The Urban Development Authority of Macon-Bibb County, Georgia, is set to approve issuing $350 million in revenue bonds to finance an arena in downtown Macon, which would provide a new home to the Macon Mayhem minor league hockey team.
"It sounds like it's in the right sort of zone for that expense," said David Abrams, a retired clinical associate professor at the Tisch Institute for Global Sport at New York University.
"If they're an underserved market for sports and other live entertainment such as music then events will come to that market because they have a new or well-maintained facility. That's a good business."
Macon's public finance team is looking to replace the Macon Coliseum which sits adjacent to the site of the proposed new structure.
The Coliseum, also known as the Centreplex, opened in 1968 with a maximum occupancy of 9,000. Its current main tenant is the Mayhem hockey team, who plays in one of the lowest rungs of professional hockey, the 12-team SPHL, which used to be known as the Southern Professional Hockey League.
The new arena will hold 8,500 and the Mayhem has already signed an agreement tying them to their current home through the end of the 2028–29 season.
The new 200,000-square-foot arena will include luxury suites, club seating, and a 35,000-square-foot flex hall with the capacity for hosting a second ice sheet.
The project is scheduled to break ground in July and be open by summer 2028.
The arena site is on the east bank of the Ocmulgee River in a neighborhood also home to the city's convention center. A mixed-use development is in the planning stages nearby on the site of a now demolished hotel.
City leaders believe that replacing the Coliseum will create new sources of tax revenue and help the area compete with similar venues in Athens, Augusta, and Savannah.
All three cities — between 100 to 160 miles from Macon — have recently poured millions into upgraded sports arenas. Macon sits 85 miles southeast of Atlanta.
"We got to maintain, we got to be competitive," said Macon-Bibb County Mayor Lester Miller.
"This is a way we can help our citizens in Macon-Bibb County. Without this, we can't keep taxes low. We can't provide the services we need to do, and we can't maintain our competitiveness with our surrounding areas."
Seed money for the new arena will flow from a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax. SPLOSTs are used in Georgia to levy a 1% county sales tax for capital improvement projects.
A $450 million over 10-year Macon-Bibb SPLOST was passed in a
The resolution sent from the County Commission to the UDA for approval limits payback on the series 2026 bonds to $29 million annually and caps the interest rate at 6%.
In September the county approved hiring PBK Architects to lead the design and planning of a new arena.
"This arena isn't just a venue. It's an economic engine that will create opportunities, attract visitors, and keep our city competitive for years to come," Miller said at the time.
The commission had previously approved hiring MFA Management to act as the county's representative.
The arena is positioned to elevate Macon's profile on a national stage," MFA said in a statement, "attracting professional sports, major concerts, and large-scale events that were previously out of reach for the community. Its scale, complexity, and visibility make it a truly transformational project for downtown Macon and the surrounding region."
Using public money to finance sports stadiums often sparks local opposition. Despite the potential backlash, major bond-financed stadium deals are underway in
Minor league teams are also following suit by leaning into debt in
Abrams cites other smaller market venues having success with building and filling new facilities including the BOK Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
"They have a minor league hockey team, and it's a very attractive market," he said. "It has a lot of events, it gets a lot of music, a lot of comedy shows, and it's a well-maintained building in an urban environment."
Newer thinking on stadium and arena development focuses on providing a diverse entertainment package and a mix of uses.
The Mayhem played 29 regular season home games last year in their SPHL schedule.
"If you just had professional hockey, you still have to figure out a way to get to 120-150 event nights a year to make it work," said Abrams.
Macon has deep roots in the music industry and is home to The Big House Museum, which served as the former home of the Allman Brothers Band. Little Richard, Otis Reading and James Brown also have ties to the city.
In 2024 Macon-Bibb received a rating upgrade from Fitch Ratings to AA from AA-minus because of a rating criteria change. The outlook is stable.
At the time, Fitch said, "The ratings incorporate the county's financial resilience assessment of 'aaa', which is based on its 'ample' level of budgetary flexibility given high revenue and expenditure controls, and Fitch's expectation that the county will maintain unrestricted general fund reserves equal to at least 7.5% of spending."
S&P rates the county's general obligation bonds AA-minus with a stable outlook.
Moody's Ratings assigns its Aa3 issuer rating to the Macon-Bibb County Consolidated Government.
