moved to Minneapolis for the 1968–69 season before returning. The team was disbanded following the 1971–72 season as the ABA struggled. The Pipers were part of the inaugural season of the ABA in 1967–68, which quickly established a rivalry to the older National Basketball Association. On May 4, 1968, the Pipers, led by future Hall of Famer Connie Hawkins, claimed the ABA's first ever championship, defeating the New Orleans Buccaneers before a Game 7 sold-out crowd of 11,457 in the Civic Arena. Naming In 1957, before the arena was opened, the under-construction building was officially known as the Civic Auditorium Amphitheater. By 1961, when it opened, Pittsburgh sign makers had decided that Civic Arena fit better on street signs, and the new, shorter name stuck. Still though, for the few years after it opened, it was sometimes referred to as the Civic Auditorium. In the early days, The Pittsburgh Dome was also popular name choice, but nothing came of it. In April 1988, city Councilman Mark Pollock proposed renaming it the Richard S. Caliguiri Arena, after the city's popular mayor who was diagnosed with amyloidosis. Caliguiri died a month later, and nothing came of this name, either. Allegheny County Commissioner Pete Flaherty believed that officially renaming the arena The Igloo would bring marketing potential in 1992. Again, the Civic Arena name stayed. In 1997, the Penguins sold naming rights to Allegheny Energy for $5 million, which would've renamed the arena Allegheny Energy Dome. However, the Penguins did not own the building nor its naming rights – the Sports Commission of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County did, and the deal fell through. But, by 1999, this had changed. When Mario Lemieux bought the Penguins out of bankruptcy, the naming rights were also awarded to him. They then sold the rights to Mellon Financial for $18 million, and the arena was finally renamed Mellon Arena. The arena kept the name after Mellon merged with The Bank of New York to form The Bank of New York Mellon in 2007 and didn't go through with the "BNY Mellon" rebranding like other buildings bearing the Bank of New York or Mellon name such as One Mellon Center. The Mellon Arena name was allowed to expire on August 1, 2010, with the building now vacant and the Penguins moving to the new Consol Energy Center (later renamed PPG Paints Arena) across the street. The closed building