CURE Insurance Arena hoping to bring more basketball to Trenton
The 5,000-plus fans who turned out for the game between Princeton and Rutgers at the CURE Insurance Arena got to watch something that hasn’t been part of the capital city for quite some time.
Monday night’s curtain raiser was the first college basketball game contested in Trenton since UConn women beat Arizona State in the 2009 regional final of the NCAA Tournament. The arena — then known as the Sun National Bank Center — was poised to host the women’s tournament again in 2013 until the NCAA pulled all of its events from the state due to squabble over the New Jersey’s decision to legalize sports wagering.
There have certainly been other basketball games hosted at the arena since then. It has regularly welcomed elite high school teams and the Mercer County Tournament, but no college contests until the Gazelle Group in conjunction with CURE Insurance Arena was able to land the neutral site opener between the two New Jersey programs.
This also serves as the resumption of one of college basketball’s oldest rivalries that had been dormant for the last decade.
“I love that we are playing in Trenton,” Tigers coach Mitch Henderson said in the build up to the game. “I think that’s a great venue and I’d love to keep going with stuff like this.”
CURE Arena general manager Fran Rodowicz said in an email that the venue is working with the Gazelle Group to hopefully bring more games to the city in the future.
In addition to basketball, the arena hosted the MAC wrestling championships in 2021 and a match between Rider and No. 1 Penn State last winter that drew 3,229 fans. Rodowicz said Trenton is in the rotation to host the MAC wrestling again.