Manchester Evening News Arena

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Manchester Evening News Arena
M.E.N. Arena

Facility statistics
Location M.E.N. Arena
Victoria Station
Manchester
M3 1AR
England
Opened Saturday, 15 July 1995
Owner Capital & Regional and GE Real Estate UK
Operator SMG Europe (Spectacor Management Group)
Construction Cost £132 Million
Architect DLA Architecture
Former names
NYNEX Arena
Tenants
No Regular Tenants
Seating capacity
3,000-21,000[1]

The Manchester Evening News Arena or M.E.N. Arena (commonly referred to as just The M.E.N. or simply Manchester Arena) is a large indoor arena in Manchester, England. It is currently sponsored by the Manchester Evening News and has a capacity of 3,000–21,000.[1] It was opened in 1995, and was initially sponsored by NYNEX (a British cable television provider, as opposed to the NYNEX Corporation, a telephone service provider in the United States) as the NYNEX Arena. The Arena took its current name in 1998 after the NYNEX brand name had disappeared as a result of a merger with Mercury Communications in 1997.

The M.E.N. Arena is currently Europe's largest indoor arena.[1] The arena was built to coincide with Manchester's two bids to host the Olympic games in 1996 and 2000 (which were won by Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000).

The M.E.N. Arena was one of the first indoor venues in Europe to be built following the traditionally American arena layout of 360 degree seating. Other European indoor venues built to the same concept are the Kölnarena in Cologne, Sazka Arena in Prague, Color Line Arena in Hamburg, and The O2 (formerly the Millennium Dome).

The M.E.N.'s seating capacity is one of Europe's most flexible. It is often chosen by touring acts because its design and layout makes the venue ideal for any type of performance. The seating is split into an upper tier (bowl) and a lower tier, separated by 44 hospitality suites.

Contents

[edit] Arena success

The M.E.N. Arena has attracted a huge number of customers since opening its doors in 1995, as it is the largest indoor arena in the country. The venue attracts over a million customers each year for concerts and family shows alone, making the venue one of the world's busiest indoor arenas, in regard to this the M.E.N. Arena was named "International Venue Of The Year" in 2001 by concert industry insiders in the 'Pollstar' awards, and was nominated in the same category in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. The M.E.N. Arena was also named "Busiest Arena Venue In The World", based on ticket sales for concerts in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 beating competition from other indoor arena's including New York's Madison Square Garden and London's Wembley Arena. The Arena has also been named the 'World's Busiest Arena' of the last 5 years (2001-2007) based solely on ticket sales for concerts, attracting five and a half million customers to concerts.

Despite its success, the venue is heavily criticised by locals. It is seen as a soulless concrete bowl, with heavily overpriced merchandise and food and drink. The upper tier of the arena is also extremely steep and the view from the rear blocks (207-210) is very poor, yet the tickets in these blocks are often priced at the same rate as those with a much better view.

MEN arena before the start of a concert.
MEN arena before the start of a concert.

In 2007 the Arena was named 'World's Busiest Arena' for a record 5th time, the top ten venues in 2007 are following:

Venue 2007 Ticket sales for concerts/shows
Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester, UK 1,245,196
Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA 1,230,433
O2 Arena, London, UK 1,209,376
Wembley Arena, London, UK 901,778
Air Canada Centre, Toronto, Canada 670,255
HP Pavillion, San Jose, California, USA 666,587
Bell Centre, Montreal, Canada 620,403
Philips Area, Atlanta, Georgia, USA 564,258
American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas, USA 539,030
Izod Center, East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA 527,694

Today, it plays host to many worldwide performing artists and shows including comedy acts, live music and tours, sporting events, and occasionally musicals. Notable stars to appear at the venue are:Lostprophets, Kanye West,Sex Pistols, David Gilmour, Oasis, UB40, Scissor Sisters, Green Day, Madonna,My Chemical Romance, Linkin Park, Paul McCartney, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tina Turner, Celine Dion, Meatloaf, Tom Jones, Sting, The Police, U2, The Pogues, Spice Girls, Foo Fighters, Britney Spears, Beyonce, Destiny's Child, Kylie Minogue, Fleetwood Mac, James, Christina Aguilera, Usher, Alicia Keys, Girls Aloud, Dionne Warwick, Whitney Houston, Barbra Streisand, Mariah Carey, The Corrs, Bryan Adams, The Rolling Stones, Cher, Justin Timberlake, Nelly Furtado, Mary J Blige, Westlife, P.Diddy, Jennifer Lopez, Shania Twain, Sheryl Crow, Foo Fighters, Nickelback, Pearl Jam, Paul Weller, Def Leppard, Take That, Gwen Stefani, Missy Elliott, Avril Lavigne, 50 Cent, Alanis Morissette, Andrea Bocelli, Diana Ross, Pink, Bruce Springsteen, The Fugees, Janet Jackson, The Killers, The Verve, Babyshambles, The Osmonds, and Muse amongst many others.

[edit] Sports

The M.E.N. Arena has been the home of three sports teams: the Manchester Storm and Manchester Phoenix ice hockey teams, and the Manchester Giants basketball team. However, with limited success, as the arena is not currently the home of any sports teams.

Boxers such as Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe, Mike Tyson, Jeff Lacy, Kostya Tszyu and other world champions have fought there. Hatton became a regular and favourite of the M.E.N. Arena until his split with Frank Warren, who has exclusive rights there for boxing shows. On October 26, 2002 it hosted the SmackDown! UK-only pay-per-view WWE Rebellion. Also on October 11, 2004, it hosted the first ever RAW that was filmed in Europe, and was followed the next day by a taping of WWE SmackDown!. RAW and SmackDown! returned to the M.E.N. Arena on November 13 and November 14, 2006 and will once again return for live tapings of RAW and Smackdown on 10th and 11th November 2008 respectivly. The M.E.N. Arena hosted the mixed martial arts event UFC 70 on April 21, 2007. The World Taekwondo Qualification Event for the Bejing Olympic Games was held at the Arena on September 28-20 2007 at this event 103 countries competed for 24 places at the Beijing Oympic Games in 2008. Also in April 2008 the arena hosted the FINAshortcourse swimming championships, the first time in the UK, For this the arena was transformed into a 17,250 seater swimming event venue. Two 25m swimming pools were constructed into the floor of the arena and completion of the pools were completed within 18 days.[2]

The arena was also used by Manchester United when they won the Champions League in 1999. The arena was the final destination of their bus tour which saw United parading the trophy to around 750,000 fans across Manchester, including 19,500 fans in the arena itself. The 2008 UEFA Champions League Final was also shown in the arena on a big screen.

[edit] Technical facts

  • Lower bowl fixed seated capacity- 10,762
  • Upper bowl fixed seated capacity- 8,870
  • Large Theatre setup- 7,600
  • Small Theatre setup- 3,500
  • Ice Hockey and Gymnastics- up to 17,643
  • FINA Swimming championships 2008- 17,250
  • Basketball- up to 20,500
  • WWE Wrestling Entertainment- up to 15,500
  • Boxing- up to 21,000 (fully seated- although has been quoted by the media that up to 22,000 people have attended high profile boxing matches)
  • Side stage- up to 10,600 (fully seated)
  • Conventional end stage concerts- 13,500-15,800 (fully seated)
  • Conventional end stage concerts- up to 19,350 (floor standing)[citation needed]
  • In the round concerts- up to 20,400 (fully seated)
  • In the round concerts- up to 21,000 (floor standing)
  • 32 hospitality business suites (seats up to 12 guests)
  • 8 VIP suites (seats up to 15 guests)
  • 4 party suites (seats up to 25 guests)
  • The Arena has its own 1,500 capacity car park
  • The Arena is the European flagship venue of SMG
  • Like Madison Square Garden in New York and TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, The M.E.N. Arena is situated beside/above a main railway station (Victoria Station). This means that people can get a train to the venue instead of driving.
  • The M.E.N. Arena claims to have the world's largest indoor video scoreboard.

[edit] Trivia

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  • Popular Manchester based band James played their "final" Manchester show in 2001 with lead singer Tim Booth at the arena. They have since reformed, and played there again in April 2007.
  • In 1996 British boyband Take That played ten consecutive nights at the venue with 142,000 tickets being sold.
  • Australian pop singer Kylie Minogue is the female who has played the venue the most times. She played six shows as part of her KylieFever tour in 2002 (of which one was filmed for DVD release), She played the venue again for five consecutive nights as part of her Showgirl Tour in 2005 and She ended her 'Homecoming World Tour' with 7 consecutive shows in January 2007. Kylie will return to the M.E.N Arena in July 2008 for 6 nights as part of her KYLIEX2008 tour meaning she will have headlined the venue 24 times in 7 years. Kylie has also appeared at both Top of the pops award shows held in 2001 and 2002 and performed along Robbie Williams in 2000 as his special guest to perform their duet 'kids', therefore making a total of 27 appearances at the venue.
  • British comedian Peter Kay worked as a steward at the arena before becoming famous. This was spoofed in "That Peter Kay Thing". Kay also entered the stadium from the back, passing through the crowd, dressed in a distinctive yellow steward's jacket, on the last night of his sell-out "Mum Wants A Bungalow" UK tour.
  • The arena was the venue of the last Spice Girls* concert in Britain during their reunion tour.
  • Celine Dion will kick off the European leg of her Taking Chances Tour at the arena on May 2&3 2008.

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c Manchester Evening News arena. smg-europe.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-28.
  2. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/manchester/7302096.stm

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Venues of the Elite Ice Hockey League
Main venues
Secondary venues
Former venues
v • d • e
Buildings and structures in Manchester, England
Highrises/ Skyscrapers
Notable lowrises
Major railway stations
Major complexes
Sports venues
Sculptures
Bridges
Lists of buildings

Coordinates: 53°29′17″N, 2°14′38″W