The city is known for the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League, a team with passionate support in the city, and the most financially successful sports franchise in the country. The team built Maple Leaf Gardens, a sporting venue which served as the home arena for the Maple Leafs, and was also used for cultural and other events. Since 1999, they have played in the Scotiabank Arena (initially referred to as the Air Canada Centre). The team's roots stretch back to the Toronto Blueshirts of the National Hockey Association, the predecessor to the NHL. The NHA was founded in 1909 without any teams from Toronto. In 1911, the Arena Gardens was being built and Ambrose O'Brien, who had operated four NHA franchises but decided to get out of the business, sold two of his franchises to Toronto-based groups. The Toronto Hockey Club purchased one, which would become known as the Blueshirts, and a second was sold to a group affiliated with the Tecumseh Lacrosse Club for $500 cash and promissory notes for $2,000 which would be called the Toronto Tecumsehs. They were scheduled to begin play in the 1911–12 season, but construction delays led to the two Toronto teams being dropped from the schedule and they instead began play in 1912–13.