Fiercely supportive of their sports teams, Winnipeggers turn out in droves to watch their baseball team, the Goldeyes, at its home ballpark, Canwest Global Park near The Forks. The MTS Centre, the indoor arena downtown that houses the AAA Manitoba Moose hockey team, is locally dubbed the Phone Booth (after sponsor Manitoba Telecom Services). The center seats 15,000 comfortably and is said to be one of the busiest such venues in the country, hosting events that range from big truck pulls to major rock concerts.
Winnipeg's CFL Blue Bomber team may perform sporadically, but fans in this city are "True Blue" loyal, and a home game there can be one noisy event if the team's losing. When it's Winnipeg's turn to host the annual Grey Cup (the national football championship), temporary seats are added to top the stadium's 22,000-seat capacity to 40,000—and, to the city's pride, every seat is filled. A new stadium is in the works for the Bombers and likely to be in place for the 2009 football season.
College-level teams at the University of Manitoba and University of Winnipeg flesh out local spectator sports with hockey, football, soccer and volleyball teams. (The University of Winnipeg routinely turns out Olympic-level female volleyball players.) The University of Manitoba Bisons have been college football champions and won the Vanier Cup in 2007.
