The Perani Arena and Event Center (originally IMA Sports Arena) is a sports, entertainment and convention venue in Flint, Michigan, USA. It was built in 1969.
The main arena of the complex, the largest exhibit hall of complex, features 29,280 square feet (2,720 m2) of space and can accommodate 4,021 for ice hockey and 6,069 for concerts, plus 400 in standing room. It is the home the Michigan Warriors of the North American Hockey League. The second arena in the complex feaures 27,206 square feet (2,527.5 m2) of space. Both arenas are frequently used for trade shows, hockey games and other sports. In addition, the main arena is used for concerts. The complex was named for Bob Perani, owner of Perani's Hockey World, a sports equipment retailer in Flint, MI. Perani's Hockey World paid for naming rights to the complex. Bob Perani was a goalie for the Flint Generals from 1969 to 1974. His jersey #1 is one of only 5 numbers retired by the team.
Previous tenants of the arena include the Flint Generals IHL hockey team from 1969-1985, the Flint Spirits hockey team from 1985-1990, the Flint Bulldogs hockey team from 1991-1993, the Flint Fuze basketball team from 2000-2001 and the Flint Flames indoor football team which only lasted the 2000 season. The most recent iteration of the Flint Generals moved into the arena in 1993.
The Michigan Pirates of the Continental Indoor Football League (formerly based in Port Huron) played their first and second-round playoff games at the Perani Arena, hoping Flint would be a potential relocation site. While the Pirates folded, the Perani Arena will be home to the CIFL expansion team Flint Phantoms for the 2008 season.
Local high schools use the arena for their commencement ceremonies.
Famous quotes containing the words arena, event and/or center:
“[I]t forged ahead to become a full-fledged metropolis, with 143 faro games, 30 saloons, 4 banks, 27 produce stores, 3 express offices—and an arena for bull-and-bear fights, which, described by Horace Greeley in the New York Tribune, is said to have given Wall Street its best-known phrases.”
—For the State of California, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The hero sees that the event is ancillary: it must follow him.
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Actually being married seemed so crowded with unspoken rules and odd secrets and unfathomable responsibilities that it had no more occurred to her to imagine being married herself than it had to imagine driving a motorcycle or having a job. She had, however, thought about being a bride, which had more to do with being the center of attention and looking inexplicably, temporarily beautiful than it did with sharing a double bed with someone with hairy legs and a drawer full of boxer shorts.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)