John Paul Jones Arena
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| John Paul Jones Arena | |
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| Home of the Hoos | |
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| Location | 295 Massie Rd Charlottesville, VA 22903 |
| Broke ground | May 30, 2003 |
| Opened | August 1, 2006 |
| Owner | University of Virginia |
| Operator | SMG |
| Construction cost | $129.8 million (projected) |
| Architect | VMDO Architects |
| Tenants | Virginia Cavaliers (Men's & Women's Basketball) |
| Capacity | Stated capacity: 14,593 (basketball) Record capacity: 15,269 (Feb 1, 2007) |
John Paul Jones Arena, opening for the 2006–2007 NCAA Division I basketball season, is located at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.[1] It has seating for 14,593 fans, nearly twice the capacity of 8,457 at Virginia's previous facility, University Hall. The design features pergolas on the outside to tie in the design with Scott Stadium, UVa's football facility. This style is known as Jeffersonian architecture, reminiscent of the many buildings designed by Thomas Jefferson on UVa's grounds and nearby.
John Paul Jones Arena is named in honor of the father of Paul Tudor Jones, a commodity trader and Virginia alumnus who donated $35 million for the construction of the arena. Paul Tudor Jones earned a B.A. in Economics from the University in 1976. His father, John Paul "Jack" Jones, is a 1948 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law.[2]
The arena plays host to not only basketball games, but a wide variety of concerts, performances, and other events; for example, its opening season in 2006 includes events such as the Dave Matthews Band, James Taylor, Brad Paisley, Eric Clapton, Cirque du Soleil, Larry the Cable Guy, The Wiggles, Disney on Ice and WWE Monday Night Raw. Other shows held in 2007, include Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blue Man Group, Rascal Flatts, Billy Joel, Justin Timberlake, Maroon5, The Police, Van Halen, High School Musical and Rod Stewart. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band made a stop at the venue on April 30, 2008, in support of Springsteen's 2007 album Magic, as well as The Eagles who made a stop here on May 21, 2008, to promote their 2007 album Long Road Out of Eden, their first studio album in 28 years. In addition to this, the arena has office space for SMG staff, the UVa athletics media relations department, video services and dining services. It also features coaches' offices, practice facilities and an extensive sports medicine facility for men's and women's basketball teams.
The arena's first event was Cirque du Soleil's Delirium on Tuesday, August 1, 2006, but the official Grand Opening event was a two-night tour-ending stand by Charlottesville natives Dave Matthews Band, September 22–23, 2006. An "open house" event for the local community was conducted on July 22, 2006.[3]
In February 2007, the arena was awarded the title of "Best New Major Concert Venue" at Pollstar's 18th Annual Concert Industry Awards.[4]
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[edit] Design and construction
The arena is in a U shape with the top closed. The curved western end is the main entrance and ticket sales office. The locker rooms, sports medicine facility and event support are located on the first floor or "event level." Access to suites and lower level seating, concessions, bathrooms and VIP lounges is located on the second floor or the "lower concourse," while higher level seating, concessions, bathrooms and the ticket office are via the third floor "upper concourse," which is actually at ground level from the parking lot and garage.
The arena features a custom designed steel roof support structure. The pieces were manufactured in San Angelo, Texas and shipped by trucks to the site. Some pieces were so large and heavy, it took two large cranes to hoist them in place. The arena is being outfitted with the latest in lighting and audio/video technologies, including four 16 ft by 9 ft (4.9 by 2.7 m) plasma screens for game replay. Total cost of the audio/video system exceeds $7 million.
A 900-car parking garage was simultaneously constructed next to the arena, mainly for VIP and donor parking. A double-story pedestrian walkway links the arena to the parking garage. A separate mechanical plant is part of the parking lot structure and provides heating and cooling functions.
The arena was designed by VMDO Architects and Ellerbe Becket, and the general contractor was Barton Mallow. Work began in April 2003, which included the demolition of a parking lot that served University Hall. The arena celebrated its topping off on June 22, 2005. Most of the arena was given its certificate of occupancy on June 16, 2006. The parking garage was inspected and passed on July 15, 2006. The locker rooms, practice courts and the sports medicine facility were inspected and passed August 4, 2006. One man died during construction, the result of a heart attack.
[edit] Memorable games
The University of Virginia opened the John Paul Jones Arena on November 12, 2006 with a pair of victories. The Virginia women's basketball team defeated Old Dominion University 92–72 in the afternoon. Later that evening in front of a capacity crowd of 15,219, the Virginia men's basketball team defeated #10 ranked Arizona 93–90, rallying from a 19 point first half deficit. Both games included elaborate pre-game festivities that featured a fireworks display and the Cavalier mascot rappelling from the rafters. Michael Buffer was introduced to announce the Virginia starting lineup prior to men's game.
On February 1, 2007, the Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball team defeated the #8 Duke Blue Devils 68–66 in overtime, marking their first win over Duke since February of 2002. The Cavaliers trailed by eight points with 3:42 left in regulation but their defense held Duke without a field goal for the final 8:42 of the game, including all of overtime. With 24.8 seconds left in regulation, a Sean Singletary 15-footer forced the extra period; Singletary also hit the game-winning basket with one hand while falling backward with one second left in overtime. The win marked Virginia's fifth ACC victory in a row and ended Duke's own five-game winning streak.
On March 1, 2007, the men's basketball team defeated Virginia Tech 69–56, clinching a share of first place in the final ACC regular season standings for the 2006–2007 season. The victory marked the school-record 16th home win of the season, and the Cavaliers finished 16–1 for the season in their new arena. Furthermore, Virginia went an undefeated 8–0 in league games at home for the first time since the Hoos went 7–0 at home in 1982. Also at this game, the fans in attendance said goodbye to two 4th-year players, J.R. Reynolds and Jason Cain, both of whom had contributed to the Virginia Basketball program.
[edit] References
- ^ Most of the building is actually in Albemarle County, Virginia, which encloses but does not include the City of Charlottesville. Only a small piece of the southeastern corner of the building is in the city. Detailed PDF maps (which may run slowly as they use quite a bit of memory) are available at: Space and Real Estate Management: GIS Mapping. University of Virginia. Retrieved on 2008-04-25.
- ^ "Jones names arena for great father" - Inside UVA Online
- ^ John Paul Jones Arena Open House Press Release - Official website, accessed 22 July 2006.
- ^ The 18th Annual Concert Industry Awards - February 8, 2007
[edit] External links
- John Paul Jones Arena Official Website
- Virginia Athletics Foundation website on the project
- SMG - Private management firm that runs the arena and books events
- VMDO's Special John Paul Jones Arena Web Section
- "John Paul Jones Arena Commands Respect" at The Extrapolater
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