The building opened in 1991 as a replacement for Woodling Gym and was known until 2005 as the CSU Convocation Center. It is named for Bert Wolstein, a Cleveland area real estate developer, former owner of the Force, and CSU alumnus, and his wife Iris. The main arena is known as Henry J. Goodman Arena, named for a businessman and former chairman of the CSU Board of Trustees.
In its full configuration, it seats 13,610 for basketball, and with additional floor seating can hold 15,000 for concerts and professional wrestling.[1] In addition to the arena, the Wolstein Center also has a practice gym and grand ballroom. It is the largest basketball arena in the Horizon League and the second-largest college basketball arena in Ohio by total seating capacity.
In recent years, Cleveland State has downsized capacity for basketball to 8,500 for most Vikings games. The basketball floor is placed closer to the eastern baseline, and the western third of the arena is curtained off. For many games only lower-level seating is available and upper-level seating sections are covered with tarps, further reducing available seating.[4] The area behind the curtain is used for a variety of other purposes, including a "Kids Fun Zone" children's play area during games. The curtain itself was adorned with a large American flag for several years and since 2023 features a video board and auxiliary scoreboards facing the court.[2]
The main arena is named Goodman Arena after Henry J. Goodman, former chairman of the Cleveland State board of trustees, while the building is named after Bert and Iris Wolstein, who donated $6.5 million towards the building's construction, the largest philanthropic gift in CSU history. The building also contains a practice gym, a 23,744 square feet (2,205.9m2) grand ballroom, six-room conference center, and eight concession stands. In the arena, there is a 100-seat party loge located above the seating in the west baseline.
From 2021 to 2024, the arena was home to the Cleveland Charge, the NBA G League affiliate of the Cleveland Cavaliers. The team, previously located in Canton, Ohio, as the Canton Charge, announced the move to Cleveland on June 9, 2021, and began play at the Wolstein Center in the 2021–22 season.[8][9]
The team announced a six-year agreement with the city of Cleveland in June 2024 to move home games to Public Auditorium in downtown Cleveland beginning with the 2024–25 season.
While a rumored "impending demolition" of the Wolstein Center as part of Cleveland State University's 2022 master plan was mentioned as a reason for the move to Public Auditorium, Cleveland State University stated that there are no immediate plans regarding the arena's future.[10][11]
In the 2005 tournament, the 12th-seeded Milwaukee Panthers and 7th-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers won both of their respective games played at the Wolstein Center to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) did a live broadcast of their flagship program AEW Dynamite at the arena on January 29, 2020, in its Cleveland debut, and returned for their Beach Break event – which encompassed Dynamite and its companion show Rampage – on January 26, 2022. Another Dynamite/Rampage broadcast and taping took place on August 24, 2022. A Halloween themed edition of Dynamite titled Fright Night Dynamite took place on October 30, 2024.
On March 5, 2021, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced the Wolstein Center would host Ohio's first mass COVID-19 vaccination center, which ran from March 17 - June 7, 2021.[20]
Management
Since 2015, the Wolstein Center has been managed in partnership with Rocket Arena. The Rocket Arena staff works as a consultant to assist in promoting and booking events at both venues, while in return, select Vikings men's basketball games are played at Rocket Arena each season.[21]
↑Jarobe, Michelle (June 4, 2024). "Basketball at Public Auditorium? Cleveland Charge plans move to city-owned landmark". News5Cleveland.com. WEWS-TV. Retrieved June 5, 2024. By email Tuesday, a university spokeswoman stressed that "there are no immediate plans to demolish the Wolstein Center." Despite what's in the master plan, she added, "no final decisions about the future of the Wolstein Center have been made."
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