The Tallahassee-Leon County Civic Center is the Big Bend's Premiere Entertainment Facility offering a wide variety of quality entertainment and convention and meeting facilities to the Capital City and surrounding areas.

The Florida State Seminoles Basketball team experienced a wild roller-coaster of a year achieving a home record at the Civic Center of 13-3 and an overall record of 20-12. Some 112,876 fans attended FSU home games at the Civic Center this fiscal year. The Seminoles hosted the second round NIT game against Michigan State winning 68-63 before 6362 enthusiastic fans while advancing all the way to the championship game of the 32 team NIT tournament in Madison Square Garden.

From the basketball court to the shark tank, the Frenzy continued with the drop of the puck as the Tallahassee Tiger Sharks won the South Division of the East Coast Hockey League while achieving a season record of 39-23-8. The Tiger Sharks also set the ECHL record for most consecutive wins at home to start a season with 13 wins. Hockey continues to be a very exciting and popular sport for Civic Center patrons to enjoy with a total attendance this year of 202,736. In addition, the Civic Center also presented an NHL Exhibition Game between the Florida Panthers and the Washington Capitals which resulted in a 1-1 tie.

Because of its full size indoor hockey rink, the Civic Center continues to be a popular destination for Touring Ice Shows including the 1997 Winter Tour of World Figure Skating Champions featuring Olympic skaters Viktor Petrenko and Dorothy Hamill. The Civic Center also offers USFSA Learn to Skate classes for ages 4 through adult. Public Ice skating is offered throughout the year.

The Summer of 1997 featured the new sport of Indoor Soccer at the Civic Center with the inaugural season of the EISL Tallahassee Scorpions. The Scorpions finished the season with a record of 15-9-1 and their leading scorer, Billy Reinhardt, was named the EISL's Most Valuable Player in the 1997 season. With the addition of the Tallahassee Scorpions Indoor Soccer, the Civic Center is now a year round active facility with entertainment for all ages.

In the entertainment field, the Civic Center presented concerts by The Village People and KC & The Sunshine Band as part of the Seminole Boosters 50th Anniversary, Phish, 1st Annual Tallahassee Gospel Festival featuring Mighty Clouds of Joy, Fruit of the Loom Country Comfort Tour with Hank Williams, Jr., Travis Tritt, The Charlie Daniels Band and JoDee Messina and a near sell out concert by James Taylor. In addition, the Urban League presented Gladys Knight and Liza Minnelli appeared as part of a benefit for the LeMoyne Art Foundation. The US Air Force Band presented a free concert featuring the music of the Glenn Miller Orchestra. Family shows included the John Hancock 1997 Tour of World Gymnastics Champions featuring the 1996 Olympic Gold Medal USA Women's Gymnastics Team, the Royal Lipizzaner Stallion Show, Monster Motor Nationals and Barney's Big Surprise. A sold-out FSU Homecoming PowWow featured comedian Carrot Top.

The Best of Broadway continued at the Civic Center with the 1996-97 Broadway Series of great musicals including The Who's Tommy, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in Ain't Misbehavin', Grease! and The Sound of Music. In addition, some 12,500 patrons saw the National Tour of The World's Most Popular Musical, Les Miserables, of which eight performances were presented at the Civic Center.

The Civic Center was the site of high school and college graduations with 65,700 guests in attendance. In addition, many civic organizations and businesses used the Civic Center's meeting rooms and Exhibition Hall for a variety of functions including luncheons and banquets, theme parties, legislative functions, seminars, wedding receptions, proms and more. Trade Shows during the 1996-97 fiscal year included the North Florida Home & Garden Show, Tallahassee Boat Show, WJ Powell Food Show, the Florida Women's Show and the Government & Technology Conference.

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