CFG Bank Arena

CFG Bank Arena is a multipurpose arena in Baltimore, Maryland. This venue is located about one block away from the Baltimore Convention Center on the corner of Baltimore Street and Hopkins Place in downtown Baltimore. With a seating capacity of up to 14,000 for concerts, CFG Bank Arena is owned by the City of Baltimore and managed by the Oak View Group, a global sports and entertainment company.

The venue officially opened on October 23, 1962, as the Baltimore Civic Center. Designed by AG Odell Jr. and Associates, it was built on the site of Old Congress Hall, where the Continental Congress met in 1776. The venue has been home to several Baltimore-based sports teams, most notably the Baltimore Bullets (now Washington Wizards) of the NBA from 1963 to 1973.

As a cornerstone for the Inner Harbor redevelopment during the 1980s, it was reopened after renovations and renamed the Baltimore Arena in 1986. In 2003, it was renamed 1st Mariner Arena for Baltimore-based 1st Mariner Bank, which purchased naming rights to the arena for 10 years. When this naming rights agreement ended in 2013, the arena returned to its "Baltimore Arena" name until convenience store chain Royal Farms purchased the naming rights in September 2014; the arena was known as Royal Farms Arena until 2022. After an extensive renovation, the venue reopened as CFG Bank Arena in February 2023.

A cornerstone to the Arena was laid in 1961 with a vault that included messages from then-U.S. President John F. Kennedy, then-Maryland governor J. Millard Tawes, and then-Baltimore Mayor J. Harold Grady. The vault was opened in 2006. The current site that was chosen for the Baltimore Civic Center was actually not one of the many sites proposed to the Greater Baltimore Committee in 1955. Among nine suggested locations were two in Druid Hill Park, three at the end of the Inner Harbor basin (where the World Trade Center and Harborplace are now located), and one in Clifton Park.

From 1962 through 1976, the Baltimore Clippers of the American Hockey League played their home games at the Arena. The financially troubled Clippers ceased operations in mid-season, 1974–75, when the professional Baltimore Blades (the relocated Michigan Stags) of the World Hockey Association (WHA) moved into the market/arena. The Blades folded at the end of the season, and the Clippers regrouped for one final AHL season 1975–76. The Arena has hosted two other AHL franchises: the Baltimore Skipjacks lasted from 1981 to 1993, and the Baltimore Bandits from 1995 to 1997.

On November 12, 1962, the Arena hosted a boxing match between Joey Giardello and Johnny Morris attended by approximately 6,000 fans.

In 1963, the Arena became the home of the NBA's Baltimore Bullets (originally the Chicago Packers), where the team played home games until its move to the Capital Centre in 1973. The NBA All-Star Game was played at the Arena in 1969.

The Beatles performed at the Arena on September 13, 1964, to a total of 28,000 attendees in two performances on the same day, at 4:00 pm and 8:30 pm.