The Mullins Center serves as the primary home arena for the UMass Minutemen men's and women's basketball teams, as well as the men's hockey team. It is located on the campus of the University of Massachusetts. When configured for basketball, the arena has a seating capacity of 9,493.

Though the vast majority of the UMass campus is located in the town of Amherst, the bulk of the Mullins Center footprint is situated in the town of Hadley. Only the southeast corner of the arena lies in the town of Amherst.¹⁾ In 1994, Hadley had sought a ticket tax to help pay for town infrastructure improvements.

• Status: Primary home arena
• Opened: February 4, 1993
• Closed: N/A, active facility
• Capacity: 9,493 (basketball)

The Mullins Center is named in honor of William D. Mullins, a state representative from nearby Ludlow.²⁾³⁾ In 1985, Mullins, then the vice chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, argued that the UMass campus lacked an indoor facility of sufficient size for major sports and other events. Mullins died of cancer in 1986 at age 54, but several of his colleagues in the legislature, as well as other supporters, carried on his project. As a tribute to Mullins’ dedication to UMass sports, the facility was named in his memory. ^{4) 5) 6) 7)}

Conceptual art of Mullins, circa mid-1980s. Perspective is from the southeast, looking across Commonwealth Avenue at the venue's east side.

The following sub-sections appeared in a fact sheet compiled by the University.

• Construction costs for the Mullins Center was funded jointly by a State Capitol Outlay and Building Authority Bond Issue. The bond will be repaid through a $50.00/semester fee charged to students beginning in September of 1993.
• Design began in October of 1990 and expected construction completion is winter of 1992. Total cost is expected to be $51,000,000.
• The building contains approximately 254,000 gross square feet. The roof size is over 2.5 acres.
• The exterior of the building consists mostly of red/brown brick with a sloping roof. Large glass areas provide natural lighting to the interior circulation concourse. The entrance to both the main arena and the practice rink is defined by a large pedestrian plaza which also provides access from the campus to existing playing fields behind the Mullins Center.

Mullins Center, showing the south side. Taken in 2013, the field just to the south is now occupied by the Champions Center building. Full size original image.

• 8,389 fixed seat arena, with capacity of over 10,000 seats depending on event. Approximate seating counts for major events are as follows.

• A large function room overlooking the Main Arena which can seat 200 for a banquet.
• Identically sized Olympic ice rinks (one in the main building, one in the adjacent practice building) with year round skating in the practice rink.
• 7 racquetball courts
• A full Fine Arts theater conversion with a 30' x 60' stage.
• Ticket office for all athletic events.
• Various athletic support spaces: athletic offices, varsity and visiting team locker rooms, equipment room, training and weight rooms.
• New digital video boards were added above the center of the arena, and at both ends, in summer 2017.¹⁰⁾

The UMass Minutemen closed out the Curry Hicks Cage era on January 29, 1993, in a game that was coined “The Final Rage”. Six days and two games later, on February 4, the Minutemen played the first game at the Mullins Center against West Virginia. WVU was a fellow Atlantic 10 Conference member at that time, and was in the conference tournament final with UMass the previous season.

In pre-game festivities, the arena's lights were turned off, and music from the television series “The Twilight Zone” played over the sound system. A booming voice ended with “Welcome to the Cal-Zone,” in reference to UMass Head Coach John Calipari. Audio recording of the intro.

The game did not disappoint, as the Minutemen and Mountaineers went into overtime, with UMass prevailing 64-59.

Game program cover

Commerative t-shirts for the first game in Mullins

The playing floor is dedicated to Jack Leaman, in recognition of his decades of service and success with the UMass Athletics Department. The floor was dedicated in a ceremony on February 25, 2006.¹¹⁾

The basketball court floor at Mullins has evolved many times since the building's opening in 1993, with more graphical elements and updated looks. In October 2019, UMass unveiled a new design that shows a shadow of the Massachusetts geographical boundaries.¹²⁾¹³⁾

Upon opening, and for two decades after, the Mullins Center never had a center-hung scoreboard or video display. Scoreboards were mounted on the walls on the baseline ends, and were upgraded on occasion with better display technology.

This image, from the 12/28/2013 game against Providence College, shows the baseline display, mini-scoreboard on the side, and center-hung banners. Larger image.

In Fall 2017, large LED displays were center-hung, and the baseline displays were also upgraded to LEDs.¹⁴⁾

2017's new LED displays. Larger image.

• Official site
• Facilities page from UMass Athletics
• Mullins Center on Wikipedia