The Bridgeport Islanders hockey team, after a 25-year run, is vacating the municipally owned arena as the anchor tenant – current naming rights Total Mortgage Arena – for a venue in Canada.
The hockey team, under an agreement, was expected to be around until 2031, but the early exit opened up the RFP and final payment to city requiring nearly $500,000.
Apex capacity is 10,000 seats for concerts. In addition to hockey and concerts (the sold-out Foo Fighters April 28) the venue has hosted college and professional basketball, WWE wrestling, Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus, Monster Trucks, college graduations and a 2010 visit from Barack Obama.
The destination is a boon to Downtown’s growing restaurant scene. A criticism of the arena’s recent private management is too many dark nights, something the city wants to reverse in a request for proposals “to anchor the next chapter of Bridgeport’s Downtown evolution.”
Who can be most creative in diversifying the venue for more action?
The state has skin in the game as well, having contributed sizable dollars to its construction and recent renovations to modernize the 25-year-old facility.
News release from Mayor’s Office:
The City of Bridgeport, in partnership with the State of Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), has officially issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the Total Mortgage Arena. The City is seeking a world-class partner to enter into a long-term development and operating agreement of at least 10 years to anchor the next chapter of Bridgeport’s downtown evolution.
The City is inviting diverse proposals that range from maintaining the venue’s traditional sports and entertainment roots to introducing entirely new, innovative concepts. Regardless of the specific use, the selection committee will prioritize the “highest and best use” of the facility—identifying a partner who can ensure the venue is utilized on a regular, year-round basis and serves as a primary driver for Bridgeport’s economy and downtown restaurants and businesses.
“We are looking for a partner with a vision for how this venue can contribute to Bridgeport’s identity as the ‘Arts and Entertainment Capital of Connecticut’”, stated Mayor Ganim. “The goal is to create a year-round destination that keeps our downtown vibrant 365 days a year.”
A Premier Regional Hub
The Total Mortgage Arena sits at the center of a high-density transit and entertainment ecosystem. Defining the southern edge of Downtown Bridgeport along the I-95 corridor, the facility is connected via skywalk to the Bridgeport Train Station—a major stop for both Metro-North and Amtrak—and is immediately adjacent to the Bridgeport-Port Jefferson Ferry, which serves over one million passengers annually. This unique location places the venue within walking distance of the University of Bridgeport, Housatonic Community College, and the Steelpointe Marina, making it the most accessible large-scale entertainment facility in the region.
Submission Details
The RFP process includes three scheduled site tours for interested respondents on April 23, May 9, and May 14, each day at 11:00 AM. Proposals must be submitted to the City of Bridgeport’s Purchasing Department no later than 2:00 PM on Thursday, May 28, 2026.
Key Dates:
- RFP Issued: Tuesday, April 14, 2026
- Deadline for Written Questions: Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 2:00 PM
- RFP Responses Due: Thursday, May 28, 2026, at 2:00 PM
Prospective respondents should visit the project page on the City of Bridgeport Procurement Portal to register, ask questions, and download the full RFP package.
Howard has the inside straight on this deal. They should bring space in for pari-mutuel wagering . Has the Arena ever received a formal certificate of occupancy! Nunn of this should know ?
https://echl.com/teams
In reality,other than a minor league hockey team or maybe a few college hockey & basketball games,what are the options to get events in there consistently??.. Live nation uses Mohegan for the majority of their concerts year round and frankly you can’t compare the two venues,Mohegan just has too much going for it.
So this leaves what for year round events? Occasional Circuses,ice skating,tractor pulls,Harlem globetrotters,etc,etc…hardly enough to sustain.. should be interesting to see where this goes..
True that, Harvey. But Mohegan is a bit farther from the New York marketplace, and didn’t they have the WNBA leave?
I mean, like the Baseball league, I don’t know how much of a draw the Hockey was/is being in the Port. But it’s fair to say attendance must have played into the decision to move?
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lqhDpcZYQ9w
That being said, isn’t Live Nation here in the Port, too? Any real success is about the booking with a 10,000 indoor year-round and a 5,000 outdoor seasonal venue, positioning the Port to thrive in a vision for the Port what G2 stated.
“We are looking for a partner with a vision for how this venue can contribute to Bridgeport’s identity as the ‘Arts and Entertainment Capital of Connecticut’”, stated Mayor Ganim. “The goal is to create a year-round destination that keeps our downtown vibrant 365 days a year.”
It’s all about the booking. Per se. I mean, while the Port does have some fundamental structural issues, particularly Parking, crime has been on a positive note, where it is deemed safe to venture into the Port and take in an event. We lack the will and perhaps the development investment. Perhaps some points to Jeff may be at play, but overall, the Port becoming a vision of an Arts and Entertainment Capital of Connecticut is achievable.
Speaking of Fragelis, Good Luck Port.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/bnTrIGtjpd0
Let’s not lose focus, people.
To G. W. Bush’s road map to peace in the Middle East and the spiritual Family of the God of Gabriel/Abraham.
Good Port/World/Middle East.
P S Free Maria and Wanda. For the sake of appearance, a suspended sentence.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fWRgzEofzA&t=3s
The Prophet-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbtgk20s6wA&list=RDCbtgk20s6wA&start_radio=1
And or,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfHJDLoGInM
To Peace in the Middle East and the Spiritual Family of the God of Gabriel/Abraham.
The Prophet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJOsjP33nF4&list=RDrJOsjP33nF4&start_radio=1
John, May 10th is approaching perhaps we will break bread again and converse in your civics discussion regarding Port politics, Papa bear style? 🙂
Though perhaps the topic of discussion will differ from the topics of the past that dominated our discussion here on OIB such as WhiteSupremacy? I am betting rent commissions being a topic of discussion Perhaps Mario and G2 as well, but perhaps not by name. Time will tell. 🙂
https://onlyinbridgeport.com/wordpress/a-bicentennial-interview-with-the-chairman-mario-testa-critics-i-dont-have-any-critics/#:~:text=Maybe%20in%20the%20near%20future,to%20bring%20home%20the%20bacon.%5D
Bridgeport has no comprehensive plan of development. Attempting to present the resurrection of a socioeconomically failed city such as Bridgeport in terms of being the entertainment center of Connecticut — based on one taxpayer-subsidized venue that can’t retain major permanent attractions (the Arena) or maintain a viable 12-month schedule (Amphitheater) — is nothing but a pathetic propaganda ploy by an administration with no real plan to redeem the socioeconomic plight of our declining city. This city’s entertainment resources and accomplishments are totally eclipsed by those of our giant casinos, in-state, as well as those of New York City and the Meadowlands. We have no real set of hospitality resources to make any claim to being a real entertainment center on any serious scale. (The one small hotel complex at Steele Point doesn’t take us very far…)
If Bridgeport had a thriving commercial-manufacturing sector that could redefine us socioeconomically, it would be possible for Bridgeport to again become a regional entertainment center. But our present status as a socioeconomically-distressed municipality rules out any real entertainment-center viability. As we should have learned from our entertainment-venue failed attempts (Blue Fish, Sound Tigers-Long Islanders, Arena event center, Amphitheater show consistency) we don’t have the local, in-city support to maintain any sort of viable entertainment sector in Bridgeport. We were a regional entertainment center back in the day when we had 100,000+ living-wage-scale jobs, as well as a sizable, associated upper-middle-class sector based in the city, but we don’t have that now, which limits entertainment-sector possibilities internally, as well as making us far less attractive to non-local patronage of any sort of entertainment offerings.
Bridgeport needs to get beyond the hype and pretense of its Steele Point and Entertainment Center propaganda — the latter of which are tax-payer liabilities and have not and will not deliver any sort of municipal socioeconomic redemption for our city. Only by an integrated, comprehensive economic-development plan, which includes, and is based upon hugely growing the commercial-industrial sector with high-end jobs and tax-base, can Bridgeport regain socioeconomic viability. We have made virtually no attempt at the latter for the past 5 decades. It eventually will become too late…
It’s time for a new mayoral administration to make a fresh, new, smart attempt at resurrecting our city. Enough with the hype and propaganda!