Gwinnett Arena remains home of Gladiators through 2014

DULUTH -- The Gwinnett Arena will remain the home of the Gwinnett Gladiators for the next three years after the team extended its lease agreement with the Gwinnett Center.

The Gladiators have called the Gwinnett Arena home for the past eight years following the completion of construction of the state-of-the-art facility located on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth in 2003. The Gladiators played their first game in the ECHL at the Gwinnett Arena on October 24, 2003.

"We take an enormous amount of pride that our home venue is consistently ranked as one of the premier multi-purpose facilities in the entire nation, and the Arena ice surface is definitely one of the finest in professional hockey," commented Gladiators President Steve Chapman. "In addition, we consider ourselves fortunate to have such tremendous support from both the Gwinnett Center management and gameday staff. We look forward to continuing this extraordinary collaborative effort for many seasons to come.

The Gladiators have ranked in the top five in the league in average attendance over their eight years at the Gwinnett Arena. The team surpassed the million fan mark during the 2007-08 season and over 1.5 million fans have attended a Gladiators game over the first eight seasons.

"The action of ECHL hockey provides great family programing here in Gwinnett," commented Joseph Dennis, General Manager of the Gwinnett Center. "We are excited to continue to be part of the commitment the Gladiators have, both on and off the ice."

The Gladiators have earned a 174-88-26 record at the Gwinnett Arena and earned a berth in the post-season for six consecutive years from 2004 through 2009. In addition, Gwinnett captured the American Conference title in 2006 and are two time division champions.

The organization has been recognized by "Best of Gwinnett" from Gwinnett Magazine, by the Associated Press for best "Play By Play Broadcast", earned the ECHL Award of Distinction, two-time ECHL Executive of the Year, two-time ECHL Ticket Executive of the Year, ECHL Website of the Year and ECHL Media Relations Executive of the Year. The Gladiators have been represented by 13 players in the ECHL All Star Game. In addition, 10 former Gladiators have gone on to play in the National Hockey League.

The Gladiators are members of the ECHL, the Premier "AA" Hockey League and play all home games at the 11,355-seat Arena at Gwinnett Center, located just off I-85 on Sugarloaf Parkway in Duluth.