The first NHL All-Star Game, albeit an unofficial one, was held at the Gardens in 1934 as a benefit for Leafs forward Ace Bailey, who had suffered a career-ending head injury.

W. A. Hewitt, sports editor of the Toronto Star, was hired as general manager of Maple Leaf Gardens to oversee all events other than professional hockey.

The first professional wrestling show at the Gardens was held on November 19, 1931, and attracted 15,800 people to see world champion Jim Londos in the main event.

The first world title fight in the building was on September 19, 1932, with bantamweight champion Panama Al Brown knocking out challenger Émile Pladner in the first round.

Winston Churchill addressed a large audience at the Gardens in March 1932; when the arena's loudspeaker system broke down, he tossed the microphone to one side, declared "Now that we have exhausted the resources of science, we shall fall back upon Mother Nature and do our best," and continued.

[24] On November 1, 1946, Maple Leaf Gardens was the site of the first game in the history of the Basketball Association of America (later to become the NBA), with the Toronto Huskies playing the New York Knickerbockers.

[25] Smythe became the majority owner of Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. in 1947, following a power struggle between directors who supported him as president and those who wanted him replaced with Frank J. Selke.

He found Ali's comments about the Vietnam War to be offensive and said that by accepting the fight, Gardens owners had "put cash ahead of class.

Ballard and the younger Smythe were accused in 1969 of stealing money from the corporation and avoiding income taxes by having Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. pay for many of their personal expenses.

[34] The controversy created a rift between the two and Bassett, which led to Smythe and Ballard being fired from their management positions in 1969, only to win back control the following year.

[35][36] Concert Promotions International was founded in 1973 by Bill Ballard with Michael Cohl and David Wolinksy and brought many big-name music acts to the Gardens.

The arena played host to The Rolling Thunder Revue Tour, with two consecutive shows, on December 1–2, 1975, headed by Bob Dylan.

Toronto rock trio Rush recorded a live video for their Grace Under Pressure Tour at Maple Leaf Gardens.

The show was headlined by Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band and also featured Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'Dour and k.d.

[39] In August 1979, to make room for private boxes, Ballard had his staff tear down the 48-year-old gondola from which Foster Hewitt regularly broadcast games across Canada and threw it into an incinerator.

In October 1997, Gordon Stuckless pleaded guilty to sexually abusing 24 boys dating back to 1969 and was sentenced to a jail term of two years less a day.

In January 2006, the Ontario government filed a $1.5 million lawsuit against Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd., seeking repayment of the medical costs to the province of treating the sex abuse victims.

Still, these plans were abandoned when it was discovered that the tiered arena seating was holding up the exterior walls of the building, acting as a form of interior flying buttress.

[52] Loblaw Companies, Canada's largest food retailer, purchased the Gardens in 2004 for $12 million under the condition that it not be used as a sports and entertainment facility.

Immediately, there was criticism that the conversion of the building to retail uses diminished its heritage value and that Maple Leaf Gardens should continue to serve as an arena in accordance with its rich history and traditions.

Others, however, noted the structure had been deteriorating for several years, and its ongoing use for minor league sports and events would not generate sufficient income to secure the building's preservation and restoration.

On November 30, 2009, the federal government agreed to contribute $20 million as part of a $60 million project to renovate the arena into a Loblaws grocery store and a new athletic facility for TMU, which included a fitness facility, studios, high-performance courts, and an NHL-sized ice hockey rink seating approximately 2,796 guests.

The plans involved gutting the existing interior and laying new floors for retail use at ground level, with the athletic centre located above.

However, surprisingly, a foreign team ended up scoring the job: Landini Associates, a multidisciplinary retail design and branding consultancy based in Sydney, Australia.

Speaking about the project in a 2012 interview with Monocle Magazine, Creative Director Mark Landini said: “I understood how iconic Maple Leaf Gardens was when I noticed every bar and shop in Toronto had ice hockey on TV.

[57] After many delays, including the discovery of a creek running through the basement and a time capsule behind the 1931 cornerstone on Carlton Street, the new store opened on November 30, 2011.

[60] The athletic centre construction was completed in the summer of 2012, and the ice rink became the new home for the Ryerson Rams hockey team, now known as the TMU Bold.

[65] On December 13–14, 2014, the arena was the host of two exhibition games between the Canada men's national junior ice hockey team and a team University All Stars of combined Ryerson Rams, University of Toronto Varsity Blues and York Lions players in preparation for Canada's participation in the 2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.

Mattamy Athletic Centre was chosen for the Overwatch League 2023 Grand Finals, which took place from late September to the start of October 2023.

Maple Leaf Gardens was named a National Historic Site of Canada in 2007 because it was:one of the most renowned "shrines" in the history of hockey ... the largest arena in the country when it was built, it was one of the country's foremost venues for large-scale sporting events such as boxing matches and track meets, and non-sporting events such as concerts, rallies and political gatherings, religious services and opera ... the Gardens holds a special place in the country's popular culture: here Canadians welcomed a wide range of cultural icons from the Beatles to the Metropolitan Opera, from Tim Buck to Team Canada vs. the Soviets, from Winston Churchill to the Muhammad Ali-George Chuvalo fight.The arena was also designated under the Ontario Heritage Act by the City of Toronto in 1991.