ARTICLE AD BOX
Minnesota Wild and Frost fans might want to try out new nicknames for their home ice — The Grand, perhaps?
The downtown St. Paul hockey arena, formerly known as the Xcel Energy Center, was renamed Grand Casino Arena on Wednesday.
Minnesota Wild Sports & Entertainment (MSE) and Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley celebrated a 14-year naming rights partnership with a handshake and exchange of gifts at the arena’s clubhouse.
The companies announced the naming rights partnership back in June.
Minnesota Wild owner Craig Leipold greeted guests with “Boozhoo,” a greeting in the Ojibwe language.
“The Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe has been a passionate supporter and investor in St. Paul, and we are thrilled for their partnership and support of the Minnesota Wild in our arena,” Leipold said.
Virgil Wind, chief executive of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, draped a star quilt made with the Minnesota Wild colors and logo around the shoulders of Leipold as a show of appreciation. The Mille Lacs Band, located in central Minnesota, owns Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley.
“Today’s announcement is more than just a new name on a building. It's a bold step forward in how tribal nations are investing in all of our futures,” said Wind. “This partnership with the Minnesota Wild represents a major milestone in strengthening that economic engine.”
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter was at the celebration and lauded the partnership between a professional sports franchise and a tribal nation as good for the city.
“It allows us to give yet another shot in the arm in our work to continue to push on economic development and investment in our downtown,” Carter said.
Carter estimated the arena brings in as many as 1.7 million visitors annually to downtown St. Paul.
This past year, Carter went to the state lawmakers with plans to renovate the downtown arena. The initial plan to ask for almost $400 million in state dollars was reduced to $50 million in hopes it might gain traction with state law makers.
The original plan, totaling $770 million, included an overhaul of the 25-year-old arena, one that included the St. Paul RiverCentre and the nearby Roy Wilkins Auditorium. The scaled-down plan included only upgrades to the hockey arena.
The state Legislature did not allocate any funding for the project.
During Wednesday’s celebration, Leipold said his organization will continue to work on a plan to renovate the arena.
“We remain committed to our arena renovation project that will create a modern, best-in-class arena that would welcome more visitors, more activity and more vitality to St. Paul,” Leipold said.
During the event, MSE and Grand Casino Hinckley and Mille Lacs also unveiled the arena’s new name and logo on center ice in anticipation of the 2025-2026 NHL regular season.
The newly named arena will also welcome the World Junior Hockey Championships at the end of December.
English (US) ·