Finite tensor categories (FTCs) T are important generalizations of the categories of finite dimensional modules of finite dimensional Hopf algebras, which play a key role in many areas of mathematics and mathematical physics. There are two fundamentally different support theories for them: a cohomological one and a universal one based on the noncommutative Balmer spectra of their stable (triangulated) categories T.In this paper we introduce the new notion of the categorical center C • T of the cohomology ring R • T of an FTC, T. This enables us to put forward a complete and detailed program for determining the exact relationship between the two support theories, based on C • T of the cohomology ring R • T of an FTC, T. More specifically, we construct a continuous map from the noncommutative Balmer spectrum of an FTC, T, to the Proj of the categorical center C • T , and prove that this map is surjective under a weaker finite generation assumption for T than the one conjectured by Etingof-Ostrik. Under stronger assumptions, we prove that (i) the map is homeomorphism and (ii) the two-sided thick ideals of T are classified by the specialization closed subsets of Proj C • T . We conjecture that both results hold for all FTCs. Many examples are presented that demonstrate how in important cases C • T arises as a fixed point subring of R • T and how the two-sided thick ideals of T are determined in a uniform fashion (while previous methods dealt on a case-by-case basis with case specific methods). The majority of our results are proved in the greater generality of monoidal triangulated categories.