Community First Champion Center
The Community First Champion Center is a 164,000 sq ft (15,200 m2) indoor sports center in Grand Chute, in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The facility is primarily intended to be used for youth sports/community sporting activities and as of early 2019 is not planned to house a professional sports team.
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  Community First Champion Center Location in Wisconsin  Community First Champion Center Community First Champion Center (the United States) | |
| Full name | Community First Champion Center Fox Cities |
|---|---|
| Address | 2200 North McCarthy Road Grand Chute, Wisconsin, United States |
| Coordinates | 44°16′57″N 88°28′51″W |
| Owner | Town of Grand Chute |
| Type | Multi-purpose arena |
| Genre(s) | Sporting events and concerts |
| Capacity | ~3,000 - 4,000 total across all 3 spaces |
| Scoreboard | Yes |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | September 18, 2018 |
| Built | 2018–2019 |
| Opened | November 20, 2019[1] |
| Construction cost | $30 million ($35 million in 2022 dollars[2]) |
| Architect | Performa Architects |
| General contractor | Miron Construction |
| Website | |
| championcenterwi | |
The sports center was expected to cost $30 million to build. The cost of construction was provided by a 3% hotel-room tax being charged throughout the Fox Cities region; this tax was also used to pay for the Fox Cities Exhibition Center.[3] It is expected to contribute around $8–12 million the Fox Cities economy, one of the fast-growing regions in the United States.[4]
Location and design
The arena is located along County Highway GV just north of the Fox River Mall shopping district and less than .5 mi (0.80 km) west of Fox Cities Stadium. The new arena broke ground on September 18, 2018.[5] It opened in November 2019.[6][7][8]
The Center has 3 separate arena spaces with one being permanently set up with an ice rink and another 2 multi-purpose arenas which could handle court sports, concerts, or additional ice rinks.[9] The total capacity of all 3 arenas is expected to be between 3 and 4 thousand.
History
On January 23, 2019, the Center was the target of vandalism by a group of teenagers who also damaged other construction sites around the area as well as starting fires in elevators within parking ramps in downtown Appleton. The damage to the center was expected to cost over $1 million.[10]
On March 22, 2019, the Town of Grand Chute announced that the naming rights for the center were bought by Community First Credit Union; terms of the deal have not been released.[4]
References
- "Check out the new Community First Champion Center". www.postcrescent.com. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
- 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved May 28, 2023.
- "Fox Cities Champion Center will give region a larger piece of sports tourism". Post-Crescent Media. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- Steffen, Justin (22 March 2019). "Community First Champion Center Coming this Fall". WEAREGREENBAY. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- "Fox Cities Champion Center holds ceremonial groundbreaking". WLUK. 18 September 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- News, Monique Lopez, FOX 11 (November 20, 2019). "Multi-mullion-dollar sports complex opens in the Fox Valley". WLUK.
{{cite web}}:|last=has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Zimmerman, Jason. "Community First Champion Center opens". www.wbay.com.
- Behnke, Duke. "Champion Center in Grand Chute promises to be 'premier sports tourism destination in the Midwest'". The Post-Crescent.
- "Our Facility". Fox Cities Champion Center. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- "New photos of Fox Cities Champion Center damage released". WLUK. 25 January 2019. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
