Cuneta Astrodome
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| Cuneta Astrodome | |
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| Location | Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, Philippines |
| Opened | 1993 |
| Owner | Pasay City Government |
| Operator | Pasay City Government |
| Tenants | Philippine Basketball Association (1993-1998) |
| Capacity | 10,000 |
Cuneta Astrodome is an indoor sporting arena located in Pasay City, Philippines. It is better known as the home of the Philippine Basketball Association from 1993, when it left the Philsports Arena, then known as the ULTRA, until 1998. It also host to other basketball leagues and political and evangelical gatherings.
The arena is named after Pablo Cuneta, former long-time mayor of Pasay and father of actress Sharon Cuneta.
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[edit] Basketball
[edit] Philippine Basketball Association
Built in 1993, the arena hosted a number of Philippine Basketball Association games full-time until 1998. During the first two years, the league played all of its games (except those played in provinces) at the Astrodome before limiting its schedule to Tuesday and Sunday games, as the league played its Friday games at the Araneta Coliseum (aka "The Big Dome").
In 1999, the league decided to hold most of its games at the Big Dome and at the PhilSports Arena, its previous home for many years. Although the league hosted a few games at the said venue, it was not used for the duration of the 2000 season. Since 2001, the league has host a decent amount of games at the Astrodome, including several recent PBA championship series games.
It has hosted 29 PBA championship series, most of them in a championship clinching series, most recently the Game 7 of the 2007 PBA Fiesta Conference Finals.
[edit] Metropolitan Basketball Association
In response to the departure of the PBA, the Metropolitan Basketball Association held two games at the Astrodome during the 1999 season. The first was the season-opening matchup between the San Juan Knights and the Nueva Ecija Patriots. The second, and final game, was between the eventual champion Manila Metrostars and the Pasig-Rizal Pirates.
As the regional-based league was competing with the commercial PBA, the venue was referred to as the "Home of the MBA" on the exterior part of the arena at one point, replacing the "Home of the PBA" painted below the Cuneta Astrodome sign. It was eventually painted out when the PBA began to play its games on a frequent basis once more.
[edit] Amateur/Collegiate Leagues
Aside from hosting PBA games, it also held several collegiate leagues such as the UAAP, NCAA, WNCAA and the UCAA. The UAAP held the men's senior basketball championships in 1994 and 1999. The NCAA hosted some championship matchups in the mid-90's with the most recent in 2003, when Letran defeated San Sebastian in the third and final game of the series, the only time it was held at the venue during the series.
In 2005, the NCAA held majority of its games at the Astrodome while the UAAP played a series of games in the 2004 season.
It also hosted the Philippine Basketball League during the mid-90's and during the 2005 PBL Unity Cup Finals between the champion Welcoat Paintmasters and the Montana Jewels.
[edit] Other events
Outside of sports, it also hosted several evangelical and political gatherings, the most recent by a political campaign for late-actor and Presidential candidate, Fernando Poe Jr. in 2004 and other functions by the opposition party.
It is also a usual gathering for evangelical events. Some religious organizations who have hosted the event are the Jesus Miracle Crusade, Eli Soriano's Ang Dating Daan and the frequent user of the astrodome is the 'Jesus Christ To God Be The Glory Church'who held their services every sunday and some major event such as concert,anniverssary etc.
The biggest event hosted by far was in 1994, when the World Wrestling Federation held a live event at the said venue featuring a WWF World Championship match between the then-champion Bret Hart and his brother, challenger Owen Hart.
Taekwondo competitions of the 2005 Southeast Asian Games were hosted in the venue.
[edit] Renovation
Recently, the Astrodome has been refurbished with new seats and a new floor for basketball games as the venue has shown a tremendous sign of deterioration over the past few years. It's the biggest renovation occurred at the Astrodome as past events resulted in minor refurbishment of the stadium.
The renovated Astrodome debuted on June 30, 2006 during Game six of the 2006 PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series and the Philippines-Lebanon goodwill series in August.
It continues to host a select number of PBA games and other major and minor religious gatherings.
[edit] See also
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