Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena

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Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
Spokane Arena


Location 720 W. Mallon Spokane, Washington 99201
Broke ground March 5, 1993
Opened September, 1995
Owner Spokane Public Facilities District (SPFD)
Operator Spokane Public Facilities District (SPFD)
Surface Multi-surface
Construction cost $44.8 million (USD)
Architect ALSC Architects/Ellerbe Becket Architects
Contracted Construction Company Garco Construction
Tenants
Spokane Chiefs (WHL) (1995-Present)

Spokane Shock (af2) (2006-Present)
Capacity
End Stage Concert: 12,638

Basketball: 12,210
Hockey: 10,440
Arena Football: 10,187

The Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena (popularly known as Spokane Arena) a multi-purpose arena located in Spokane, Washington, USA. The building is home to the Spokane Chiefs hockey team of the Western Hockey League, and the Spokane Shock arena football team of the af2.

Contents

[edit] Facility

The Spokane Arena has a capacity for:

  • 12,494 for center-stage shows
  • 12,210 for basketball
  • 11,874 - 12,638 for end-stage concerts
  • 10,440 for ice hockey
  • 10,187 for arena football
  • 6,951 for half-house shows

The arena has a state-of-the-art audio and video system. It consists of a 15' x 20' Viacom Sports 12 mm LED Display, which is capable of being used as two separate units. The video board has exceptional color reproduction and the best off-angle viewing available for any LED format. It can even be moved forward approximately 100' and down to approximately 20' off the arena floor. On all four corners of the arena bowl are PC-based, color, message center panels capable of displaying text messages, animations, logos and statistics. Powered by Crown Amplifiers, the audio system is driven by Community RS880 speakers in the Arena bowl, Altec Lansing satellite speakers for the upper seating areas, and Bose speakers serve the concourse, dressing rooms, and backstage hallways.

Large public areas are one of the greater features of the Spokane Arena. The arena floor is 32,000-square-foot, and the 14-foot high concourse is a spacious 35,000 square feet. 16 luxury suites containing a total of 146 seats. In addition, there are six meeting rooms located at the Spokane Arena, totalling 10,050 square feet of meeting space.

On the Event's Level, there are five truck docks with 8' x 10' loading doors, one 8' x 10' drive-in door, and one 20' x 24' drive-in loading door, allowing large shows to load/unload eight trucks simultaneously. Trucks can load and unload unobstructed, directly into the marshalling area at the arena floor's west end. Backstage are three star dressing rooms, two promoter offices (located in the marshalling area), and seven team dressing rooms, as well as a dressing room for officials. The arena has an expandible area to make the arena seat around 14,000 in its upper level

[edit] Construction

With an aging Spokane Coliseum, along with a need for a larger facility more than twice the coliseum's capacity, the Spokane City Council and Board of Spokane County Commissioners formed the Spokane Public Facilities District (SPFD) to acquire, construct, own and operate sports and entertainment facilities with contiguous parking facilities. In 1990, the SPFD board members unanimously agreed on the following recommendations made by a economic feasibility/market study. The recommendations were:

  • To build an arena opposed to a domed stadium
  • An arena that could seat 12,000 to 14,000 with expansion capabilities
  • To build the new arena on city-owned land located adjacent to the old coliseum with on-site parking for 2,000 automobiles.

In the fall of that year, two ballot measures were put out to voters, and passed:

  • One, to publicly finance the construction of the arena through a property tax bond issue worth $38 million
  • Two, a measure to validate the SPFD. Validation was important, because it would allow the district to implement a 2% hotel tax to further fund construction.

In the fall of 1991, another funding measure was put out to voters and was passed. It involved a .1% raise in the sales tax. The passage of all three measures completed the $44.8 million financining needed to build the arena.

The Spokane Arena broke ground on March 5, 1993, and opened in September of 1995.

[edit] Events

[edit] Sports

[edit] Basketball

Spokane Arena, in addition to its duties as being the host of Chiefs and Shock games, also serves as a secondary home for the men's basketball program of Gonzaga University for big matchups including the Bulldogs' annual game with local rival Eastern Washington University, plus an occasional matchup with a national power, such as Memphis in 2007.

It also hosted the Washington Class B state high school basketball tournament annualy until 2006. The tournament came back to the arena in 2007, but as the Class 2B tournament. The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association had split the B classification into 1B and 2B. The Yakima SunDome in Yakima, Washington hosts the 1B tournament.

Notably, this was the reason why the West Coast Conference tournament had never been in Spokane before 2006; the Class B and WCC tournaments clash every year, and Gonzaga's arena at that time was too small to host the WCC tournament. In 2004, Gonzaga opened a new basketball arena, the McCarthey Athletic Center, which enabled it to enter the WCC tournament rotation.

The arena has also hosted several NCAA first and second rounds basketball tournaments for both men and women.

[edit] Football

The Spokane Shock, of the af2, play their home games at the arena. expansion of the horseshoe style upper level would help tremendously in any event of Spokane being a canidate city for any pro sport. (i.e. the Arena Football League)

[edit] Ice Hockey

The Spokane Chiefs, of the WHL, also play their home games at the arena.

[edit] Other sports

In January of 2007, the Spokane Arena was put in the national spotlight once again. It was one of two facilities to host the 2007 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the other being the Group Health Exhibit Hall at the Spokane Convention Center several blocks away. The arena, as well as the city recieved many rave reviews and also shattered the previous attendance record for the event, previously held by Los Angeles, California, by over 30,000.

[edit] Concerts

[edit] Star Theater

The Star Theater is a 5,900-seat theater within Spokane Arena, used for theater concerts, Broadway and family shows, and other events. Artists such as Cher, The Eagles, Elton John, Creed, The Dixie Chicks, Dave Matthews Band, and Garth Brooks have performed concerts at the facility.

[edit] Other events

Numerous other activities have taken place at the Spokane Arena including circuses, large conferences, monster truck shows, and much more.

[edit] Notable events hosted

[edit] External link

Preceded by
Spokane Coliseum
unknown–1995		 Home of the
Spokane Chiefs
1995–present		 Succeeded by
Current
Preceded by
None		 Home of the
Spokane Shock
2006–present		 Succeeded by
Current
Current arenas in the Western Hockey League
Eastern Conference Western Conference
Art Hauser Centre • Brandt Centre • Centennial Civic Centre • Cranbrook Recreational Complex • Credit Union Centre • ENMAX Centre • ENMAX Centrium • Keystone Centre • Medicine Hat Arena • Moose Jaw Civic Centre • Pengrowth Saddledome • Rexall Place CN Centre • Everett Events Center • Interior Savings Centre • KeyArena • Memorial Coliseum • Pacific Coliseum • Prospera Centre • Prospera Place • Rose Garden Arena • Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena • Toyota Center
Current arenas in the af2
American Conference National Conference
Allen County War Memorial Coliseum | Chevrolet Centre | Everett Events Center | Freedom Hall | The MARK of the Quad Cities | Qwest Arena | Rabobank Arena | Resch Center | Selland Arena | Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena | Stockton Arena | Times Union Center | Toyota Center | U.S. Bank Arena | Wachovia Arena | Verizon Wireless Arena Alltel Arena | Amarillo Civic Center | American Bank Center | Berry Center | Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center | CenturyTel Center | CityBank Coliseum | Dodge Arena | Ford Center | Germain Arena | Gray Civic Center | Laredo Entertainment Center | Tulsa Convention Center | Von Braun Center
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