When the newly renamed CFG Bank Arena reopened in April, sports were not the central focus of the building. February’s CIAA Men’s & Women’s Basketball Tournament provided a sneak preview of the arena. The tournament will return through at least 2025, although the city would like that to continue for even longer. However, no sports teams will call the “new” building home.
General manager Frank Remesch told PressBox that he’s open to more sporting events; he’d like to bring back the NCAA Tournament in particular and thinks one-off Wizards games could be in the cards. Still, an NBA or NHL team won’t be a permanent tenant and teams from smaller leagues don’t do enough from an economic standpoint to take up so many dates, according to Remesch.
With that in mind, let’s take a trip down memory lane with The 15 “Best Sports At The Baltimore Arena.”
(Or the Civic Center. Or First Mariner Arena. Or Royal Farms Arena. Or the new place. You know the deal.)
This list is presented in alphabetical order.
1. Arena Football
A number of pro indoor football teams attempted to call the venerable building home throughout the past two decades. The American Indoor Football Alliance’s Baltimore Blackbirds became the Baltimore Mariners (who won two league titles). The last days of the Arena Football League included the brief existence of the Baltimore Brigade (who hosted the penultimate ArenaBowl in 2018). The ill-fated Lingerie Football League’s Baltimore Charm played downtown with Angela Rypien (the daughter of former Super Bowl MVP Mark Rypien) as quarterback.
2. Boxing
One of the first events at the building was a 1962 fight that saw Joey Giardello defeat Johnny Morris. According to the Associated Press, the fight was anything but a thriller. “The pair shuffled around the ring with few good punches landed on either side,” according to the AP. In 2019, Gervonta “Tank” Davis thrilled a raucous hometown crowd with a second-round knockout win against Ricardo Nunez. Sadly, former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman never got to fight at the arena.
3. Gymnastics
You probably remember Kerri Strug’s historic and improvable vault that led Team USA to the team gymnastics gold medal in 1996. You probably don’t remember that Strug qualified for her first Olympic team right here in Baltimore when the arena hosted the 1992 Olympic Trials. Future stars Shannon Miller and Maryland native Dominique Dawes were also part of the event. And you definitely wouldn’t remember that NBC’s coverage of those trials was hosted by none other Mr. Roundball Rock himself, John Tesh.
4. High School Basketball
While the building isn’t necessarily associated with high school hoops, a 1973 contest between Dunbar and DeMatha is one of the most famous in the city’s history. The legendary Skip Wise scored 39 points to lead the Poets to an 85-71 win in front of 8,500 fans, snapping the Hyattsville powerhouse’s 43-game winning streak. Future Dunbar coach Bob Wade once told PressBox “that game put Baltimore basketball on the map.”
5. Lacrosse
Box lacrosse is traditionally more associated with places like Canada and Western New York, but it still seems odd that no pro team called Baltimore home after the Baltimore Thunder’s 13-season tenure ended in 1999 with a move to Pittsburgh. The franchise won one championship, in its inaugural 1987 season. Legends who played for the club include the iconic Gary Gait (who won two NLL MVPs with the team), Stevenson coach and Pro Lacrosse Hall of Famer Paul Cantabene, former Johns Hopkins coach Dave Pietramala and even current Maryland coach John Tillman.
6. Maryland Men’s Basketball
Maryland has played three games in the downtown arena throughout the past decade, most recently in 2018 when the Terps defeated Loyola Chicago following the Ramblers’ Final Four run the prior season. The game was part of a “Charm City Classic” doubleheader that also featured Morgan State beating Towson. Calvert Hall legend Juan Dixon helped the Terps down Iowa in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge at the arena in 1999. There’s reason to hope the Terps could be part of the new version of the arena as well.
7. Minor League Basketball
It seemed like a good idea at the time. The Baltimore Bayrunners were part of a league known as the International Basketball League (IBL) and featured a number of local hoops heroes. Towson legend Kurk Lee and former Maryland star Rodney Elliott — both Dunbar alums — were joined on the roster by thrilling diminutive point guard Shawnta Rogers (Lake Clifton). It didn’t work. The team folded after one season. The league was gone after two.
8. Minor League Hockey
The first-ever event at the Baltimore Civic Center was a 1962 game between the Baltimore Clippers and Providence Reds (you threw out all of the records when those teams got together). The city’s minor league hockey history spanned the next three and a half decades with the Blades, Skipjacks and Bandits, all following the Clippers. Hockey fans in the area still know the words to the “Win, you Baltimore Clippers” fight song. The Skipjacks’ final head coach was future Capitals Stanley Cup winner Barry Trotz.
9. NBA
The most notable tenant in arena history was the Baltimore Bullets. Future Naismith Hall of Famers Earl “The Pearl” Monroe (1968 Rookie of the Year) and Wes Unseld (1969 MVP and Rookie of the Year) called the building home, and coach Gene Shue (Maryland/Towson Catholic) helped the team reach the 1971 NBA Finals. Sadly, the franchise moved to Washington in 1973 after a decade in Baltimore. The Bullets returned to play 35 regular-season home games in Baltimore from 1989-1997 prior to the name change to the Wizards. The franchise returned for a preseason game against Carmelo Anthony and the Knicks in 2013 and another against the Pelicans in 2014.
10. NHL
No NHL team has ever called the arena home, but the Washington Capitals attempted to cultivate a Baltimore fan base by playing exhibition games there in 2011 and 2013. Unfortunately, the 2011 event was marred by poor ice conditions and the 2013 contest did not draw many fans. Arena leadership has acknowledged it would be tough to try to make NHL games work in the renovated facility.
11. Postseason College Basketball
Wake Forest and Oklahoma State advanced out of the Baltimore regional during the first weekend of the 1995 NCAA Tournament, which remains one of the most popular events in the arena’s modern history. The Demon Deacons were led by future Naismith Hall of Famer Tim Duncan and D.C. native Randolph Childress, while the Cowboys were led by folk hero Bryant “Big Country” Reeves.
Arena GM Frank Remesch wants to see the tournament return and Mayor Brandon Scott told me he’s interested in hosting the women’s tournament as well. The CIAA Men’s & Women’s Basketball Tournament currently calls the building home, and the CAA men’s tournament set up shop downtown from 2014-2016 as well.
12. Pro Wrestling
So admittedly this is “sports,” but a number of significant professional wrestling moments have occurred at the arena throughout the years. None were more important than College Football Hall of Famer Ron Simmons defeating Vader for the WCW Heavyweight Championship in 1992, becoming the first-ever black world champion in the process.
13. Soccer
Between the original side that played at the arena (in front of massive crowds) from 1980-1992 and the current team (originally called the Baltimore Spirit before switching back to the Blast moniker) that came along immediately after, the Blast won nine league titles before moving to Towson’s SECU Arena in 2017. Fans in Baltimore were thrilled by legendary players like Stan “The Magician” Stamenkovic, Mike Stankovic, Keith Van Eron, Denison Cabral and William Vanzela.
14. Tennis
Some of the sport’s biggest stars made appearances in Baltimore during the 25-year run of McDonogh alum Pam Shriver’s annual charity event at the arena, including Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick and Serena and Venus Williams. The event was also famous for the participation of Orioles and Ravens stars like Brady Anderson and (would you believe it) the late Tony Siragusa. Before any of that, the arena was briefly home to the WTT Baltimore Banners in 1974, a team that featured eventual eight-time Grand Slam winner Jimmy Connors.
15. UFC
One of the most electric nights in the 21st century at the arena occurred in 2014, when current UFC heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones defeated Glover Teixeira in the main event of UFC 172 to retain his light heavyweight title. Jones, the younger brother of Ravens Super Bowl XLVII champion Arthur Jones, delighted the crowd by performing Ray Lewis’ famous “squirrel” dance during his ring walk.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox