Arena

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Madison Square Garden

An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators, and may be covered by a roof. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the lowest point, allowing maximum visibility. Arenas are usually designed to accommodate a multitude of spectators.

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Interior of the Crypto.com Arena

The word derives from Latin harena, a particularly fine-grained sand that covered the floor of ancient arenas such as the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, to absorb blood. [1]

The term arena is sometimes used as a synonym for a very large venue such as Pasadena's Rose Bowl, but such a facility is typically called a stadium . The use of one term over the other has mostly to do with the type of event. Football (be it association, rugby, gridiron, Australian rules, or Gaelic) is typically played in a stadium, while basketball, volleyball, handball, and ice hockey are typically played in an arena, although many of the larger arenas hold more spectators than do the stadiums of smaller colleges or high schools. There are exceptions. The home of the Duke University men's and women's basketball teams would qualify as an arena, but the facility is called Cameron Indoor Stadium. Domed stadiums, which, like arenas, are enclosed but have the larger playing surfaces and seating capacities found in stadiums, are generally not referred to as arenas in North America. There is also the sport of indoor American football (one variant of which is explicitly known as arena football), a variant of the outdoor game that is designed for the usual smaller playing surface of most arenas; variants of other traditionally outdoor sports, including box lacrosse as well as futsal and indoor soccer, also exist.

The term "arena" is also used loosely to refer to any event or type of event which either literally or metaphorically takes place in such a location, often with the specific intent of comparing an idea to a sporting event. Such examples of these would be terms such as "the arena of war", "the arena of love" or "the political arena".

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stadium</span> Place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events

A stadium is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit and view the event.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bleacher</span> Stands for spectators, e.g. in stadiums

Bleachers, or stands, are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports fields and other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step gaining access to a row of benches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ice rink</span> Place for ice skating and sports

An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ice skating during the 1800s marked a rise in the deliberate construction of ice rinks in numerous areas of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct</span>

The Melbourne Sports and Entertainment Precinct is a series of sports stadiums and venues, located in Melbourne, Victoria, in Australia. The precinct is situated around 3 km east of the Melbourne central business district, located in suburbs of Melbourne and Jolimont, near East Melbourne and Richmond.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex</span> Multi-use facility in Kitchener, Canada

The Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex is a multi-use municipally-owned facility in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. The complex is located on East Avenue, near the Ottawa Street interchange on the Conestoga Parkway. The complex includes "The Kitchener Memorial Audiorium" with the Dom Cardillo Arena, two smaller community arenas the Kinsmen Arena and Kiwanis Arena, the Jack Couch Stadium baseball park, Centennial Stadium and a skatepark outside the stadium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kibbie Dome</span> Multi-purpose domed stadium in Moscow, Idaho

The P1FCU Kibbie Dome, known simply as the Kibbie Dome and formerly named the Kibbie-ASUI Activity Center, is a multi-purpose indoor athletic stadium in the northwest United States, on the campus of the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho. It is the home of the Idaho Vandals of the Big Sky Conference for four sports. Basketball was played in the venue until the autumn 2021 opening of the adjacent Idaho Central Credit Union Arena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luxury box</span> Class of seating in arena or stadium

The luxury box and club seating constitute the most expensive class of seating in arenas and stadiums, and generate much higher revenues than regular seating. Club ticketholders often receive exclusive access to an indoor part of the venue through private club entrances, to areas containing special restaurants, bars, merchandise stands, and lounge areas of the venue that are not otherwise available to regular ticketholders.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pala Alpitour</span> Indoor arena in Turin, Italy

Palasport Olimpico, officially operating with the sponsored name Pala Alpitour except during events prohibiting sponsorship names when it is usually known as simply PalaOlimpico, or occasionally PalaIsozaki after its architect, is a multi-purpose indoor arena located within Torino Olympic Park in the Santa Rita district of Turin, Italy. Opened in December 2005, the arena has a seating capacity of 12,350 when it is configured for ice hockey, and it is the largest indoor sporting arena in Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ridder Arena</span> Indoor ice rink in Minnesota

Ridder Arena is an indoor ice rink at the University of Minnesota, and home to the Minnesota Golden Gophers women's ice hockey team. The arena is adjacent to the men's 3M Arena at Mariucci. It was completed in 2002, and includes the connected Baseline Tennis Center for the men's and women's tennis teams. It was the first facility in the United States built specifically for college women's ice hockey, and has hosted the NCAA Women's Frozen Four on four occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parkville Stadium</span> Sports venue in Melbourne, Australia

Parkville Stadium, previously known as the State Netball Hockey Centre is a multipurpose sporting facility located in Melbourne, Australia. It is the administrative headquarters for both Netball Victoria and Hockey Victoria and features two outdoor hockey fields and eleven indoor netball courts, with the main hockey field capable of seating up to 8,000 and the main Netball court seating up to 3,050 spectators. National Basketball League club Melbourne United played home matches at the venue in the past, as well as Super Netball team Melbourne Vixens, though both clubs have shifted home matches to larger-capacity arenas. Hockey Club Melbourne of the Hockey One league play home games on the main hockey pitch.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Multi-purpose stadium</span> Stadium designed for multifunctionality over specificity

A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a specific design philosophy that stresses multifunctionality over specificity. It is used most commonly in Canada and the United States, where the two most popular outdoor team sports—Canadian football or American football and baseball—require radically different facilities. Football uses a rectangular field, while baseball is played on a diamond with a large outfield. Since Canadian football fields are larger than American ones, the design specifications for Canadian facilities are somewhat less demanding. The particular design to accommodate both is usually an oval, although some later designs use an octorad. While building stadiums in this way means that sports teams and governments can share costs, it also imposes some challenges.

Sparta Amfi is an indoor ice hockey rink located in Sarpsborg, Norway. The 3,900-spectator venue is the home of Sparta Sarpsborg and Sarpsborg Skøyteklubb. The arena opened in 1963 as the first indoor ice rink in Norway. Major upgrades were carried out in 2006 and 2012, and a second rink opened in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California Vulcans</span>

The California Vulcans are the intercollegiate sports teams and players that represent Pennsylvania Western University California, located in California, Pennsylvania. The Vulcans participate in the NCAA Division II in all sports and the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) in most sports. The school colors are Red and Black. The mascot of California is Blaze the Vulcan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VTB Arena</span> Sports complex in Moscow

The VTB Arena – Dynamo Central Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Moscow, Russia. It consists of an ice hockey and an association football venue. The football stadium is officially named Dynamo Central Stadium. The ice hockey venue is known as the VTB Arena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tauron Arena Kraków</span> Indoor arena in Kraków, Poland

Tauron Arena Kraków is an indoor arena located in Kraków, Poland. It has a seating capacity of 15,030 for sporting events. It hosted the 2014 FIVB Volleyball Men's World Championship tournament, 2016 European League of Legends Championship Finals and 2015 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship Division I.

The United Wireless Arena is a multi-purpose venue in Dodge City, Kansas. The arena sits adjacent to the Boot Hill Casino and is connected to the Boot Hill Casino & Resort Conference Center. The United Wireless Arena and the Boot Hill Casino & Resort Conference Center are both managed by VenuWorks.

Thompson Recreation and Athletic Centre also known as Thompson Arena is an indoor arena and athletic facility on the campus of the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario. The arena is a full NHL-sized ice surface with permanent stadium-style seating as well as tiered bleacher seating.

The University of South Florida athletic facilities are the stadiums and arenas the South Florida Bulls use for their home games and training. The University of South Florida currently sponsors 19 varsity athletic teams and has 11 facilities in the designated Athletics District on or adjacent to its Tampa campus, one on its St. Petersburg campus, and one elsewhere in Tampa. 18 of the 19 teams have some sort of facility in the USF Athletics District.

References

  1. Claridge, Amanda (1998). Rome: An Oxford Archaeological Guide (First ed.). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. pp. 276–282. ISBN   0-19-288003-9..