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US Airways Center
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| US Airways Center | |
|---|---|
| The Purple Palace The Snake Pit |
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| Location | 201 East Jefferson Phoenix, Arizona 85004  |
| Opened | June 1, 1992 |
| Owner | The City of Phoenix |
| Operator | Phoenix Arena Development, L.P. |
| Construction cost | $90 million USD |
| Architect | Ellerbe Becket |
| Former names | America West Arena (1992-2005) |
| Tenants | |
| Arizona Rattlers (AFL) (1992-present) Phoenix Suns (NBA) (1992-present) Arizona Sandsharks(CISL) (1993-1997) Phoenix Coyotes (NHL) (1996-2003) Phoenix Mercury (WNBA) (1997-present) Phoenix RoadRunners (ECHL) (2005-present) |
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| Capacity | |
| Basketball: 18,422 Hockey: 16,210 |
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US Airways Center (formerly America West Arena) is a sports and entertainment facility located in Phoenix. It has been designated as a Phoenix Point of Pride.[1]
The arena, which is situated down the street from Chase Field, is named after its sponsor, US Airways, under a naming rights arrangement. After America West's merger with US Airways, it was announced that America West Arena would be renamed to US Airways Center on November 14, 2005 with the name change taking place in January 2006.
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The US Airways center is home of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, the AFL's Arizona Rattlers, and the ECHL's Phoenix Roadrunners. The NHL's Phoenix Coyotes previously played here, from 1996 to 2003. Since then, the Phoenix Roadrunners of the ECHL have made this their home. It was also the home of the indoor soccer team Arizona Sandsharks.
Its most common nickname is "The Purple Palace," though during the Rattlers' season it is known as "the Snake Pit."
Capacity for basketball was originally 19,023, but was downsized in recent years to 18,422.
Three of the games of the 1993 NBA Finals between the Suns and the Chicago Bulls, including game six where John Paxson hit basketball's version of the shot heard around the world, were played there, as was one of the three 1998 WNBA finals games and two ArenaBowl games. In 1997, the Rattlers won ArenaBowl XI at America West Arena. The NBA All-Star Game was played in the arena in 1995, and the arena has been named as the location for the 2009 NBA All-Star Game.[2]
In October 25, 1998, Celine Dion gave a Let's Talk About Love Tour concert.
In 2003 the US Airways Center hosted WWE SummerSlam and WWE Judgment Day in 2006. In addition to sports events, many famous singers and musical acts, such as dc Talk, Shakira, The Spice Girls, Britney Spears, REO Speedwagon, *NSYNC, The Backstreet Boys, Green Day, Blink 182, Gwen Stefani, Vicente Fernandez, Maná and others have performed at the arena. Oscar de la Hoya had one of his first professional boxing bouts (versus Narciso Valenzuela) there, and Michael Carbajal also fought there various times.
On March 5, 2007, US Airways Center hosted WWE Monday Night Raw and its first return to the Phoenix area in two years. Most recently, WWE returned on July 31, 2007 for a Smackdown!/ECW television taping.
Construction of this arena began in 1988, as Suns owner Jerry Colangelo envisioned a need for a new playing facility to replace Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum which was nicknamed "The Mad House on McDowell" (the Coliseum was located just off a street by the name of McDowell in downtown Phoenix). In 1993, the new arena was officially inaugurated with a 111-105 Suns win over the Los Angeles Clippers. After the Suns lost the NBA championship series that year, a parade that attracted more than 300,000 Suns fans made its way through downtown and finished at the new arena.
When the Winnipeg Jets announced their intention to move to Phoenix as the Coyotes for the 1996-97 season, the arena was quickly retrofitted for hockey. There were no initial problems, in part because the seats are built on risers and the rise to the stands is fairly steep, making every seat close to the action.
However, unlike most arenas built since the 1960s, it was not designed with a hockey rink in mind. The floor was just barely large enough to fit a regulation-size hockey rink. The building's sight lines, particularly in the upper deck, had been designed for the much smaller basketball floor. As a result, sight lines from a couple of thousand of seats were badly obstructed. About a fourth of the ice (including one of the nets) couldn't be seen from four sections of the lower level and 10 sections of the upper level on the south end. The matter was so problematic that, by the Coyotes' second season in Phoenix, the team had to curtain off some seats in the areas where the net couldn't be seen, cutting listed capacity from over 18,000 seats to just over 16,000. Even then, the setup was completely inadequate for the Coyotes. A small section of seats in the lower level actually hung over the boards, obstructing the view from over 3,000 seats. These sight-line problems meant they had to sell many tickets for a very low price. In addition, an unfavorable lease caused financial troubles from which the franchise has never really recovered.
The Coyotes added a second video board in an area where the view was particularly obstructed, and also put up numerous proposals to improve sight lines in order to boost capacity back over the 17,000 mark. However, none of these plans worked, and they moved into an arena of their own, Jobing.com Arena located in suburban Glendale for the 2003-04 NHL season.
- ^ Phoenix Points of Pride. Retrieved on October 18, 2006.
- ^ Phoenix selected as host for 2009 NBA All-Star game. Yahoo! Sports (2007-11-07). Retrieved on 2007-11-07.
- Official website
- close-up
- US Airways Page at Arizona's S&E News
- Seats3D Interactive Seating Tour of US Airways Center
| Preceded by Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum 1968–1992 |
Home of the Phoenix Suns 1992–present |
Succeeded by current |
| Preceded by none |
Home of the Arizona Rattlers 1992–present |
Succeeded by current |
| Preceded by none |
Home of the Phoenix Mercury 1997–present |
Succeeded by current |
| Preceded by none |
Home of the Phoenix RoadRunners 2005–present |
Succeeded by current |
| Preceded by Winnipeg Arena 1972–1996 |
Home of the Phoenix Coyotes 1996–2003 |
Succeeded by Jobing.com Arena 2003–present |
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| Eastern Conference | Conseco Fieldhouse · Madison Square Garden · Mohegan Sun Arena · The Palace of Auburn Hills · Philips Arena · UIC Pavilion · Verizon Center |
| Western Conference | ARCO Arena · AT&T Center · KeyArena · Staples Center · Target Center · Toyota Center · US Airways Center |
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| American Conference | Allstate Arena | EnergySolutions Arena | HP Pavilion | Sprint Center | Pepsi Center | Staples Center | US Airways Center | Van Andel Arena |
| National Conference | American Airlines Center | Amway Arena | Nassau Coliseum | Nationwide Arena | New Orleans Arena | Arena at Gwinnett Center | Quicken Loans Arena | St. Pete Times Forum | Wachovia Center1 | Wachovia Spectrum2 |
| 1The Philadelphia Soul play Sunday home games at the Wachovia Center. 2The Philadelphia Soul play Saturday home games at the Wachovia Spectrum. |
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| American Conference |
Your Best Rate Financial Home Ice · Cambria County War Memorial Arena · Carolina Coliseum · St. Lawrence Homes Home Ice · First Arena · Ford Arena · Germain Arena · James Brown Arena · Mississippi Coast Coliseum · North Charleston Coliseum · Nutter Center · Pensacola Civic Center · Sovereign Bank Arena · Sovereign Center · U.S. Bank Arena · WesBanco Arena |
| National Conference |
E Center · Orleans Arena · Qwest Arena · Rabobank Arena · Save Mart Center · Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre • Stockton Arena · Sullivan Arena · US Airways Center |
Categories: Arena football venues | Basketball venues in the United States | 1992 establishments | Indoor arenas in the United States | Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States | Music venues in Arizona | National Basketball Association venues | National Hockey League venues | Phoenix Coyotes | Phoenix Mercury | Phoenix Suns | Sports venues in Phoenix | Phoenix Points of Pride | US Airways | World Wrestling Entertainment venues