PeoplesBank Arena

Overview

The PeoplesBank Arena is the full-time home of the Hartford Wolf Pack AHL hockey team and part-time home of the University of Connecticut (UConn) men's and women's basketball teams and the UConn Huskies men's ice hockey team. The UConn men's basketball team has played at PeoplesBank Arena since 1976. UConn continued playing the majority of homes games at PeoplesBank Arena until the opening of their on campus home, Gampel Pavilion, after which games where split between the two arenas. The UConn men's hockey team also continues to play a package of games at PeoplesBank Arena after opening Toscano Family Ice Forum on campus.

It was the home of the New England/Hartford Whalers of the WHA and NHL from 1975 to 1978 and 1980 to 1997, and the Hartford Hellions of the MISL from 1980 to 1981, and the New England Blizzard of the ABL from 1996 to 1998, and hosted occasional Boston Celtics home games from 1975 to 1995. One of the most famous shots Larry Bird ever made, although it did not count, took place at the Hartford Civic Center: the shot from behind the backboard. 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 -end stage concerts, and contains 46 luxury suites and a 310-seat Coliseum Club, plus 25000 sqft 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. The graduation ceremonies of Central Connecticut State University and other local colleges are also held annually at the PeoplesBank Arena.

Early history and roof collapse

As originally built in 1975, 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, the Civic Center's roof collapsed. Engineering analyses during litigation following the collapse indicated that compression members were overloaded through undersizing and underestimation of the probable loadings, and that lateral bracing of individual members was insufficient. "The roof did not fail due to the heavy snow that fell on that January night. According to the official City investigation, the roof began progressive failure as soon as it had been installed. Contributing factors included design errors, an underestimation of the weight of the roof, and differences between the design and the actual built structure."

Investigations attributed the design issues to the unprecedented use of and trust in computer analysis. An absence of peer review for the novel structure and design process, and fragmentation of oversight responsibility during construction were also cited as contributing factors. Evidence showed that the roof had started to fail during construction, with bowed compression members. These distortions, and an unpredicted degree of deflection in the structure, were not investigated before the collapse. There were no injuries due to the collapse. The building was extensively renovated and re-opened on January 17, 1980.

The Civic Center hosted the Hartford Whalers from 1975 to 1997, when the team relocated to Raleigh to become the Carolina Hurricanes. In 1994, new owner Peter Karmanos pledged to keep the Whalers in Connecticut until 1998, unless they could not sell over 11,000 season tickets. After failed negotiations to build a new downtown arena for the Whalers with then-governor John G. Rowland, on March 25, 1997, Karmanos announced that the team would leave. The New York Rangers franchise, looking to capitalize on Hartford as a potential market, placed its farm team there to become the Hartford Wolf Pack, starting in 1997. After a short stint as the Connecticut Whale from 2010 to 2012, they reverted to the Wolf Pack moniker in 2013.

Renovations during the 2010's

The Civic Center was renamed the XL Center in 2007. In September 2010, the arena was upgraded with a new center-hung scoreboard with four Sony Jumbotrons and a state-of-the-art sound system. The Connecticut State Legislature set aside $35 million in funding for improvements to the XL Center that began in early spring 2014 and completed in time for the start of the 2014–15 seasons of the Wolf Pack and UConn men's hockey in October. Improvements included upgrades to the mechanical system, locker rooms and concourse, replacing jumbotrons with a new HD video board, as well as aesthetic improvements such as a new bar area inside the arena and luxury seating in the lower bowl. A portion of the $35 million allocation went towards a study on the arena's long-term viability; either more major renovations or replacing it with a new facility.

2025 overhaul and new name

The arena underwent a $145 million overhaul, including upgraded seating in the lower bowl, loge seating, concourse upgrades, an event level club, bunker suites, and back of the house upgrades, including an artists’ lounge, kitchen, and an upgraded locker room space for UConn. The arena was closed during renovations over the summer of 2025 and re-opened for a Wolf Pack game on October 17, 2025. On June 2, 2025, the XL Center was officially renamed PeoplesBank Arena as part of a 10-year naming partnership.

Historical Events

NHL

• The 1986 NHL All Star Game
• The 1994 NHL Entry Draft

College Basketball

• The 1977 ECAC New England Region tournament took place at the Hartford Civic Center on March 3 and 5, 1977
• The 2015 and 2017 American Athletic Conference men's basketball tournament
• The 1982 Big East Conference and 1988–1990 America East Conference men's basketball tournaments
• The PeoplesBank Arena has hosted the NCAA Men's Tournament first and second round 6 times in 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1998, 2019
• The PeoplesBank Arena has hosted the NCAA Women's Tournament first and second rounds in 2007 and the East Regional Final in 2004
• The Big East Conference Women's basketball tournament was held from 2004 to 2013.

Concerts

• Rock group the Grateful Dead performed at the arena 18 times. Several concerts were released in entirety on the live albums To Terrapin: Hartford '77, Dick's Picks Volume 6, Spring 1990 (The Other One), and Spring 1990 (album).

Gymnastics

• The arena hosted the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions in 2016.
• The Arena hosted the 2024 Core Hydration Classic Women's Gymnastics Meet in May 2024 in the lead up to the 2024 Paris Olympics
• The Arena hosted the 1980 USGF International Invitational, a replacement Gymnastics event for countries that participated in the 1980 US Olympic Boycott alongside the Liberty Bell Classic a track and field event in Philadelphia.

Other

• The 1977 WHA All-Star Game
• The PBR (Professional Bull Riders) made their first-ever visit to the PeoplesBank Arena for a Built Ford Tough Series (now known as the Unleash the Beast Series) event the weekend of October 7–9, 2011.
• The arena has hosted many professional wrestling events; including the 1990 Survivor Series (which saw the debut of popular wrestling legend The Undertaker), WrestleMania XI, 2000 No Way Out, 2004 Vengeance, and 2019 Money in the Bank. All Elite Wrestling's AEW Collision July 29, 2023, episode.

Boston Celtics

International Women's basketball games

International hockey games

UConn Huskies

The PeoplesBank Arena serves as the second home for the University of Connecticut's men's and women's basketball programs. At the start of the 2014–15 season the UConn men's ice hockey program moved to the XL Center as a condition of its joining Hockey East. In September 2018, the UConn Board of Trustees approved a plan to build a new 2,500-seat arena in Storrs with the option to expand to 3,500 seats if necessary. Though Hockey East requires arenas to hold at least 4,000, UConn received a waiver for the project since the expectation is for the Huskies' men's hockey program to continue to play some of its games at the XL Center in Hartford.

UConn Hockey attendance records

Exhibition center and Mall

The Exhibition Center consisted of a 68855 sqft exhibit hall, a 16080 sqft assembly hall that could divide into two meeting rooms, plus seven meeting rooms totaling 7390 sqft and two lobbies totaling 6100 sqft. It was used for trade shows, conventions, banquets, meetings and other events.

The surrounding shopping mall was demolished 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.

As part of the 2025 Renovation the Exhibition center- made obsolete by the 2005 construction of the Connecticut Convention Center- was converted to office space to free up room for the new event level clubs, suites, and new locker rooms.

Transportation

The arena is serviced by CT Transit local city routes 60, 62, 64, 66, 72, 74, and 76; CT Fastrak routes 101, 102, and 128; and CT Transit express routes 902, 909, 923, and 928.

It is also a ten minute walk from Hartford Union Station, allowing for train service from New Haven or Springfield.

References

Notes

References

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