Cardiff International Arena

Last updated

Utilita Arena Cardiff
Cardiff International Arena logo (2022).png
Utilita Arena Cardiff September 2023 10.jpg
The arena in 2023
Cardiff International Arena
Former namesCardiff International Arena & Convention Centre (1993–2000)
Cardiff International Arena (2000–2011, 2022–2023)
Motorpoint Arena Cardiff (2011–2021)
AddressMary Ann St
CF10 2EQ
Location Cardiff, Wales
Coordinates 51°28′44″N3°10′18″W / 51.478943°N 3.171737°W / 51.478943; -3.171737
Owner Cardiff Council (Freehold)
Live Nation UK (Leasehold)
Operator Live Nation UK
Capacity 5,000 (seating)
7,500 (standing)
Construction
Built1989–1993
Opened9 September 1993
Renovated2017–2018
Construction cost £23 million
Website
utilitaarenacardiff.co.uk

Cardiff International Arena (formerly known as Cardiff International Arena & Convention Centre and currently, for sponsorship reasons, as Utilita Arena Cardiff) is an indoor exhibition centre and events arena located in Cardiff, Wales, and was opened on 9 September 1993 by singer Shirley Bassey. [1] It is Cardiff's largest purpose-built exhibition facility and its former name was due to a sponsorship agreement from 2011 to 2022. The upstairs of the building is known as the World Trade Centre. [2]

Contents

The arena contains a number of function areas, the largest being the main arena which has hosted many national and international events, such as concerts, sports and comedy performances.

History

The red dragon outside the main entrance to the arena in 2023 Utilita Arena Cardiff September 2023 09.jpg
The red dragon outside the main entrance to the arena in 2023

During the construction phase, the venue was known as the Cardiff World Trade Centre and was first expected to open in January 1992. [3] It formed part of a complex which included a new hotel built opposite that opened in 1990, the nearby Wales National Ice Rink and a number of surrounding office buildings. [4]

The renamed arena was eventually opened on 9 September 1993, by Shirley Bassey, in front of 5,500 fans. [1] The concert was later televised on BBC One on 30 July 1994. [5] It was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 14 October 1993. [6]

The original lease was granted to the developer Brent Walker, who subsequently assigned it to The Ambassador Theatre Group. In 1999, SFX Entertainment acquired the arena. [7] It is now owned by the US media giant Live Nation UK, who have confirmed they would cease to operate the existing arena and terminate their leasehold interest in the council-owned site if the new proposed 15,000-seat indoor arena in Atlantic Wharf is built to replace it and are successful in securing the operator lease. [8] The CIA is then expected to be closed by Live Nation and could be demolished, along with the adjoining surface car parks and buildings owned by Rapport, to provide space for a new commercial development that would be integrated into the Canal Quarter on Churchill Way. [9]

The CIA logo used before the arena was rebranded under the Motorpoint sponsorship agreement. Cardiff International Arena.jpg
The CIA logo used before the arena was rebranded under the Motorpoint sponsorship agreement.

On 1 March 2011, the Cardiff International Arena was renamed Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, for sponsorship reasons, after the car sales company entered into an agreement regarding the naming rights to the arena for five years in what was called "a seven-figure investment". Other names who have performed in the arena are among Westlife, Kylie Minogue, One Direction, Jessie J, Anastacia, Steps, JLS, Jason Derulo and Mariah Carey. [10]

In March 2015, the venue's 3000th event was marked by a show headlined by singer Katherine Jenkins. [11] In July 2016, Motorpoint extended its naming rights contract with the arena until at least 2021. This included a complete re-branding of the building including installation of outdoor LED signage on the arena's towers. [12] Across 2017 and 2018, the arena underwent a significant 18-month upgrade and refurbishment funded by Live Nation in time for its 25th anniversary; this included installation of a new bar by Carlsberg called The Danish Quarter, refurbishment of the smaller Exit 7 space and existing L2 Restaurant & Bar, updated hospitality suites and hearing loop system, as well as new lifts, facial recognition cameras and other security related upgrades. [13] [14]

The arena reverted back to its original CIA name on 22 September 2022 after being named Motorpoint Arena Cardiff since March 2011. [15]

During August 2023 the arena was renamed Utilita Arena Cardiff, for sponsorship reasons, after the energy company entered into an agreement regarding the naming rights to the arena. [16]

Facilities

Inside the Cardiff International Arena in October 2022 Inside Cardiff International Arena (2022).jpg
Inside the Cardiff International Arena in October 2022

The main arena offers 4,500 square metres of exhibition space, and is very versatile, for the number of different events that take place at the arena. Full capacity can reach 7,500, in a standing layout and 5,000, for a fully seated event.

There are over 30 additional areas, including a conference suite (groups of up to 460) and four executive boardrooms.[ citation needed ]

Events

Comedy

Comedian Lee Evans has brought four tours XL Tour, Big, Roadrunner and Monsters to the arena, Evans played his last show before retiring from stand-up at the arena from 24 to 30 November 2014. [17] [18]

Music

Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular The Arena before the start - Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular (18138402816).jpg
Doctor Who Symphonic Spectacular

The venue has hosted a number of concerts since it opened, with artists such as The Corrs, A-HA, [19] Sigrid, George Ezra, Richard Ashcroft, Mumford & Sons, Two Door Cinema Club, Fatboy Slim, The 1975, Bring Me The Horizon, Céline Dion, Kylie Minogue, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Rihanna, Metallica, Enrique Iglesias, The Script, New Kids on the Block, Take That, Paloma Faith, Carrie Underwood, Michael Bublé, Steps, Craig David, Gary Barlow, James Blunt, Kelly Clarkson, Avril Lavigne, Liam Gallagher, Iron Maiden, Alice Cooper, Dio, Twisted Sister, Meat Loaf, Pink, Gwen Stefani, Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Gabrielle, LeAnn Rimes, Culture Club, Jessie J, Little Mix, Dolly Parton, Anastacia, Fifth Harmony, Leona Lewis, Ellie Goulding, Olly Murs, Ella Eyre, John Newman, Westlife, Dua Lipa, Nicki Minaj, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, The Killers, Biffy Clyro, The Prodigy, The Nolans, The Beach Boys, Frankie Valli, McFly, Panic! at the Disco, Dropkick Murphys, Feeder, Fall out Boy, You Me At Six, Blink 182, All American Rejects, Ben Howard, Arctic Monkeys, Paramore, Yungblud, The Vamps, One Direction, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, 5 Seconds of Summer and local favourites Catatonia, Kids in Glass Houses, Stereophonics and the Manic Street Preachers.

Sport

Arena hosting the Welsh Open snooker championship in 2015 Project 365 -51 200215 Snooker Loopy! (16569505646).jpg
Arena hosting the Welsh Open snooker championship in 2015

In 1999, the Cardiff International Arena hosted the (Nine-ball) World Professional Pool Championship. The official WPA World Nine-ball Championship was hosted at the Cardiff International Arena between 2000 and 2003.

Since 2007, the arena has been one of the Premier League Darts venues, including the semi-finals and finals night of the 2008 Premier League Darts on 26 May 2008. The PDC Champions League of Darts was held in the arena in 2016 and 2017. [20] Between 2016 and 2017 the arena hosted the Champions League of Darts.

In February 2015, the Welsh Open snooker championship was transferred from the Newport Centre (where it had taken place since 2005) to the arena. [21] The arena previously hosted the championship between 1999 and 2003. In 2021 the event was transferred back to Newport, this time held at the Celtic Manor Resort.

Professional wrestling

In 2019, WWE's NXT UK brand announced the venue would host the second ever TakeOver event for the brand, NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff. This took place on 31 August 2019 and was the first TakeOver to take place in Wales. On 21 August 2024, All Elite Wrestling made their debut in Wales, airing Dynamite and Collision as part of All In London week. [22]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arena Birmingham</span> Indoor arena in Birmingham, England

Utilita Arena Birmingham is an indoor arena and sporting venue in central Birmingham, England. It is owned by parent company the NEC Group. When it was opened in 1991, it was the largest indoor arena in the UK.

The Welsh Open is a professional ranking snooker tournament that has been held annually since 1992. It replaced the Welsh Professional Championship, which ran annually from 1980 to 1991 and was open only to Welsh players. The Welsh Open is now the longest running ranking event after the World Championship and the UK Championship. Since the 2016–17 season, it has been one of four tournaments in the Home Nations Series, alongside the Northern Ireland Open, the Scottish Open, and the English Open. Since 2017, the winner of the event has received the Ray Reardon Trophy, named after the Welsh six-time world champion. Reardon himself presented the newly named trophy to 2017 winner Stuart Bingham.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Millennium Stadium</span> National stadium of Wales, located in central Cardiff

The Millennium Stadium, known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rugby union team and has also held Wales national football team games. Initially built to host the 1999 Rugby World Cup and replacing the National Stadium, it has gone on to host many other large-scale events, such as the Tsunami Relief Cardiff concert, the Super Special Stage of Wales Rally Great Britain, the Speedway Grand Prix of Great Britain and various concerts. It also hosted FA Cup, League Cup and Football League play-off finals while Wembley Stadium was being redeveloped between 2001 and 2006, as well as football matches during the 2012 Summer Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheffield Arena</span> Arena in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England

Sheffield Arena, known for sponsorship purposes as Utilita Arena Sheffield, is a multi-purpose arena located in Sheffield, England. It is situated near Meadowhall and lies between Sheffield city centre and Rotherham town centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newcastle Arena</span> Multi-purpose indoor arena in England

The Newcastle Arena is an indoor arena in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Owned and operated by ASM Global the naming rights are currently held by Utilita Energy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophia Gardens (cricket ground)</span> Cricket stadium in Cardiff, Wales

The Cardiff Wales Stadium, which is part of Sophia Gardens Cardiff, is a cricket stadium in Cardiff, Wales. It is located in Sophia Gardens on the River Taff. It is home to Glamorgan County Cricket Club and is listed as an international Test cricket venue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coventry Building Society Arena</span> Sports stadium in West Midlands, England

The Coventry Building Society Arena is a complex in Coventry, West Midlands, England. It includes a 32,609-seater stadium which is currently home to football team, Championship club Coventry City F.C. along with facilities which include a 6,000 square metres (65,000 sq ft) exhibition hall, a hotel and a casino. The site is also home to Arena Park Shopping Centre, containing one of UK's largest Tesco Extra hypermarkets. Built on the site of the Foleshill gasworks, it is named after its sponsor, Coventry Building Society who entered into a ten-year sponsorship deal in 2021. For the 2012 Summer Olympics, where stadium naming sponsorship was forbidden, the stadium was known as the City of Coventry Stadium.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plymouth Pavilions</span> Entertainment and sports complex in Plymouth, England

Plymouth Pavilions is an entertainment and sports complex in Plymouth, Devon, England. The arena is used as an entertainment venue and also for corporate hire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music of Cardiff</span> Overview of music in Cardiff, Wales

The music of Cardiff has been dominated mainly by rock music since the early 1990s with later trends developing towards more extreme styles of the genre such as heavy metal and metalcore music. It, along with the nearby music scene in Newport, has brought a number of musicians to perform or begin their careers in South Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liverpool Arena</span> Event location

Liverpool Arena, known for sponsorship reasons as the M&S Bank Arena and previously the Echo Arena, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the city centre of Liverpool, England. The venue hosts live music, comedy performances and sporting events, and forms part of Liverpool event campus ACC Liverpool – an interconnected arena, exhibition and convention centre. The venue serves a regional population of 2.5 million people and over 6.6 million across England's North West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture and recreation in Cardiff</span> Overview of the culture and recreation possibilities in Cardiff

Cardiff has many cultural sites varying from the historical Cardiff Castle and out of town Castell Coch to the more modern Wales Millennium Centre and Cardiff Bay. Cardiff was a finalist in the European Capital of Culture 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leeds Arena</span> Indoor arena in Leeds, England

The Leeds Arena is an entertainment-focused indoor arena located in the Arena Quarter of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It is the first in the United Kingdom to have a fan-shaped orientation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ice Arena Wales</span> Ice hockey venue in Cardiff, Wales

Ice Arena Wales is an ice hockey rink in the Cardiff International Sports Village in Cardiff, Wales. It opened on 12 March 2016, and had two ice rinks and seating for 3,088 spectators. The ice rink currently only has the use of one rink, with the smaller public pad leased out by Cardiff Council to Sayers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bp pulse LIVE</span> Multipurpose indoor arena in Solihull, England

bp pulse LIVE is a multipurpose indoor arena located at the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in Solihull, England, just outside Birmingham. It has a capacity of 15,685 seats. The venue was built as the seventh hall of the NEC complex. After 18 months of construction, the arena opened as the Birmingham International Arena in December 1980 with a concert by Queen.

The 2016 Champions League of Darts, also known as the Unibet Champions League of Darts for sponsorship purposes, was the inaugural staging of the tournament, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. It took place from 24–25 September 2016 at the Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, Wales. Phil Taylor won, defeating Michael van Gerwen 11–5 in the final.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leicester Arena</span> Event venue in England

The Leicester Arena, known as the Mattioli Arena due to sponsorship, is a multi-purpose sports arena located in Leicester, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff</span> 2019 WWE Network event

NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff was a 2019 professional wrestling livestreaming event produced by the American promotion WWE. It was the second NXT UK TakeOver event and took place on 31 August 2019 at the Motorpoint Arena Cardiff in Cardiff, Wales. The event aired exclusively on the WWE Network and was held for wrestlers from the promotion's NXT UK brand division.

Utilita Energy is an electricity and gas supplier operating in the United Kingdom. Utilita began trading in 2003, specialising in pay-as-you-go metering.

References

  1. 1 2 "Opening of the Cardiff International Arena 1993". 5 August 2016. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  2. ↑ "49 landmark moments since Cardiff Motorpoint Arena opened its doors". Wales Online. 13 March 2015. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  3. ↑ "Cardiff World Trade Centre Complex". canfod.glamarchives.gov.uk.
  4. ↑ https://cardiffrugbymuseum.org/sites/default/files/2369.pdf
  5. ↑ "The Shirley Bassey Concert". Radio Times. No. 3681. 28 July 1994. p. 44. Retrieved 21 June 2018– via BBC Genome.
  6. ↑ Owens, David (6 October 2018). "Arena's 25-year history by the people who worked there". Wales Online. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  7. ↑ "Cardiff arena set for US takeover". news.bbc.co.uk. 5 August 1999. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  8. ↑ Morris, Josh (12 November 2018) (12 November 2018). "Cabinet to authorise negotiations on land purchase for arena". Insidermedia. Retrieved 30 April 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  9. ↑ Lewis, Ffion (25 July 2023). "The changes being proposed to the £280m Cardiff Arena project as costs soar". Wales Online. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
  10. ↑ "Motorpoint takes Cardiff International Arena naming rights".
  11. ↑ "Katherine Jenkins to headline 3000th show for Cardiff arena". ITV News. 14 March 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  12. ↑ "Motorpoint extends its naming rights for the 7,500 capacity Cardiff centre arena". Wales Online. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  13. ↑ "Motorpoint Arena Cardiff celebrates 25th anniversary". www.musicweek.com.
  14. ↑ https://asiw.co.uk/news/25-years-of-motorpoint-cardiff
  15. ↑ Harries, Robert (22 September 2022). "Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena changes name back to the CIA". WalesOnline. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  16. ↑ Ahmed, Reem (23 August 2023). "Cardiff International Arena has changed its name again". WalesOnline.
  17. ↑ "Lee Evans: Fun facts about the funnyman ahead of his Cardiff Motorpoint Arena run". Wales Online. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  18. ↑ "Lee Evans to retire from comedy circuit to spend more time with family". The Guardian. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  19. ↑ "Ending on a High Note – Farewell Tour 2010 | a-ha live".
  20. ↑ "BBC to show new Champions League of Darts from Cardiff". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  21. ↑ "Snooker: Cardiff move will boost Welsh Open – Barry Hearn". BBC News. 26 June 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2016.
  22. ↑ "NXT UK TakeOver". MotorpointArenaCardiff.co.uk. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 20 July 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.