<P> 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 hosted occasional Boston Celtics home games from 1975 to 1995 . It was the home of the Connecticut Coyotes and later the New England Sea Wolves of the Arena Football League . </P> <P> 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 3⁄4 - end stage concerts, and contains 46 luxury suites and a 310 - seat Coliseum Club, plus 25,000 square feet (2,300 m) 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 XL Center . </P> <P> 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, just hours after the University of Connecticut Men's Basketball team defeated the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the weight of snow from the day's heavy snowstorm and a faulty roof design caused the Civic Center roof to collapse . There were no injuries . The building was heavily renovated and re-opened January 17, 1980 . </P> <P> The Arena hosted the Hartford Whalers from January 11, 1980 to April 13, 1997 . Shortly thereafter the team relocated to Raleigh to become the Carolina Hurricanes . In 1994, new owner Peter Karmanos purchased the team and 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, 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, they reverted to the Wolf Pack moniker in 2013 . Renovations were complete in October 2014, which is set to serve the arena until its fiftieth birthday . </P>

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