Based on the recommendations of a citizen committee, city and county leaders included a proposal as part of Project 1 to construct a downtown cultural complex.

A nationwide design competition for the complex (at the time referred to as the Broome County Cultural Center)[7][8][9] was held and Elbasani, Logan & Severin (ELS) were selected as the winners in November 1967.

The arena and the Senators hosted the 2008 AHL All-Star Classic with the skills contest and game broadcast on consecutive nights on live TV across the US and Canada.

[16] The arena then agreed to a lease with the Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) to add an expansion team called the Binghamton Black Bears for the 2021–22 season.

Each December, the arena plays host to the Stop-DWI Holiday Classic, a high school basketball tournament.

From 1992 to 2014, the Classic included a national bracket, and was considered to be one of the premiere high school basketball tournaments in the United States.

In 2016, the arena hosted the New York State Public High School Athletic Association boys' basketball championship.

King, Bon Jovi, The Eagles, Kenny Rogers, Aerosmith, Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Rush, Metallica, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Elton John, Keith Sweat, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, Cher, Dolly Parton, Ozzy Osbourne, Grateful Dead, Phish, Metallica, Green Day, Twisted Sister, Stone Temple Pilots, Darius Rucker, Goo Goo Dolls, Carrie Underwood, and Jeff Dunham.

On May 15, 1995 (also the May 22, 1995, episode was taped that same night); April 21, 1997; July 20, 1998; and June 13, 2005, World Wrestling Entertainment brought RAW to the arena.

On March 3, 2012, the Arena was set to host the New York State Section IV Class D Basketball Championship Games.

The girls' championship game featured the South Kortright Rams and the Worcester Wolverines, two state ranked teams.

Current inductees are: 1998: Ken Holland, Randy MacGregor, Jim Matthews 1999: Rod Bloomfield, Jacques Caron, Paul Stewart 2000: Paul Crowley, Paul Fenton, Larry Pleau 2001: Craig Duncanson, Pierre Laganiere, Brad Shaw 2002: Chris Cichocki, Peter Sidorkiewicz, Ross Yates 2003: Roger Neel, Peter Fiorentino 2004: Peter Laviolette, Jon Smith, Bob Sullivan 2005: Don Biggs, Dallas Gaume, Brad Jones 2006: Ken Gernander, Dave Staffen 2007: Gary Jaquith, Brian McReynolds 2008: AHL All Star Game - No Inductions 2009: Mike Dunham, Glenn Merkosky 2010: Daniel Lacroix, Tom Mitchell 2011: Chris Grenville, Corey Hirsch, John Paddock 2012: Mike Busniuk, Chris Ferraro, Peter Ferraro 2013: Bob Carr, Al Hill 2014: Denis Hamel 2015: Rob Zamuner, Bob Moppert, Scott Allegrino 2016: Richard Grenier, Jean-Yves Roy, Justin Plamondon 2017: Ray Emery, Steve Stirling, Patrick Snyder 2018: Brian McGrattan, Larry Kish 2019: Chris Kelly, Ryan Keller, Grady Whittenburg 2020: No Inductions 2021: No Inductions 2022: No Inductions 2023: Josh Hennessy, Patrice Robitaille, Charlie Jaworski 2024: Kurt Kleinendorst, Stephen "Shimes" Shimer