Short Items Of Note – Venue Edition

NY’s Glens Falls Arena changes its moniker … Hawaii’s Blaisdell Center upgrade might come with a hefty price tag … Corporate merger results in new name for Scotland’s GE Oil & Gas Arena … A proposed Pensacola venue may require a basketball team as a tenant.

facebook.com/GlensFallsCC – Glens Falls Civic Center
Is now the Cool Insuring Arena.

Glens Falls Civic Center in New York changed its name to Cool Insuring Arena July 17.  The change arrives after the Cool Insuring Agency purchased the naming rights to the arena under a five-year agreement, reports The Post Star. The venue recently underwent renovations, including a new scoreboard, a new outdoor marquee with video display and improved lighting. The arena is home of East Coast Hockey League team Adirondack Thunder. – Ron Camacho

Pensacola, Fla., officials are discussing building a new arena but the plan hinges on whether a basketball team would be interested. Mayor Ashton Hayward told the News Journal the team in question right now is the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans G League team. There’s also discussion about a public-private partnership for construction financing. If approved, the facility would replace the 9,450-capacity Pensacola Bay Center opened in 1985.  – Tina Amendola

Renovation plans for the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu could cost up to $500 million.

courtesy of Neal S. Blaisdell Center – Neal S. Blaisdell Center
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City and county officials propose several upgrades to the facility, opened in 1964, that includes replacing the 60,000-square-foot exhibition hall with one a third bigger, according to Hawaii News Now.

Other changes would be upgrades to the arena and concert hall, additional performance venues, practice facilities and community spaces and double the parking spaces, News Now said.

Officials are holding public workshops to gather input on the project through November. Design and planning could begin the middle of next year. – Tina Amendola

The GE Oil & Gas Arena of Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre (AECC) in Scotland will be known as BHGE Arena going forward.

The new name follows the merger of the oil and gas businesses of GE and Baker Hughes earlier this month. “We look forward to working with BHGE and are delighted they have chosen to continue the sponsorship put in place by GE,” said Fiona Mann, AECC’s Director of Operations and Safety. “This is a great time for the company to get on board, with OE2017 taking place in a matter of weeks; plus our journey to the new venue which is due to open in 2019.”

BHGE Arena has a concert capacity of 8,500 standing or 4,750 seated. It also hosts banquets (2,000 capacity) and dinner dances (1,500). – Gideon Gottfried