The Greater Hartford area is home to the three largest performance venues in Connecticut, and one of them just temporarily closed their doors for at least five months.

The largest indoor arena in Connecticut is in Hartford, you've called it the Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Hartford Civic Center, and now the XL Center during your lifetime. As of yesterday, May 20, 2025, the XL Center is now temporarily closed until at least November 2025 as a multi-million-dollar facelift/renovation is just getting underway.

According to xlcenter.com, the first event scheduled to take place in the renovated arena is comedian Bert Kreisher's Permission to Party World Tour on November 13, 2025, followed by Andrea Bocelli one month later on December 13. The XL Center also hosts the premiere matchups of the UConn Men's & Women's Basketball and Men's Hockey teams, all of which get underway during October and November, but the upcoming 25-26 schedules have not been released.

WHAT RENOVATIONS ARE BEING DONE TO THE XL CENTER?

This round of renovations comes with a $138 million dollar price tag, according to nbcconnecticut.com, and the major projects that will be done are new locker rooms for UConn athletes, new commercial kitchens to cook up all of those Husky Dogs, and as you've seen in every major arena over the past 20 years, five new corporate suites will be built, as well as club suites at floor level.

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The XL Center exterior has been completely transformed on the Asylum and Trumbull Street side entrances, maybe there's room in the budget to finally get rid of the brown and tan facade? We'll see.

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