Cincinnati Cyclones
Rink: Heritage Bank Center
Capacity: 14,453
Built: 1975
League: ECHL
City: Cincinnati, Ohio
Home Of: Cincinnati Cyclones
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: January 26, 2024 vs Toledo
Unique Arena: #76
ECHL Arena: #2
Heritage Bank Center isn’t much to look at from the outside. It’s a 1970s coliseum in every way possible. It’s drab, it’s concrete it’s got zero frills. It is located in downtown Cincinnati right next to the Reds’ ballpark, which is directly back and to the left of this shot. The strangest part of the exterior of this rink is that where this shot is taken from is not street level. This was taken from a concrete walkway that’s built halfway up the building. A lot of times if you’re only seeing half the building from the exterior, it’s because it’s built partially underground or into a hillside. Here the bottom half is totally exposed and all it has are security and freight access points. All non-worker entrances are up on this platform built around the rink.
My traveling companion for this game Mr. OHLAG informed me that this rink is much the same as most 1970s coliseum style buildings of its time, but that in particular this place is almost an exact clone of the old Nassau Coliseum on Long Island. To the point that he said he wouldn’t be surprised if they had the same architect.
There isn’t a whole lot to say about it. It’s one giant bowl of almost 15,000 seats. There is a small concourse/pathway halfway up the bowl that you can walk 360 degrees around if you’d like to avoid the cramped concourse outside of the bowl. The concourse outside the bowl is particularly narrow for a building of this size, and would be a pain in the ass to navigate with a full house. Back in those days concourses weren’t there for extra entertainment and social options. They were there to get you from outside the building to the inside, period.
The seats in Cincinnati are all fairly comfortable with padding, which is nice for an old rink. Not much about this place is changed from the 1970s. Even the scoreboard feels old, though its videoboard is more of a 90s touch. There is a full 360-degree row of suites at the very top of the building, which I assume were added later on. One odd thing is there is no press box up there. It’s all suites, all the way around. The press facilities are halfway up the “upper bowl” and use the actual seats which can be seen in this picture. It’s the exact same setup they currently have at TD Arena in Ottawa.
There is nothing overly amazing about attending a game at Heritage Bank Center, but I did want to point out how great the Cyclone fans were. The crowd was very loud and into the game and knowledgeable. The pregame hype video kept emphasizing that Cincinnati is a hockey town. While I doubt, they will ever get the NHL, it was clear to me there are lots of big-time hockey fans in the area who love their team, and that is always commendable. Not to mention a good atmosphere can greatly improve your experience in what is otherwise a meh arena.
