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 home games at PeoplesBank Arena until the opening of their on campus home,
Gampel Pavilion, after which games were 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 was the home of the
Connecticut Coyotes and later the
New England Sea Wolves of the
Arena Football League. The venue 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. 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.
2023 Fanatics Sports Bar Addition In September 2023, the arena (then known as the XL Center) opened the Fanatics Sports Bar and Sportsbook, a sports bar and legal sports wagering facility located within the arena. The sportsbook was constructed on the west side of the arena complex, above the venue’s loading and service docks. The venue officially opened on September 18, 2023, becoming one of the first in-arena sportsbook lounges in Connecticut.The space includes bar seating, lounge areas, large video displays for live sporting events. The facility was developed as part of a broader series of arena amenity upgrades completed in the early 2020s. Unlike the major state-funded renovation completed in 2014 and the larger modernization project undertaken in 2025, the addition of the Fanatics Sports Bar and Sportsbook was implemented as a standalone enhancement focused on improving premium hospitality offerings and fan experience.
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 with
PeoplesBank. == Historical Events ==