Acrisure Arena bringing light to the Coachella Valley

With Game 5 between the Coachella Valley Firebirds and Hershey Bears being the final game of the season in the valley, Acrisure Arena has made quite the impact for the community.

"It's been a tremendous impact," Senior Vice President of Acrisure Arena John Page said. "When you look at the jobs that have been created, the tax base, bringing people into the valley that live from outside, I think it does everything we thought it would do and we look forward to doing more in the future."

As fans come into Acrisure to watch the home town team play, the arena is more than an entertainment center, but it's a center to bring the community together.  

"This has been such a gift for this whole area," Vice President of marketing and team business services for the Coachella Valley Firebirds Gina Rotolo. "It's really been able to unify and unite people, bring people from all different walks of life together to create community and bond over a shared, shared experiences, whether it's sports, entertainment, all sorts of things. It's a conversation starter and that's the great connector for everybody."

In addition to the arena is the Berger Foundation Iceplex, which has gave hockey players a way to play the sport they love and create an additional community.

"Well, I moved here about a year and a half ago thinking I was never going to play hockey again," Firebirds fan and Indio resident Michael Collins said. "When I got here, they were building this arena and I realized that it's become such a big thing. It has grown the sport so much out here. I think there's kids of all ages playing the sport now. There's a lot of different camps going on, this pickup that we're at right now has grown so much over the past year and it's been a great thing." 

With all that the arena offers from fun, excitement, and entertainment, fans have considered Acrisure an additional home.  

"It's very special," Firebirds fan and Palm Desert resident Jeff Bowman said. "We're blessed. This is kind of our home away from home. I play myself. My younger son plays in their junior Firebirds program. It's available for so many things during the week to so many sessions. It's great exercise, great fun, great batch of people, and yeah, we're really blessed to have it. 

As the Calder Cup Finals will end in Hershey, Game 5 is tomorrow on June 21st at 6:00 p.m.