Mobile Civic Center
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| Former names | Mobile Municipal Auditorium (1964–1980s) |
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| Location | 401 Civic Center Drive Mobile, Alabama, 36602 |
| Coordinates | 30°41′10″N 88°02′41″W / 30.68605°N 88.04478°WCoordinates: 30°41′10″N 88°02′41″W / 30.68605°N 88.04478°W |
| Owner | City of Mobile |
| Operator | SMG |
| Capacity | Theater: 1,940 Expo Hall: 3,000 Arena: 10,112 |
| Surface | Multi-Surface |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1962 |
| Opened | July 9, 1964 |
| Construction cost | $10 million ($77.2 million in 2017 dollars) |
| Tenants | |
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Mobile Mysticks (ECHL) (1995–2002) Mobile Seagulls (IPFL) (2000) Mobile Revelers (NBDL) (2001–03) Mobile Wizards (AF2) (2002) |
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Mobile Civic Center (formerly Mobile Municipal Auditorium) is a multi-purpose arena located in Mobile, Alabama. Owned by the City of Mobile and operated by SMG, the arena comprises three venues: A theater, an expo hall, and an arena. It is suitable for large indoor events; including sporting events and trade shows. The theater has seating for 1,940, while the expo hall can seat 3,000. The largest venue of the Mobile Civic Center is the arena, which can seat 10,112.
The Civic Center is set to close in March 2018 for redevelopment.
The structure opened as the Mobile Municipal Auditorium on July 9, 1964. It celebrated its opening with a "Holiday on Ice" ice skating show. It was built with the city's longtime Mardi Gras celebrations in mind. The concourse area is often used for balls during Mardi Gras. The building’s “entertainment profile increased significantly” during the 1970s, hosting dozens of popular acts, including Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, Michael Jackson, the Rolling Stones, KISS, and Fleetwood Mac. It did not earn revenue however, and it stopped regularly booking big-name acts in the mid-1980s.
Irregularities in the Civic Center’s finances were spearheaded by finance director and former Mobile mayor Gary Greenough, who was convicted for multimillion-dollar fraud in 1985. The preceding year, the Civic Center posted losses of $435,000. The fraud charges, plus competition from other Gulf Coast auditoriums (in Biloxi and Pensacola) and the city’s open Convention Center caused the complex to go into a decline.
In recent years, the complex has been called "aging and deteriorating." By the early 2010s, the center ran a deficit $600,000–$800,000 per year. For many years, the auditorium has been used for the Mobile Opera, Mobile Ballet, Distinguished Young Women, Mobile International Festival, and high school graduation ceremonies. Top touring acts regularly skip the complex and it has been without a regular tenant since the departure of the Mobile Mysticks hockey team in 2002.
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