| Rabobank Arena | |
|---|---|
| Former names | Bakersfield Centennial Garden |
| Location | 1001 Truxtun Avenue Bakersfield, CA, 93301 |
| Broke ground | 1997 |
| Opened | October 2, 1998[1] |
| Owner | City of Bakersfield |
| Operator | SMG |
| Construction cost | $38 million ($51.2 million in 2012 dollars[2]) |
| Architect | Rossetti Architects |
| General Contractor | PCL Construction Services Inc.[3] |
| Capacity | Basketball: 9,333 Hockey: 8,641 Arena Football: 8,400 Maximum : 10,400 |
| Tenants | |
| Bakersfield Condors (ECHL) Bakersfield Blitz (af2) (2004–2007) Bakersfield Jam (D-League)(2006-2009) CSUB Roadrunners(NCAA Division I) (Men's basketball) |
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Rabobank Arena is a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena, Bakersfield, California, USA. Located downtown at the corner of Truxtun Avenue and N Street, it was built in 1998, and was originally known as Centennial Garden. The city-owned arena sold naming rights to the Dutch cooperative bank Rabobank in 2005, which also sponsors cycling and field hockey teams. The naming rights contract, signed for $2.5 million dollars, lasts through 2015.[4]
It is home to the Bakersfield Condors ECHL ice hockey team and California State University, Bakersfield Roadrunners Men's NCAA Division I basketball. Rabobank Arena was the former home of the af2 affiliated Bakersfield Blitz Arena Football team which disbanded due to financial difficulties after the 2007 season. CSU Bakersfield now plays in Division I as an independent and currently plays all of its men's basketball games at Rabobank Arena. The women's team, which used to play their games at Rabobank Arena, have opted to have all of their games played at the more intimate on-campus Icardo Center. Rabobank Arena is also the current home to the California Interscholastic Federation High School State Wrestling Championship Tournament held the first weekend in March. As a concert venue, the arena seats 6,400 for half-house shows and up to 10,225 for center stage and end-stage shows. The arena floor measures 17,000 square feet (1,600 m2) of total space.
The southern concourse of Rabobank Arena serves as the exhibit home of the Bob Elias Kern County Hall of Fame. The Bob Elias Hall of Fame honors athletes and people involved with athletics from Bakersfield and Kern County. They include nationally prominent athletes, local coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to athletics. A separate display on the western concourse honors the founders of Bakersfield and Kern County, as well as country music legend Buck Owens and current athletes and dignitaries from Bakersfield and Kern County.
Attached to Rabobank Arena is a 17,840-square-foot (1,657 m2) exhibit hall, which combines with a 3,000-seat theater, which measures 28,512 square feet (2,648.9 m2) and features a 7,830-square-foot (727 m2) stagehouse to create a second arena and is presently known as the Rabobank Theater and Convention Center. This was originally known as the Bakersfield Civic Auditorium (opened in 1962) and was later re-named the Bakersfield Convention Center in the 1980s following remodeling and the construction of the adjacent Holiday Inn Select Hotel in the 1990s (now known as "Bakersfield Marriott at the Convention Center"). The convention center's stage (one of the largest stages in the world) was the Condors' previous home (when they were known as the Fog) until Centennial Garden was built in 1998 and, combined or separately, is also used for concerts (seating up to 5,800), sporting events, trade shows and, in the theater and stagehouse only, Broadway and family shows. There is also a 12,885-square-foot (1,197.1 m2) lobby and 14 meeting rooms measuring 11,659 square feet (1,083.2 m2) of total space.
In front of Rabobank Arena is a city parkspace, Centennial Plaza. The Plaza has a large fountain that drains into the concrete of the plaza, a stage, a sculpture fountain, art work, and bricks commemorating the City of Bakersfield's Centennial as an incorporated city in 1998.
Parking for the Rabobank Arena, Theater, and Convention Center is in a lot on the southern side of the arena between N Street on the west, Q Street on the east, and 13th Street on the south. The lot is adjacent to the Bakersfield Ice Sports Center (the Condors practice facility and public ice rink); and the McMurtrey Aquatic Center.
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