Cup-champion Hurricanes' arena closed for eight weeks to add new seats, renovate lower bowl

RALEIGH — It might be easier next year to find a seat at Lenovo Center, home of the Stanley Cup-champion Carolina Hurricanes. 

At least there will be more of them.

Construction will begin next week on more than $70 million in projects, including the replacement of all lower bowl seats and the addition of more seats in the lower bowl and the upper level. 

The Centennial Authority, which oversees the arena, approved $66 million in summer renovations Tuesday morning. The authority previously approved $4.1 million for the new seats. 

Lenovo Center is closed for the next eight weeks through mid-August to allow for construction. The next public event scheduled for the arena is Sept. 19.

The number of lower-level aisles that lead to and from the concourse will be reduced from six to four on the east and west sides of the arena. Other additional seating will be added in the upper level as the current press box will be shrunk to add more room for fans.

Hockey capacity is expected to grow by 694 seats to approximately 19,606. Basketball capacity will exceed 20,400 when the project is complete. Lenovo Center is set to host the Sweet 16 and Elite Eight rounds of the 2028 NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

The Hurricanes won the franchise’s second Stanley Cup – and first since 2006 — on Sunday night, defeating the Vegas Golden Knights 3-0 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final. Carolina won the best-of-seven series 4-2.

Fans sold out watch parties for away games at Lenovo Center with thousands more gathered outside the arena to watch games on giant screens. There were other watch parties at venues around the city. And thousands of Hurricanes fans flocked to Vegas for Game 6 to see the team clinch the Cup.

“The impact of what I’ve seen since we made the Final and the amount of interest and fan support and local support that we’ve gotten has been much more than I knew was going to happen,” Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon said after Game 6. “I wasn’t prepared for the step up from what I thought was a really successful organization. The difference is pretty large.”

Among the other projects approved by the authority board Tuesday morning: construction of a new media work room and press arena; work on upper-level restrooms; construction of additional space on the arena level to allow for 360 degree access around the ice or court. 

The old media work area is now the multipurpose room. When the hockey locker rooms are closed, there is no way to walk around the arena level, which forces anyone who needs to get from one side to the other to take an elevator upstairs, walk around and then take an elevator down.

The Centennial Authority, along with the Hurricanes, chose the June 23 date for construction to begin with the Stanley Cup in mind. The calendar was set months ago.

“Some would say that’s aspirational, you want to do a rah-rah team,” said Philip Isley, chairman of the board. “By my God, did we not pick the date right?”

Said Brian Fork, the chief executive of the Hurricanes: “Knowing that the longer we had [for construction], the better and that was back when half our hockey team was hurt and we were kind of hanging around, but we looked at the schedule. … We’re planning to have home ice and we’re planning to go all the way, so we better not start until the 23rd.”

All of the projects are part of the larger $300-million enhancement to the arena, which opened in 1999. Some of the changes were completed during the season, including a view bar on the third level, improvements to the third-level concourse and suites and a multi-purpose events room on the arena level.

Renovations are scheduled to continue through the summer of 2028, but the arena won’t be shut down for an extended period of time after this summer.

Financing for the project is backed by promised annual distributions from Wake County and Raleigh from taxes collected on hotel stays and on prepared food and beverage sales in the county and city. The renovation was part of a larger agreement between the Hurricanes, the city and county and the authority that resulted in a new 20-year lease extension by the team, which got the rights to develop up to 80 acres around the arena.

The in-arena enhancements are separate from that planned development project around the venue. That development is scheduled to begin after NC State’s 2026 football season concludes.