New name in play for MassMutual Center in Springfield
The authority received a 'low number' of eligible responses when it solicited bids last month, said spokesman David Silk.
The authority is reviewing those proposals and expects to make a decision in weeks, not months, Silk said. The deal will need approval of the authority's board.
First opened in 1972, the venue was the Springfield Civic Center until MassMutual signed a $5 million naming rights deal in 2003.
That deal began when the arena reopened with a convention center addition in 2005 and was to have expired in June 2021.
The MassMutual name remains on the building pending a new deal.
MGM Resorts International manages the MassMutual Center in conjunction with its MGM Springfield Casino under a 10-year agreement reached with the authority in 2022.
The authority feared tying the building too closely with the casino and sought a different company to be the naming rights sponsor.
Earlier this month in Connecticut, Holyoke-based PeoplesBank, announced it bought the naming rights for the former Hartford Civic Center. The bank is expanding in the Nutmeg State. The Hartford arena — most recently called the XL Center — will be PeoplesBank Arena.
The Hartford arena hosts many home games for the perennial national powerhouse men's and women's University of Connecticut basketball teams, as well as the Hartford Wolfpack of the American Hockey League.
In Springfield, the arena's premier tenant is the AHL's Springfield Thunderbirds.
Read the original article on MassLive.
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