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The Centrum

DCU Center
Logo
DCU Center - Worcester, Massachusetts USA.JPG
Exterior of DCU Center, 2014
Full name DCU Center Arena & Convention Center
Former names Centrum in Worcester (1982–97)
Worcester's Centrum Centre (1997–2004)
Location 50 Foster Street
Worcester, Massachusetts 01608
Coordinates 42°15′58″N 71°47′54″W / 42.26611°N 71.79833°W / 42.26611; -71.79833Coordinates: 42°15′58″N 71°47′54″W / 42.26611°N 71.79833°W / 42.26611; -71.79833
Public transit MBTA Worcester Handicapped/disabled access
Owner City of Worcester
Operator SMG
Capacity Concerts: 14,800
Basketball: 13,000
Hockey: 12,239
Construction
Broke ground December 10, 1977
Opened September 2, 1982 (1982-09-02)
Renovated 2009, 2012, 2013
Expanded 1997
Construction cost $25.6 million
($63.5 million in 2017 dollars)
$23 million (2013 renovations)
Architect FDC, Inc.
Structural engineer LeMessurier Consultants
General contractor Granger Brothers Inc.
Tenants
Worcester Railers HC (ECHL) (Beginning in 2017)
Worcester Sharks (AHL) (2006–2015)
New England Surge (CIFL) (2007–2008)
New England Blazers (MILL) (1989–1991)
Massachusetts Marauders (AFL) (1994)
Worcester IceCats (AHL) (1994–2005)
Worcester Counts (WBL) (1989)
Website
Venue Website

The DCU Center (originally Centrum in Worcester, formerly Worcester's Centrum Centre and commonly Worcester Centrum) is an indoor arena and convention center complex located in downtown Worcester, Massachusetts.

The facility hosts a variety of events, including concerts, sporting events, family shows, conventions, trade-shows and meetings. It is owned by the City of Worcester and managed by SMG, a private management firm for public assembly facilities.

The naming rights were purchased in 2004 by Digital Federal Credit Union (DCU) and went into effect January 2005.

The Centrum, or officially Centrum in Worcester as it was then known, opened in September 1982 after years of construction delays, with a capacity of roughly 12,000. The opening event was a Frank Sinatra concert. The arena was expanded to 14,800 seats in 1989 with the addition of the 300-level balconies. The convention center addition was completed along with a renovation of arena infrastructure in 1997. This upgrade resulted in the facility's name change to Worcester's Centrum Centre. The venue received further updates with the DCU naming rights purchase, including new signage both inside and outside the facility, and a new center-hung video scoreboard for the arena bowl.

Previously, the arena was managed by Rich Kreswick, who afterward spent a brief time at the FleetCenter (Boston), and in the mid-1990s, the general manager position transferred to Sandy Dunn, who is one of few women to manage an arena venue, and the DCU Center is one of the most stable of SMG's assets.

The arena is home to the Worcester Railers HC of the ECHL who will begin play in 2017. The arena was formerly home to the Worcester Sharks American Hockey League (AHL) team, owned and operated by its NHL affiliate San Jose Sharks, which moved its farm team to the west coast in 2015. Prior to this, the venue was home to the Worcester IceCats, also of the AHL.


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