PeoplesBank Arena


The PeoplesBank Arena is a multi-purpose arena and convention center located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. Owned by the City of Hartford, it is managed by the quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority under a lease with the city and operated by OVG. The arena is ranked the 28th largest among college basketball arenas. It opened in 1975 as the Hartford Civic Center and was originally located adjacent to Civic Center Mall, which was demolished in 2004. It consists of two facilities: the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the Exhibition Center. In December 2007, the center was renamed when the arena's naming rights were sold to XL Group insurance company in a six-year agreement. This agreement was extended and lasted until 2025 when the arena was renamed as part of an agreement with PeoplesBank.
On March 21, 2007, the CRDA selected the Northland/Anschutz Entertainment Group proposal to operate the arena complex; Northland also developed the Hartford 21 residential tower on the adjacent Civic Center Mall site. The agreement also stated that Northland would assume total responsibility for the building bearing the cost of any and all losses, and would retain any profits. In 2012, the CRDA put the contract out to bid with hopes of combining the operations with Rentschler Field. In February 2013, Global Spectrum of Philadelphia was chosen to take over both the XL Center and Rentschler Field with Ovations Food Services taking over all food and beverage operations.

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 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 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

YearsCapacity
1975–197911,000
1979–198715,134
1987–198916,016
1989–201416,294
2014–202315,564
2023–202515,684
2025–present15,495

YearsCapacity
1975–197910,507
1979–198014,460
1980–198214,510
1983–198514,817
1985–198715,126
1987–198915,223
1989–201415,635
2014–present14,750

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.