In the end, the city chose a more immediate solution. The renovations followed years of discussion about building a new arena, including a 2007 report commissioned by the Maryland Stadium Authority that found the structure had “served its useful life” and should be replaced by a new 16,000-seat facility. “But when you see what’s happening with our partners at Oak View Group, when you see that the tickets are selling out, you know that we now have a world-class venue right in downtown Baltimore that the taxpayers didn’t have to pay for, that will drive people into the core.” “Some folks told me that I was crazy that we were putting lipstick on a pig,” recalled Mayor Brandon Scott. Supporters of the latest renovation say the updates to the interior of the arena will do the trick and hopefully jump start a downtown area that is reeling from a population drop, the pandemic and concerns about crime. It was part of an urban renewal effort in downtown Baltimore in the late 1950s and 1960s that also included the construction of Charles Center. in the futuristic Googie style with a roofline that evokes pyramidal shapes, opened in 1962 as the Baltimore Civic Center. The arena, designed by architect Arthur Gould Odell Jr. The California-based venue development and management company will draw upon the vast cadre of arenas and venues it has built or operates across the country, including the new UBS Arena, which is home to the NHL’s New York Islanders Seattle’s 61-year-old Climate Pledge Arena, where the WNBA’s Seattle Storm play and XL Center in downtown Hartford, Connecticut, where the University of Connecticut men’s and women’s basketball teams play.Īfter a private concert by Earth, Wind and Fire on Thursday and Friday’s Springsteen show, which comes nearly 50 years after he first played the Baltimore Arena on June 2, 1973, it will be full steam ahead with superstar acts such as the Eagles, Janet Jackson, New Edition, Anita Baker and Lizzo.ĭevelopers and city officials alike are quick to acknowledge that the old arena was in need of work - going as far to say that major acts would skip over Baltimore and go to nearby cities with better venues such as Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. He also remembers when Barack Obama, then a candidate for president, came to the arena for a rally in 2008.īut he also recalls the complaints that artists and guests had about the acoustics of the aging building as well as the logistical problems of setting up a concert there, and the lack of amenities compared to those in other top-market cities. He was there for the slew of professional wrestling events throughout the 1990s and 2000s. He remembers in 1995 - the last time the venue hosted an early round of the NCAA men’s tournament - when he warned Bryant “Big Country” Reeves, Oklahoma State’s 7-foot center, that if he broke another backboard, the games in Baltimore would have to cease because the arena had run out of replacements. Remesch, the general manager for the arena, has worked there for 35 of its 61 years. “This is something I never thought I would see to fruition.” “You’re in for a treat,” he said as a barrage of horns blared, hydraulics hissed, and workers chattered throughout and around the arena. Work crews and large hulking equipment feverishly completed various tasks ahead of the venue’s first big tests - a private Thursday night concert by Earth, Wind and Fire and the public debut featuring Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band on Friday night. Frank Remesch stood amid a sea of reporters in “The Bowl,” the massive rectangular open space at the heart of the newly reimagined CFG Bank Arena.
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