AUBURN | Auburn will be celebrating its 2022 SEC Championship in Neville Arena.

The 9,121-seat facility, which opened as Auburn Arena in 2010, was officially changed to Neville Arena Friday afternoon during a dedication honoring Bill and Connie Neville for the single largest gift in Auburn athletics history.

While nether hold degrees from Auburn, both are natives of Eufaula, Ala., and Bill’s father and both grandparents all graduated from Auburn. Bill Neville holds a degree from Rice and a master’s from Columbia while Connie holds a degree from NYU and a master’s from Columbia.

“He was a very emotional guy,” said Bill Neville of his father. “I think he’d probably get a little choked up now, and he’d have some words of wisdom to impart. He was a great Auburn man, as great an Auburn man as I have met. He really loved this place. I think he would have loved this day. I think maybe he’s responsible for this beautiful day.”

“I got very emotional when I saw the lettering and it made it all real,” said Connie Neville. “We’ve been coming to this arena since they built it and maybe a quarter full, almost nobody there. But we were there and tried to fill up the space with our yelling as much as we could. We just love it so much, and having this group of coaches, Bruce Pearl, this team, they are just the best people.

“We just love being here. We just love Auburn and this was such a special day to share it with our family and so many of our friends.”

The gift will help Auburn construct a new practice gym at Neville Arena and renovate existing team support spaces to alleviate over-scheduling of the existing practice gym, which is shared by men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and visiting teams.

“They honor us and give us the honor of honoring them. Bill and Connie are wonderful people, as fine as they come,” said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl, who was one of the speaker’s at the dedication ceremony.

“For them to be as generous and make this investment in all of our student athletes, it’s very, very significant.”

No. 5 Auburn, which clinched the SEC regular season title with a win at MSU Wednesday night, hosts South Carolina Saturday at noon CT in the final regular season game of the year.