The Chicago Blackhawks gave a sneak peek of the Fifth Third Arena expansion to the media Tuesday — still a skeletal collection of steel beams, HVAC systems and construction dust — but they dropped some meatier news during the tour: The Chicago Steel are coming.
The United States Hockey League team will play a final season this fall at Fox Valley Ice Arena in Geneva, their home since 2015, before moving their offices and home ice into the expanded, fancier digs at Fifth Third, the Hawks’ training facility.
While Hawks players will continue to use the same two rinks they’ve used for practices and training camps since Fifth Third’s opening in 2017, the Steel will host games at one of the two new rinks — the one they’re calling Championship Arena.
It can seat 1,500 and host up to 2,000 in the same building as lounges, a fan patio with a skyline view, a restaurant named after late team chairman Rocky Wirtz and a 100th anniversary museum called Centennial Hall, which will also house the new Blackhawks Hall of Fame announced last month.
The privately funded expansion, which began in May 2024 and is scheduled to open in January 2026, initially was projected to cost $65 million, but a source told the Tribune it will likely land “significantly higher.”
The upgrades are part of a bigger play for the Hawks, who hope to attract more NHL, national and international events, such as the NHL combine, USA Hockey and high-profile prospect tournaments.
Fifth Third is already scheduled to host next summer’s Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase.
“We really want this expansion to be the epicenter of Midwest hockey,” said Chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz.
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It also augments the 1901 Project, the Hawks’ and Bulls’ 15-year, $7 billion United Center campus development plan that will feature new residences, hotels and an entertainment district.
“I think you’ll see more of that connection” to Hawks games, Wirtz said.
“Once we build up the plaza for the 1901 Project, just that experience from going from this building to the United Center through the Malcolm X (College) corridor into a beautiful plaza with restaurants and bars and all that kind of stuff, it’s just going to be a much nicer, seamless experience.”
On a more grassroots level, the Hawks want the Fifth Third Arena to be a gathering place, whether people are there for hockey or not.
Malcolm X students can study and West Side groups can hold meetings in its 250,000 square feet of community space, tourists can pop in for coffee, fans can attend watch parties and hockey parents can watch their kids on the ice from a fireplace-heated lounge overlooking Rink 3.
“We spent a lot of time talking to hockey parents, and I am a hockey parent, so I know how frustrating it is when you can’t find a charger or a plug, there’s nothing to eat or drink, and you have no place to sit down, and you’re freezing cold the whole time,” said Hawks president of business operations Jaime Faulkner.
“So we’ve thought about all these things to be thoughtful of this.”
The two-story, 135,000-square-foot expansion, designed by Generator Studio, will double the size of the facility and is expected to bring up to 1.5 million people through its doors annually, according to team estimates.
Tuesday’s tour culminated with a walkthrough of the Championship Arena footprint.
Ironically, the sand floor made the space look more like an indoor desert than somewhere ice will someday be.
“The sand floor we just put down, but we’re about a month away from installing the ice floor in Rink 3 and the championship rink here,” said Ryan Snider, the team’s executive vice president of affiliates. “That’s all coming fast and furious now.”
