SaskTel Centre SaskTel Centre , formerly known as Credit Union Centre ( 2004 - 14 ) Saskatchewan Place or SaskPlace ( 1988 - 2004 ) , is an arena located in Saskatoon , Saskatchewan , Canada . Situated near the city ' s northern entrance , the facility opened in February , 1988 with a seating capacity of around 7 , 800 . It was expanded to 11 , 330 for the 1991 World Junior Championship . It currently can seat around 11 , 330 for hockey games and 13 , 000 for concerts . It is the home venue of the Saskatoon Blades hockey team . It has free parking on site with parking space for 4 , 000 cars on its property . For most publicly attended events , transit service is offered from downtown . For high attendance events extra transit links are offered from shopping centres and other locations . In September 2008 , it was announced that 2 , 981 seats would be added to the open west - end of the stadium , bringing the total capacity to 14 , 311 . As well , 1 , 000 temporary seats will be added for the 2010 World Junior Hockey Championships . Early proposals . SaskPlace was constructed as a replacement for the Saskatoon Arena , a concrete building constructed in Saskatoon ' s downtown core in the 1930s , and which was in use until 1988 , hosting its final hockey game only a week before SaskPlace opened . Nicknamed " The Barn " , the facility had outlived its usefulness some 20 years earlier and had become infamous for leaky roofs and substandard amenities , yet Saskatonians were hesitant to lose the landmark and a number of years passed between the 1970s proposal to replace the structure and the eventual demolition of the Arena and the opening of SaskPlace . In 1982 , Bill Hunter , a local sports promoter , attempted to purchase the St . Louis Blues NHL team and bring it to Saskatoon . Part of his plan included building an 18 , 000 - seat arena . Two locations were suggested : the site of a decommissioned power plant downtown , just west of the then - present Saskatoon Arena , and another site east of the city ' s airport . Despite Hunter ' s best efforts , the NHL rejected his offer and Hunter ' s plans to relocate an NHL team and build a new arena collapsed . The site eventually chosen for SaskPlace / Credit Union Centre was initially , and still is , unpopular with some Saskatoon residents . Situated in a remote industrial park at the north end of the city , accessible only via highways , SaskPlace was accused of being too inconvenient for seniors and people of limited transportation to access , as opposed to the original downtown arena site which was close to most bus routes . The city ' s original plan was to relocate Saskatoon ' s exhibition grounds alongside SaskPlace as well , but this proposal was defeated in a civic plebiscite following public protest over access and safety concerns . Plans to build interchanges on the two major access routes into the facility were announced soon after the arena opened , but ( as of 2008 ) construction has yet to occur . However , in the past twenty years , the city has grown to the north , so that while at the time of its construction there wasn ' t anything around the arena , it is now surrounded by other buildings . In the early 2000s , Saunders Avenue , which is a street leading into the parking lot of Credit Union Centre , was renamed Bill Hunter Avenue in honour of Bill Hunter , who died in 2002 . This was considered ironic by many Saskatonians , given Hunter lobbied for the facility to be built in another location . The city then transferred the ' Saunders ' name to a new street in the River Landing redevelopment area — running through the former site of the Saskatoon Arena . Expansion . There are 2 , 981 seats being added to the upper deck at the west end of the arena . The capacity of the arena will place maximum attendance at more than 15 , 000 . The 2010 World Junior hockey championships will be held here , as well as numerous concerts . The cost of the expansion is pegged at C $ 6 . 7 M . C $ 2 M will be requested in a loan from the city of Saskatoon and C $ 3 M is to be finalized from a provincial grant . Hockey Canada may also contribute about C $ 500 , 000 . The expansion will also include extra washrooms and concessions .