The arena is located at 500 West Embargo Street, co-located with the municipal pool, a community facility open from June through early September.

The arena and pool are served by a large parking lot off of Jay and Embargo Streets with space for more than 150 vehicles.

The Rome Copper City Chiefs were organized in 1963 under their original name of the Rome Knights, an unchartered recreational organization which was begun to provide athletic recreation in the form of ice hockey to adults who had played minor professional or college ice hockey.

The Knights engaged in strictly invitational hockey games, usually paying expenses of the opposing team so they would play in Rome.

This was gradually expanded over the years to include teams from as far away as Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and the Canadian province of Ontario.

The Rome Copper City Chiefs continued to play invitational games and increased their following in and around central New York.

A new general manager took control of the team and instituted a publicity campaign to further increase game attendance and provide further incentives for local business sponsorship.

But involvement in the league, which was never formalized enough to support and enforce the schedules (i.e., no penalty for missed games, forfeitures), also created additional expenses for all the teams.

[5] Improvements were also made to the warming room and concession area, to allow for more and better off-season use of the facility, including usage by teens and seniors.