The Carolina Hurricanes have approved a five-year extension on their lease at PNC Arena, Centennial Authority chairman Tom McCormick said on Wednesday.
The board of the Centennial Authority, which oversees the arena, still has to approve the term sheet to complete the deal, McCormick said.
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That could happen during the authority’s next scheduled meeting on June 4, if not sooner, McCormick said.
“We would like the Hurricanes to stay here and hopefully they want to be here,” McCormick said in an interview with WRAL on Wednesday.
The lease extension would keep the NHL team in Raleigh at least through the 2028-29 season. The current deal goes through the 2023-24 season.
“Four more years after this, sounds like a long time but with a professional sports team, it’s not too early to begin planning for that,” McCormick said.
The Hurricanes moved to North Carolina in 1997 and began playing at the 18,600-seat arena near the State Fairgrounds in 1999. As part of their current agreement with the authority, the Hurricanes pay rent and also assume responsibility for the building.
The NHL season was suspended in March by the COVID-19 pandemic. The league is hopeful and has discussed multiple contingency plans for a completion of the 2019-20 season.
The authority’s legal bylaws committee had a public meeting on Wednesday and the team's rent payment from May was discussed but not the lease extension.
Upgrades and renovations to the arena and the area around it have been a major part of the discussions between the Hurricanes and the authority.
A deal with Wake County was approved last August to put $9 million a year from the hotel, restaurant and tourism tax into a renovation project but that amount will likely be altered by the economic downturn related to the coronavirus.