The Classic Center is a

convention center A convention center (American and British English spelling differences, American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a Convention (meeting), convention, where individuals and groups ...

Athens, Georgia Athens is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. Downtown Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta. The University of Georgia, the state's flagship public university and an Research I university, ...

, United States. It was opened in 1995. Located within is Akins Ford Arena at The Classic Center, a large event hall that also serves as a 2,000-seat arena. The arena is home to the UGA Ice Dawgs hockey team and formerly the

Peach State Cats The Peach State Cats are a professional indoor football team based in Suwanee, Georgia. They originally announced to play home games at Dalton Convention Center in Dalton, Georgia, for the 2018 season but were eventually made a travel-only tea ...

arena football team. The Classic Center also contains a 2,122-seat theatre.

History

In 1987, the Civic Center Study Committee was created to determine the ideal public assembly facility for the Athens community. The committee determined that a facility with an 18,000 square-foot ballroom, 28,000 square-foot exhibit hall, and a 2,000-seat theatre was the best option. The facility was designed over the next few years, and construction began in 1994. The first phase opened in 1995, and the theatre opened the following year. In October, 2013, upgrades were approved for the Grand Hall, adding arena-style seating and an ice rink system. The UGA Ice Dawgs hockey team began playing their home games there starting with the 2014–15 season. The Grand Hall was referred to as the Classic Center Arena, before being renamed Akins Ford Arena at The Classic Center, after the naming rights were sold to Akins Ford of

Winder, Georgia Winder (, ) is a city and the county seat of Barrow County, Georgia, United States. It is located east of Atlanta and is part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. The population was 18,338 at the 2020 census. History Creek people first inhabited ...

in 2015. In 2018, it was announced that the

American Arena League The American Arena League (AAL) is a professional Indoor American football, indoor football minor league that began playing in 2018. The league was initiated by a merger between Arena Pro Football (APF) and the Can-Am Indoor Football League (Ca ...

arena football team would be moving to Akins Ford Arena at The Classic Center for the 2019 season.

Akins Ford Arena

In January 2019, the Classic Center Authority announced their intent to construct the new arena adjacent to the existing site. The new proposed arena is estimated to cost $88.88 million USD (2019) of which $33 million will be funded by the approved 2020 SPLOST Budget. The arena will be connected to the existing Classic Center, the Multimodal Transportation Center and the downtown district via a new elevated walkway. The arena will have a permanent seating capacity of 5,500 and will be expandable up to 7,500 seats for concerts. Construction began on the new arena in the spring of 2022 and was completed by November 2024. The hotel that was originally planned as a part of the arena was postponed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. However, The Classic Center Authority has presented a grand vision for the redevelopment of the entire district including a hotel, retirement community, office space, a new judicial center, and a multi-level parkade. Citydope-classiccenterarenarendering

References

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External links

Official website
Indoor arenas in Georgia (U.S. state) Ice hockey venues in the United States Sports venues in Georgia (U.S. state)