Hartford Civic Center
Encyclopedia
The XL Center, formerly known as the Hartford Civic Center, is a multi-purpose arena
and convention center
located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut
, USA. It is owned by the City of Hartford and operated by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) under contract with the Connecticut Development Authority (CDA). In December 2007, the Center was renamed when the arena's naming rights were sold to XL Capital insurance company in a 6-year agreement. The arena is ranked the 28th largest among college basketball arenas. Opened in 1974 as the Hartford Civic Center and originally located adjacent to a shopping mall (Civic Center Mall, which was demolished in 2004), it consists of two facilities: the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the Exhibition Center.
On March 21, 2007, the CDA selected the Northland/Anschutz Entertainment Group
proposal. It was revealed that Northland will assume total responsibility for the building paying for any and all losses, and will keep any profits.
The Coliseum is the full-time home of the Connecticut Whale AHL hockey team and part-time home of the University of Connecticut
men's and women's basketball teams. It was the home of the New England/Hartford Whalers
of the WHA
and NHL
from 1975–1978 and 1980–1997, and the Hartford Hellions
of the MISL from 1980-1981, and the New England Blizzard
of the ABL
from 1996–1998, and hosted occasional Boston Celtics
home games from 1975-1995. It was the home of the Connecticut Coyotes
and later the New England Sea Wolves of the Arena Football League. The arena seats 15,635 for ice hockey
and 16,294 for basketball
, 16,606 for center-stage concerts, 16,282 for end-stage concerts, and 8,239 for 3/4-end stage concerts, and contains 46 luxury suites and a 310-seat Coliseum Club, plus 25000 square feet (2,322.6 m²) of arena floor space, enabling it to be used for trade shows and conventions in addition to concerts, circuses, ice shows, sporting events and other events.
As originally built in 1973, it seated 10,507 for hockey, and served as the home of the then-New England Whalers for three years. In the early morning of January 18, 1978, just hours after the University of Connecticut Men's Basketball team defeated the University of Massachusetts, the weight of snow from the day's heavy snowstorm caused the Civic Center roof to collapse. There were no injuries. The building was heavily renovated and re-opened January 17, 1980.
The XL Center has held many notable events including:
The surrounding shopping mall was torn down in 2004 and was replaced by street-level retail shops and a 36-story residential tower named Hartford 21 which opened in 2006 and is the tallest residential tower between New York City and Boston.
and move them to a new Hartford arena, but the Lemieux Group was reluctant to sell. The Penguins bid was officially off the table in March 2007, when the team announced that they were beginning construction on a new arena and that they signed a 30-year deal with the city of Pittsburgh to keep the team there well into the future. Penguins owner Mario Lemieux
claimed at the arena's ground-breaking ceremony that relocating the franchise was never a possibility, but instead it was a negotiation tactic to help the team get funding for the arena from both state and local officials.
After the Pittsburgh bid fell through, Gottesdiener made another bid for the Nashville Predators
franchise with the hope of bringing them to Hartford. That bid was lost in August 2007, as the Predators ownership ultimately decided to sell to a local holding company that would keep the team in Nashville.
Since that time, Mayor Eddie Pérez
and former House Speaker James Amann
continued to investigate the feasibility of a new downtown arena, with Mayor Perez making statements to tear down the XL Center and replace it with the new arena as recently as March 2008. The current lease for the XL Center runs until 2013. After that, the facility must be turned over to the city of Hartford. By that point, the city wants to decide whether the building can be refurbished or if it has enough financial support to build a new arena. Mayor Eddie Perez met with a newly formed task force of city business leaders to determine the benefits of building a new arena. "In order to consider the new arena, we have to find out where the corporate support is for a new arena and that's the charge I gave the task force," Perez said. "My hope is that by late September of this year, they can give me an idea where the corporate support would be and how we can go about organizing that support. "The mayor said that he feels the city needs a new arena to attract more events and possibly a professional sports franchise. "For a region to survive, you need a dynamic urban center and entertainment is part of a dynamic urban center," said Oz Griebel of the Metro Hartford Alliance. "If you're going to offer entertainment venues, whether they be basketball games, hockey games, rodeos, concerts, you have to have a venue that people are going to want to come to." Perez said he thinks a new arena could bring about 1,500 new jobs to the city. Early in 2010, Howard Baldwin
, the former owner of the Whalers, moved back to Connecticut and formed Whalers Sports and Entertainment in an attempt to grow interest in hockey and the NHL in Connecticut. These efforts may lead to the building a state-of-the-art arena as a replacement for the aging XL Center. http://www.whalerssports.com
In November 2011, Howard Baldwin announced a $105 Million proposal to renovate the XL Center as a part of an effort to improve attendance at current minor hockey and college basketball games and improve Hartford's chances at attracting a new NHL hockey team.
Arena
An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
and convention center
Convention center
A convention center is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typically offer sufficient floor area to accommodate several thousand attendees...
located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
, USA. It is owned by the City of Hartford and operated by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) under contract with the Connecticut Development Authority (CDA). In December 2007, the Center was renamed when the arena's naming rights were sold to XL Capital insurance company in a 6-year agreement. The arena is ranked the 28th largest among college basketball arenas. Opened in 1974 as the Hartford Civic Center and originally located adjacent to a shopping mall (Civic Center Mall, which was demolished in 2004), it consists of two facilities: the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the Exhibition Center.
On March 21, 2007, the CDA selected the Northland/Anschutz Entertainment Group
Anschutz Entertainment Group
The Anschutz Entertainment Group is a sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports events, the owner of the world’s most profitable sports and entertainment venues, and under AEG Live the world's...
proposal. It was revealed that Northland will assume total responsibility for the building paying for any and all losses, and will keep any profits.
The Veterans Memorial Coliseum
University of Connecticut
The admission rate to the University of Connecticut is about 50% and has been steadily decreasing, with about 28,000 prospective students applying for admission to the freshman class in recent years. Approximately 40,000 prospective students tour the main campus in Storrs annually...
men's and women's basketball teams. It was the home of the New England/Hartford Whalers
Hartford Whalers
The Hartford Whalers were a professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut, U.S.A.. The club played in the World Hockey Association from 1972–79 and in the National Hockey League from 1979–97...
of the WHA
World Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major competition for the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League in 1926...
and NHL
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...
from 1975–1978 and 1980–1997, and the Hartford Hellions
Hartford Hellions
The Hartford Hellions were a soccer team based out of Hartford, Connecticut that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League. They played from 1979 to 1981. The Hellions played their first season in the New Haven Coliseum before moving to the remodelled Hartford Civic Center.In May 1981, Athletes in...
of the MISL from 1980-1981, and the New England Blizzard
New England Blizzard
The New England Blizzard was a women's professional basketball franchise based in Hartford, Connecticut. The Blizzard was a charter member of the American Basketball League...
of the ABL
American Basketball League (1996-1998)
The American Basketball League, often abbreviated to the ABL of 1996 was an independent professional basketball league for women in the United States. At the same time the ABL was being formed, the National Basketball Association was creating the Women's National Basketball Association...
from 1996–1998, and hosted occasional Boston Celtics
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics are a National Basketball Association team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1946, the team is currently owned by Boston Basketball Partners LLC. The Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which...
home games from 1975-1995. It was the home of the Connecticut Coyotes
Connecticut Coyotes
The Connecticut Coyotes were a franchise in the Arena Football League.-History:They competed in the 1995 and 1996 AFL seasons. They played their home games at the Hartford Civic Center....
and later the New England Sea Wolves of the Arena Football League. The arena seats 15,635 for ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
and 16,294 for basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, 16,606 for center-stage concerts, 16,282 for end-stage concerts, and 8,239 for 3/4-end stage concerts, and contains 46 luxury suites and a 310-seat Coliseum Club, plus 25000 square feet (2,322.6 m²) of arena floor space, enabling it to be used for trade shows and conventions in addition to concerts, circuses, ice shows, sporting events and other events.
History and collapse
Current arena
In September of 2010, the arena was upgraded with a new center-hung scoreboard with four Sony Jumbotrons and a state-of-the-art sound system.The XL Center has held many notable events including:
- The 1986 NHL All-Star Game, was played in the Hartford Civic Center.
- The 1994 NHL Entry Draft1994 NHL Entry DraftThe 1994 NHL Entry Draft was held at the Hartford Civic Center on June 28–29, 1994.-Selections by round:Club teams are located in North America unless otherwise noted.-Round one:-Round two:-Round three:-Round four:...
, was held in the Civic Center. - The 1982 Big East ConferenceBig East ConferenceThe Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...
and 1988–1990 America East ConferenceAmerica East ConferenceThe America East Conference is a NCAA Division I college athletic conference whose members are located mainly in the northeastern United States. The conference was known as the ECAC North from 1979 to 1988 and the North Atlantic Conference from the fall semester of 1988 to the end of the spring...
men's basketball tournaments were also here, as well as occasional games of the UConn HuskiesConnecticut HuskiesThe Connecticut Huskies, also known as the UConn Huskies, are the athletic teams of the University of Connecticut in the United States. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I and the Big East Conference for all sports except Men's Ice Hockey and Women's Ice...
men's basketball teamConnecticut Huskies men's basketballThe Connecticut Huskies is the name of the men's college basketball team representing the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, Connecticut, USA. The program is classified in the NCAA's Division I, and the team competes in the Big East Conference...
. - The Big East ConferenceBig East ConferenceThe Big East Conference is a collegiate athletics conference consisting of sixteen universities in the eastern half of the United States. The conference's 17 members participate in 24 NCAA sports...
women's basketball tournament is contracted to the coliseum through 2009, and it has hosted multiple NCAA women's basketball sub-regionals and regionals. - The building was the host of the 1986 NHL All-Star Game as well as hosting Games 1, 2, and 5 of the 2000 Calder Cup Finals2000 Calder Cup PlayoffsThe 2000 Calder Cup Playoffs of the American Hockey League began on April 11, 2000. The sixteen teams that qualified, eight from each conference, played best-of-5 series for division semifinals and best-of-7 series for division finals and conference finals. The conference champions played a...
, won by the Hartford Wolf PackHartford Wolf PackThe Connecticut Whale is a professional ice hockey team based in Hartford, Connecticut. They play in the American Hockey League . They play their home games at the XL Center....
of the American Hockey LeagueAmerican Hockey LeagueThe American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...
. - WrestleMania XIWrestleMania XIWrestleMania XI was the eleventh annual WrestleMania pay-per-view event held by the World Wrestling Federation at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut on April 2, 1995...
was held here, as were Survivor Series 1990Survivor Series (1990)Survivor Series was the fourth annual Survivor Series pay-per-view professional wrestling event produced by the World Wrestling Federation...
, No Way Out 2000No Way Out (2000)No Way Out was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation , which took place on February 27, 2000 at the Hartford Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut...
and Vengeance 2004Vengeance (2004)Vengeance was the fourth annual Vengeance professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by American promotion, World Wrestling Entertainment...
. It will also hold Elimination Chamber 2012WWE Elimination ChamberElimination Chamber was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment , which took place on February 21, 2010 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. It was the first Elimination Chamber event...
on February 19, 2012. - Senator Barack ObamaBarack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
's rally that drew 15,000 people to the arena on February 4, 2008, the day before the Connecticut Democratic Presidential Primary. - The PBR (Professional Bull Riders) will make their first-ever visit to the XL Center for a Built Ford Tough SeriesBuilt Ford Tough SeriesThe Built Ford Tough Series is the "major league" tour of the PBR competitions. It is a 30-city event series culminating in the PBR World Finals every year in Las Vegas, Nevada. The top 45 riders of the PBR compete in the BFTS with the rankings determined by points and money won...
event the weekend of October 7-9, 2011.
Exhibition center
The Exhibition Center consists of a 68855 square feet (6,397 m²) exhibit hall, a 16080 square feet (1,494 m²) assembly hall that can divide into two meeting rooms, plus seven meeting rooms totaling 7390 square feet (687 m²) and two lobbies totaling 6100 square feet (566.7 m²). It is used for trade shows, conventions, banquets, meetings and other events.The surrounding shopping mall was torn down in 2004 and was replaced by street-level retail shops and a 36-story residential tower named Hartford 21 which opened in 2006 and is the tallest residential tower between New York City and Boston.
Possible new arena
With the XL Center approaching its 40th birthday, leaders in Hartford have been considering whether it should be replaced with a new facility. In 2006, developer Lawrence Gottesdiener began lobbying to buy the Pittsburgh PenguinsPittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League . The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the first expansion teams during the league's original...
and move them to a new Hartford arena, but the Lemieux Group was reluctant to sell. The Penguins bid was officially off the table in March 2007, when the team announced that they were beginning construction on a new arena and that they signed a 30-year deal with the city of Pittsburgh to keep the team there well into the future. Penguins owner Mario Lemieux
Mario Lemieux
Mario Lemieux, OC, CQ is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. He is acknowledged to be one of the best players of all time. He played 17 seasons as a forward for the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League between 1984 and 2006...
claimed at the arena's ground-breaking ceremony that relocating the franchise was never a possibility, but instead it was a negotiation tactic to help the team get funding for the arena from both state and local officials.
After the Pittsburgh bid fell through, Gottesdiener made another bid for the Nashville Predators
Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League...
franchise with the hope of bringing them to Hartford. That bid was lost in August 2007, as the Predators ownership ultimately decided to sell to a local holding company that would keep the team in Nashville.
Since that time, Mayor Eddie Pérez
Eddie Pérez (politician)
Eduardo Alberto "Eddie" Perez is a politician of Puerto Rican origin and former Mayor of Hartford, Connecticut. Prior to entering politics, Perez worked as a community activist...
and former House Speaker James Amann
James Amann
James A. Amann is a former Connecticut State Representative. He was a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives and represented the 118th Assembly District, which includes part of Milford, Connecticut.-Career:...
continued to investigate the feasibility of a new downtown arena, with Mayor Perez making statements to tear down the XL Center and replace it with the new arena as recently as March 2008. The current lease for the XL Center runs until 2013. After that, the facility must be turned over to the city of Hartford. By that point, the city wants to decide whether the building can be refurbished or if it has enough financial support to build a new arena. Mayor Eddie Perez met with a newly formed task force of city business leaders to determine the benefits of building a new arena. "In order to consider the new arena, we have to find out where the corporate support is for a new arena and that's the charge I gave the task force," Perez said. "My hope is that by late September of this year, they can give me an idea where the corporate support would be and how we can go about organizing that support. "The mayor said that he feels the city needs a new arena to attract more events and possibly a professional sports franchise. "For a region to survive, you need a dynamic urban center and entertainment is part of a dynamic urban center," said Oz Griebel of the Metro Hartford Alliance. "If you're going to offer entertainment venues, whether they be basketball games, hockey games, rodeos, concerts, you have to have a venue that people are going to want to come to." Perez said he thinks a new arena could bring about 1,500 new jobs to the city. Early in 2010, Howard Baldwin
Howard Baldwin
Howard Baldwin is an American entrepreneur and film producer. He is the CEO of Baldwin Entertainment, which has produced films such as the Academy Award-nominated Ray. Baldwin founded the New England Whalers ice hockey franchise in the WHA and has also owned part of the Minnesota North Stars and...
, the former owner of the Whalers, moved back to Connecticut and formed Whalers Sports and Entertainment in an attempt to grow interest in hockey and the NHL in Connecticut. These efforts may lead to the building a state-of-the-art arena as a replacement for the aging XL Center. http://www.whalerssports.com
In November 2011, Howard Baldwin announced a $105 Million proposal to renovate the XL Center as a part of an effort to improve attendance at current minor hockey and college basketball games and improve Hartford's chances at attracting a new NHL hockey team.