page_title: Winnipeg
section_title: Sports
hierarchical_section_title: Winnipeg / Culture / Sports
caption_attribution_description: English: MTS Centre
context_page_description: Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America.
  The city is named after the nearby Lake Winnipeg; the name comes from the Western Cree words for muddy water. The region was a trading centre for Indigenous peoples long before the arrival of Europeans. French traders built the first fort on the site in 1738. A settlement was later founded by the Selkirk settlers of the Red River Colony in 1812, the nucleus of which was incorporated as the City of Winnipeg in 1873. As of 2016, Winnipeg is the seventh-most populated municipality in Canada, with a resident population of about 778,500. Being far inland, the local climate is extremely seasonal even by Canadian standards with average January lows of around −21 °C and average July highs of 26 °C.
  Known as the "Gateway to the West", Winnipeg is a railway and transportation hub with a diversified economy.
context_section_description: Winnipeg has been home to several professional hockey teams. The Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League (NHL) have called the city home since 2011. The original Winnipeg Jets, the city's former NHL team, left for Phoenix, Arizona after the 1995–96 season due to mounting financial troubles, despite a campaign effort to "Save the Jets". The Jets play at Bell MTS Place, which is ranked the world's 19th-busiest arena among non-sporting touring events, 13th-busiest among facilities in North America, and 3rd-busiest in Canada as of 2009. 
  Past hockey teams based in Winnipeg include the Winnipeg Maroons, Winnipeg Warriors, three time Stanley Cup Champion Winnipeg Victorias and the Winnipeg Falcons, who were the first ever Gold Medal Olympians, representing Canada in 1920 in Antwerp, Belgium. Another professional ice hockey team in Winnipeg is the Manitoba Moose, the American Hockey League primary affiliate of the Winnipeg Jets that are owned by the same group . In amateur hockey, the Winnipeg Blues of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League play out of the Bell MTS Iceplex. On the international stage, Winnipeg has hosted national and world hockey championships on a number of occasions, most notably the 1999 World Junior Hockey Championship and 2007 Women's World Hockey Championship. In 2019, the Western Hockey League returned to Winnipeg after a long absence with the Kootenay Ice relocating as the Winnipeg Ice.
  The Winnipeg Blue Bombers play in the Canadian Football League. They are eleven-time Grey Cup champions, their last championship in 2019. From 1953 to 2012, the Blue Bombers called Canad Inns Stadium home; they have since moved to IG Field. Due to construction delays and cost overruns, the stadium was not ready for the 2012 CFL season, instead opening in 2013. The $200-million facility is also the home to U Sports' University of Manitoba Bisons and the Winnipeg Rifles of the Canadian Junior Football League.
  The University of Manitoba Bisons and the University of Winnipeg Wesmen represent the city in university-level sports. In soccer, it is represented by both Valour FC in the new Canadian Premier League and WSA Winnipeg in the USL League Two.
  Winnipeg has been home to several professional baseball teams, most recently the Winnipeg Goldeyes since 1994. The Goldeyes play at Shaw Park, which was completed in 1999. The team had led the Northern League for ten straight years in average attendance through 2010, with more than 300,000 annual fan visits, until the league collapsed and merged into the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball.
  Winnipeg was the first Canadian city to host the Pan American Games, and the second city to host the event twice, in 1967 and again in 1999. The Pan Am Pool, built for the 1967 Pan Am Games, hosts aquatic events, including diving, speed swimming, synchronized swimming and water polo. Winnipeg co-hosted the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
caption: Bell MTS Place is an indoor arena in downtown Winnipeg. It is the home arena of the NHL's Winnipeg Jets and the AHL's Manitoba Moose.
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