
| December 4, 2009 |
| October 9, 1971 |
| March 11, 2006 |
| November 8, 2014 |
| November 2, 1937 |
| October 6, 1960 |
| February 16, 1985 |
| November 12, 2005 |
| November 12, 2005 |
| December 10, 1975 |
| December 4, 2009 |
| November 18, 2006 |
| November 19, 2007 |
| February 23, 2008 |
| January 29, 2007 |
| November 22, 2008 |
While Elmer Lach and Henri Richard both wore the number 16, they were given separate ceremonies unlike Cournoyer and Moore. All have their own banner.
On October 18, 2005, the Canadiens also raised the following numbers on a single banner in honour of the former MLB team Montreal Expos, who left the city for Washington, D.C. after the 2004 season:
The only other banners hanging from the rafters at the arena are those of the Canadiens' Stanley Cup championship banners. Unlike other NHL arenas, the Canadiens do not display division or conference championship banners.
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