Dort Financial Center

Dort Financial Center sits at the end of a long, flat driveway in Flint, its brick and white-panelled walls set back from the road behind a row of tall lightposts. What makes the place different is the view from the lower tier.

The arena opened in 1969 and has lived through several shifts in ownership and naming. It was IMA Sports Arena for over thirty years, then Perani Arena and Event Center, then Dort Federal Credit Union Event Center before settling on the current title. A renovation in 2020 brought in new LED ribbon panels and the same leather seats you see today. The locker room tells a smaller story. The wooden stalls curve around a blue carpet with the Firebirds logo stitched down the middle. The jerseys hang from the same hooks they always have.

The ground does not host a single team anymore. The Flint Firebirds (Ontario Hockey League) play there now, but the calendar is full of other tenants. Basketball teams have filled the floor when the ice is gone. Indoor football sides and a soccer club have also called it home. On concert nights the capacity stretches to nearly 6,500. A derby with no love lost might bring a crowd closer to the hockey limit of 4,365. The building has weathered the storm of changing cities and changing sports, but the shape of it remains the same.