Hershey Bears
Rink: Giant Center
Capacity: 10,500
Built: 2002
League: AHL
City: Hershey, Pennsylvania
Home Of: Hershey Bears
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: January 19, 2025 vs Rochester
Unique Arena: #106
AHL Arena: #17
The Giant Center is built on the grounds of HersheyPark, a large complex that houses not just this arena but the team’s historic old arena that still stands, a football stadium and of course the massive theme park that people flock to all summer long. The Giant Center is really truth in advertising, as it’s a giant arena that is easily seen from the main road despite being set so far back and surrounded by massive parking lots. While finding a spot on gameday won’t be any trouble, expect to pay out the nose for parking lot access as we paid $30 and that was in advance. They apparently charge even more day of game. Asking most to pay that much to park at an AHL game you would think would keep people away, but filling the Giant Center has been no problem in Hershey. The building is done up in neutral beige colours that in most places is the norm, but in Hershey it’s the team colours so it fits.
Normally the Giant Center is filled to capacity for Bears games, but we got unlucky with a snow storm the day of the game which kept many away for safety reasons. Honestly if Rochester wasn’t already in town, it would have been smarter to postpone the game outright. Regardless, even with less than a half full building you can tell the Giant Center has a good atmosphere for such a large building. There is one giant lower bowl with steeper than average seating. The upper bowl is on the smaller side with more rows in the end and is laid out in a U shape. While normally the front row of an upper bowl would be my favourite place to watch a game, it is actually laid back a bit further in Hershey. The front row of the upper bowl is set behind the suite seating. While it’s still an impressive view, it’s a little further from the ice than one might like.
There is only one concourse in Hershey to serve both bowls. If you do have an upper bowl seat you have to go up two flights of stairs to get there, which isn’t ideal. The concourse is very reminiscent of the WFCU Centre in Windsor, Ontario. It’s nice and has an impressive variety of concession options, but it might be a tad too narrow. With our smaller than normal snowstorm crowd we had no issue getting around, but with a full house I can imagine it’s not easy to maneuver at intermission. The team store is well stocked, but there is a security guard out front making sure only so many people can go in at one time. The Hershey Bears are the oldest and most successful team in the AHL, and despite being affiliated with the Washington Capitals they have their own identity entirely. The concourse is dotted with tons of the team’s history over the decades, with an impressive list of championships and NHL alumni. A cool wall showed off many of the team’s special one-off jerseys from over the years.
Because of the snowstorm we did not get to see Hershey at its best, but even still we came away impressed with the facility, history and atmosphere of the building. This is a team that has had fans spanning several generations and they have a new age building worthy of hosting such an impressive historic franchise. It is one of my favourite buildings in the AHL.
