Scottrade Center

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Scottrade Center
Image:Scottradecenterlogo.png
Scottrade Center
Location 1401 Clark Avenue (to become 16 Brett Hull Way)
St. Louis, Missouri 63103
Opened October 8, 1994
Owner Sports Capital Partners
Construction cost $135 million USD
Architect Ellerbe Becket of Kansas City
Tenants
St. Louis Blues (NHL) (1994-present)
Saint Louis University Billikens (NCAA Division I) (1994-present)
St. Louis Steamers (MISL) (2003-2006)
St. Louis Ambush (NPSL) (1994-2000)
St. Louis Vipers (RHI) (1995-1999)
River City Rage (NIFL) (2006)
Seats
Hockey: 19,022
Basketball: 21,000

Scottrade Center (formerly Kiel Center and Savvis Center) is an arena located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri. The center features a range of arena programming, including ice hockey, professional wrestling, concerts, ice shows, family shows, and other sporting events. It hosts approximately 175 events per year, drawing nearly 2 million guests annually. Known for the quality of its ice (Scottrade Center was voted 2nd best rink in a poll of NHLers, behind only Montreal), the Scottrade Center is respected as one of the louder NHL arenas.

Scottrade Center is a 20,000-seat arena located in downtown St. Louis. Opened in 1994, it is home to the St. Louis Blues (NHL), Saint Louis University Billikens basketball (NCAA Division I), and a wide range of other sporting events, family shows and concerts.

The arena is frequently selected by the NCAA for championship events, and will play host to the NCAA Frozen Four Hockey Championships in April 2007, as well as the NCAA Wrestling Championships in 2008 and 2009 and the NCAA Women’s Final Four Basketball Championships in 2009. Pollstar, a highly respected industry trade publication, consistently ranks Scottrade Center among the top 10 arenas worldwide in tickets sold to non-team events. For the first quarter 2006, Scottrade Center ranked second among arenas in the United States and fourth worldwide in tickets sold. The building is operated by Sports Capital Partners, owner of the St. Louis Blues, under the leadership of its chairman, Dave Checketts. Major capital improvements being made to the arena under its new leadership include a new center scoreboard and LED ribbon board, luxurious new club seats and a point-of-sale system permitting credit and debit cards at concession stands for faster service.

Contents

[edit] History

Kiel Center opened in 1994 to replace Kiel Auditorium, where the college basketball team had played, which was torn down in December 1992. The Blues had played in the St. Louis Arena prior to moving into Kiel Center in 1994. The building is currently known as Scottrade Center, after naming rights were sold in September 2006 to Scottrade (the St. Louis based discount broker). The Kiel name still bears on the adjoining parking structure.

Blues management decried its former naming-rights deal with tech company SAVVIS, as many of the monies paid out were in Savvis shares, then riding high. However, when the tech bubble burst, the team was left with almost nothing, and ended up losing money on the deal. Scottrade fixed that problem by paying its deal all in cash.

In September 2006, Scottrade founder Rodger O. Riney and Chief Marketing Officer Chris X. Moloney announced a landmark partnership with the St. Louis Blues hockey club and arena. The new name of the arena, Scottrade Center, was revealed in a joint press conference. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but were described as "long-term and significant." Both Scottrade and the Blues said the agreement was "equitable" to both parties. Most of the signage and other promotions are expected to change to Scottrade Center prior to the first home game of the Blues on October 12, 2006.

[edit] Tenants

It is home to the St. Louis Blues of the NHL and the Saint Louis University Billikens basketball team of the Atlantic 10 Conference. It was formerly home to the St. Louis Vipers roller hockey team, St. Louis Ambush and St. Louis Steamers indoor soccer teams, the St. Louis Stampede arena football team, and the River City Rage indoor football team.

It also houses a number of other events throughout the year, such as concerts, figure skating, circus, WWE wrestling, graduations, and much more.

[edit] Notable Events

[edit] External links


Preceded by
St. Louis Arena
1967–1994		 Home of the
St. Louis Blues
1994–present		 Succeeded by
current

Coordinates: 38°37′36″N, 90°12′9″W

Current arenas in the National Hockey League
Western Conference Eastern Conference
American Airlines Center | Gaylord Entertainment Center | GM Place | HP Pavilion | Honda Center | Jobing.com Arena | Joe Louis Arena | Nationwide Arena | Pengrowth Saddledome | Pepsi Center | Rexall Place | Scottrade Center | Staples Center | United Center | Xcel Energy Center Air Canada Centre | BankAtlantic Center | Bell Centre | Continental Airlines Arena | HSBC Arena | Madison Square Garden | Mellon Arena | Nassau Coliseum | Philips Arena | RBC Center | St. Pete Times Forum | Scotiabank Place | TD Banknorth Garden | Verizon Center | Wachovia Center
Current Basketball Arenas in the Atlantic 10
A.J. Palumbo Center (Duquesne) • Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse (Saint Joseph's) • Cintas Center (Xavier) • Dale F. Halton Arena (Charlotte) • Liacouras Center (Temple) • Mullins Center (Massachusetts) • Reilly Center (St. Bonaventure) • Robins Center (Richmond) • Rose Hill Gym (Fordham) • Ryan Center (Rhode Island) • Scottrade Center (Saint Louis) • Smith Center (George Washington) • Tom Gola Arena (La Salle) • UD Arena (Dayton)
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