The Ontario Reign are staying home for the long haul. The American Hockey League's primary development affiliate for the Los Angeles Kings has announced a multiyear renewal of its agreement with Toyota Arena, locking in the Inland Empire venue as the team's home ice for years to come — just as the Reign come off their most successful season in franchise history.
The partnership between the Reign and the arena dates back to the building's opening in 2008, according to the Fontana Herald News. The renewed deal guarantees that elite professional hockey will continue in Ontario, securing Toyota Arena as the club's home venue heading into a new era for both the team and the building that houses it. Toyota Arena general manager Michael Krouse said the Reign have been a premier anchor tenant since the arena opened, calling the building a community gathering place where professional hockey talent is developed. He added that the renewed agreement reflects a shared vision of excellence and a continued commitment to bringing top-tier events to the Inland Empire.
A Record-Setting Season on Home Ice
The timing follows a breakout year for the Reign, who captured the 2025-26 Pacific Division championship behind 47 wins on the season. The club set a franchise record with 26 home victories, finishing the campaign 26-6-2-2 at Toyota Arena. That run played out under first-year head coach Andrew Lord, who was named to the position in July 2025 after Marco Sturm departed to become head coach of the Boston Bruins, as reported by TheAHL.com. Lord arrived in Ontario after coaching in the QMJHL, taking over a bench that had just been vacated by one of the organization's most prominent recent alumni.
The Reign opened their new season against the Coachella Valley Firebirds at Toyota Arena on Saturday, October 3, picking up where last year's championship run left off. Keeping the team anchored in Ontario, Krouse said, will drive consistent foot traffic, boost regional tourism, and engage local businesses through sponsorship, hospitality and event-day opportunities. City officials and arena leadership frame the agreement as supporting sports, live entertainment and economic development across Southern California, with Toyota Arena continuing as a premier sports and entertainment destination for Reign fans since 2008.
Hockey's Roots at a Venue Built for Growth
The Reign's hockey lineage in Ontario stretches back further than the current AHL era. The franchise originally launched as an ECHL club at the venue in 2008, according to Wikipedia, before AEG relocated its AHL franchise — then known as the Manchester Monarchs — to Ontario in 2015 as a charter member of the league's Pacific Division. The Reign are owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) and serve as the AHL affiliate of the Los Angeles Kings.
Toyota Arena itself was built and is owned by the City of Ontario, opening on October 18, 2008 at an initial construction cost of $150 million. The venue, which sits on a 37-acre city parcel, holds up to 11,089 for full concerts and seats 9,736 for hockey games, with 36 luxury suites spread across two levels. It opened under the name Citizens Business Bank Arena before rebranding as Toyota Arena in June 2019 under a naming-rights deal with the Southern California Toyota Dealership Association. Hockey isn't the only tenant sharing the calendar there, either: the Empire Strykers, a professional indoor soccer club in the Major Arena Soccer League, have called the arena home since 2013.
Arena Sits at the Center of a Bigger Build-Out
The lease renewal lands as Ontario pursues a far larger transformation around the building. The city is developing a multi-phase “Arena District” project surrounding Toyota Arena, with Phase 1 breaking ground in winter 2025 to add 496 residential units, 51,000 square feet of commercial space, and more than 80,000 square feet of public plaza space, according to the City of Ontario. The full district plan ultimately calls for 700 total luxury apartments, a hotel, and a 60,000-square-foot theater, creating a broader entertainment hub around the arena.
The arena's draw extends well beyond hockey nights. In Billboard's mid-year 2025 venue rankings, Toyota Arena placed seventh nationwide and fifteenth globally in gross ticket sales among venues with capacities between 10,000 and 15,000, while ranking first in California for total attendance and number of shows, Redlands Patch reported. The venue hosts more than 125 events annually and functions as the primary indoor sports and concert hub for the Inland Empire, a region spanning San Bernardino and Riverside counties with more than 4.3 million residents. With the Reign now locked in long-term and the Arena District taking shape, Toyota Arena's role as the region's entertainment anchor looks set to deepen in the years ahead.
