Kohl Center

The Kohl Center, home to the Wisconsin Badgers Men's and Women's hockey teams, as well as Men's and Women's Basketball, is one of the finest college hockey arenas in the nation. Built in 1998, the Kohl Center seats 15,237 for hockey and 17,142 for basketball in a main bowl and two cantilevered upper decks, creating an intimidating vertical wall of fans. Rink dimensions are a nearly-Olympic 200'x 97'. The transition between basketball and hockey confidurations can be completed in less than four hours, allowing basketball and hockey games to be played on the same day.

For Badger Hockey, the Kohl Center is quickly earning a reputation as one of the most difficult places for opposing teams to play. Wisconsin has had the highest average attendance in all of college hockey during each and every season (now 7 in a row) in the Kohl Center. This is an extension of the reputation of Wisconsin Hockey's old home, the Dane County Memorial Coliseum, also one of the largest college hockey arenas during its heyday. At the Kohl Center, the students occupy the southern end of the arena, where the Badgers attack for two periods each game. Student seating (allthough students stand for the entire game) is located in sections 113-117 in the lower bowl, and sections 211-216 in the 2nd deck. The Wisconsin Band (one of college hockey's most well known pep bands) resides in the lower bowl student section, keeping the crowd energized with classics such as "Varsity," "On Wisconsin," and "The Bud Song."

The Kohl Center is named for U.S. Senator Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin), a 1956 graduate of the UW. Kohl's $25 million donation provided the major push for the completion of the $76 million facility. The arena features spacious locker rooms, state of the art video replay and ringbeam scoreboards, wide concources, plentiful restrooms, an in-house "Bucky's Lockerroom" apparel store, as well as coaching offices for both hockey and basketball.