30-06-2025
Wild's home will have new name for first time in 2025-26: Grand Casino Arena
ST. PAUL, Minn. — As the Minnesota Wild usher in their 25th anniversary season, their home arena will take on a new name for the first time in franchise history.
The organization announced Monday that Xcel Energy Center will be renamed Grand Casino Arena in the fall. The Wild worked with Oak View Group to help with the sale of their naming rights and connected with dozens of potential partners. In the end, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, which founded Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Hinckley in the early 90s, agreed to a 14-year partnership.
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'We love the fact that Grand Casino is local and has been part of our community for decades,' Wild CEO Matt Majka told The Athletic. 'We are thrilled to go forward with them.'
Sept. 3 is the targeted date for the official name change. That would give time for the exterior signage to be manufactured and attached to the arena and for the new website to go live. The first event of Grand Casino Area is scheduled to be a Jason Aldean concert Sept. 6.
Xcel Energy, a Minneapolis-based company, held the naming rights to the arena since 2000. It will continue to be a sponsor of the Wild and have a presence in the arena and provide grants to youth and high school organizations.
The new agreement with Grand Casino will provide it with substantial exposure and programming throughout the arena and obviously on the exterior.
'It will be our largest and most pervasive sponsorship in terms of recognition and profile and presence,' Majka said. 'Xcel Energy will continue to be a very significant partner. We recently announced a long-term renewal with them as an ongoing corporate partner, and we're incredibly appreciative of the long-standing partnership we've had with them and thrilled that it's going to continue.'
(Photos courtesy of the Minnesota Wild)
