James L. Knight Center | |
---|---|
Address | 400 SE Second Avenue Miami, Florida 33131 |
Location | Downtown Miami |
Coordinates | 25°46′15″N80°11′28″W / 25.77083°N 80.19111°W |
Owner | City of Miami |
Operator | ASM Global |
Opened | October 1982 |
Renovated | 1997, 2005 |
Expanded | 1986 |
Construction cost | ~$10 million |
Former names | James L. Knight Convention Center (1982–86) James L. Knight International Center (1986–2013) |
Classroom-style seating | 117 (Miami Lecture Hall) |
Theatre seating | 4,569 (James L. Knight Center Theater) 3,200 (Riverfront Exhibition Hall) 444 (Ashe Auditorium) |
Enclosed space | |
• Exhibit hall floor | 28,000 sqft (Miami Convention Center) |
Website | |
Official Website |
The James L. Knight Center is a contemporary entertainment and convention complex located in Downtown Miami, Florida. Located within the Miami Central Business District, the venue opened in 1982. The complex is named after famed newspaper publisher, James L. Knight. Since its opening, the complex has hosted many business, entertainment and political events. Annually, it hosts Miami Dade College graduation ceremonies. It also hosted Miss Universe in 1984 and 1985, Miss USA in 1986 and Miss Teen USA in 1985 and the OTI Festival in 1989.
The complex originally was built to be an exhibition hall for the downtown Miami area, to attract business conferences, trade shows and conventions. Previous conventions were held at the Miami Beach Convention Center. However, the business atmosphere for Miami Beach began to decline. City officials saw this as an opportunity to claim the market for the blossoming downtown business district. [1] The space, known as James L. Knight Convention Center, was the project of the City of Miami. [2] During its construction, the University of Miami sought a sports arena for its revitalized basketball program. Newspaper publisher James L. Knight donated over one million dollars towards the cost of the arena. [3] The space became known as the University of Miami Auditorium.
Along with the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the complex opened October 2, 1982, to the public. Although this venture was promising for the city government, it proved to be very costly. Although the center hosted many events, it was not able to draw large convention crowds due to its limited size. [4] The venue began to accumulate debt for the county and city officials were unsure of how to solve the problem. Taxes were increased to handle the $5 million annual operating costs and debt for the venue. [5] In 1983, the FIU Sunblazers men's and women's basketball team used the UM Auditorium until the completion of the Sunblazer Arena in 1986. [6] Shortly after, the newly formed Miami Hurricanes men's basketball team occupied the auditorium and the center was revitalized. [7]
To meet demand, the city looked to expand the Knight Center to be used for large conventions, which would not only gain higher revenue for the county, but also solve the city's growing unemployment issue. [8] Concurrently, the University of Miami were also looking to build upon the athletic success of the auditorium by adding a public meeting space and lecture hall. [9] During this time, the auditorium hosted many events, including the NWA Wrestling's Clash of the Champions televised event in June 1988 and two concert appearances for the band R.E.M. [10]
The Knight Center became used primarily for concerts when the Hurricanes moved into Miami Arena in 1988, and became the original home of the annual Premios Lo Nuestro ceremony in the 1990s, remaining until the ceremony moved into the newly completed Waterfront Theater at American Airlines Arena in 2000.
In February 1994 the game show Wheel of Fortune taped episodes at the Knight Center. [11] 7 years later in November 2001 Wheel of Fortune would again tape at the Knight Center, however the audience size was reduced following the September 11 Attacks. [12]
On July 7, 2021, professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) hosted a special episode of their weekly television show AEW Dynamite called Road Rager at the arena. [13] [14] AEW would return to the Knight Center in October 2021 to tape another episode of Dynamite and two episodes of its other weekly television show, AEW Rampage . [15] [16] [17]
The complex is located along the Miami River near Bayfront Park. Also in the area is Mary Brickell Village, Gusman Center for the Performing Arts and New World School of the Arts. The complex is serviced by the Knight Center station for the Metromover.
The Bert L. and Iris S. Wolstein Center is a 13,610-seat indoor arena located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the campus of Cleveland State University (CSU). It is home to the Cleveland State Vikings men's and women's basketball teams and served as the home of the Cleveland Crunch of the National Professional Soccer League and Major Indoor Soccer League from 1992 to 2005 and the Cleveland Charge of the NBA G League from 2021 to 2024. The building opened in 1991 as a replacement for Woodling Gym and was known until 2005 as the CSU Convocation Center. It is named for Bert Wolstein, a Cleveland area real estate developer, former owner of the Force, and CSU alumnus, and his wife Iris. The main arena is known as Henry J. Goodman Arena, named for a businessman and former chairman of the CSU Board of Trustees.
Arthur Ashe Stadium is a tennis arena at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City. Part of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, it is the main stadium of the US Open tennis tournament and has a capacity of 23,771, making it the largest tennis stadium in the world.
Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, formerly known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was Atlantic City's primary convention center until the opening of the Atlantic City Convention Center in 1997. Boardwalk Hall was declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1987 as one of the few surviving buildings from the city's early heyday as a seaside resort. The venue seats 10,500 people for ice hockey, and at maximum capacity can accommodate 14,770 for concerts. Boardwalk Hall is the home of the Miss America Pageant.
The Liacouras Center is a 10,206-seat multi-purpose venue which opened in 1997 and was originally named "The Apollo of Temple". The arena was renamed in 2000 for Temple University President, Peter J. Liacouras. It is part of a $107 million, four-building complex along North Broad Street on the Temple University campus in North Philadelphia. The Liacouras Center is the largest indoor, public assembly venue in Philadelphia north of City Hall.
The American Bank Center is an entertainment complex located in Corpus Christi, Texas. The complex consists of an auditorium, convention center and arena. The facility hosts numerous conventions, trade shows, exhibitions, live performances and sporting events. It is home to the Corpus Christi IceRays Tier II Jr. A ice hockey team and the Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders men's and women's NCAA basketball teams. It is owned by the city of Corpus Christi and managed by ASM Global.
Agganis Arena is a 7,200-seat multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, on the campus of Boston University, built on the location of the former Commonwealth Armory. It is home to the five-time national champion Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey team. It is named after Harry Agganis, a football and baseball player for BU. The ice hockey rink is named Jack Parker Rink, after the legendary BU hockey player and coach. The arena is part of Boston University's John Hancock Student Village, which also includes dormitories and the university's five-story Fitness and Recreation Center.
Chartway Arena at the Ted Constant Convocation Center is a 219,330-square-foot (20,376 m2), multi-purpose arena in Norfolk, Virginia, United States, on the campus of Old Dominion University. It is operated by Oak View Group. Chartway Arena is part of the University Village project, a 75-acre (30 ha) development that features a shopping center that includes restaurants, offices, research labs and residences with connections to the campus. It has 7,319 seats, 862 upper club/priority seats, 16 suites, and a jumbotron scoreboard.
Addition Financial Arena is a sports and entertainment arena located near Orlando in Orange County, Florida, United States, on the main campus of the University of Central Florida. It was constructed beginning in 2006 as a replacement for the original UCF arena, and as a part of Knights Plaza. The arena is home to the UCF Knights men's and women's basketball teams. The arena also hosted the annual Science Olympiad in 2012 and 2014.
The Miami Beach Convention Center is a convention center located in Miami Beach, Florida. Originally opened in 1958, the venue was renovated from 2015 to 2018 for $620 million. The re-imagined and enhanced MBCC includes a 60,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom, four junior ballrooms, 500,000 square feet of flexible exhibition space, 84 meeting rooms, and pre-function space, as well as outdoor spaces and terraces.
The Curtis Culwell Center is a 6,860-fixed seat arena and conference center in Garland, Texas. It opened in 2005 and was designed by HKS, Inc. and constructed at a cost of $31.5 million by Lee Lewis Construction with engineering by Walter P. Moore, Blum Consulting Engineers, and RLK Engineers Inc. The arena is the property of the Garland Independent School District (GISD).
Wintrust Arena at McCormick Square, previously referred to as DePaul Arena or McCormick Place Events Center, is a 10,387-seat sports venue in the Near South Side community area of Chicago that opened in 2017. It is the current home court for the men's and women's basketball teams of DePaul University and serves as an events center for McCormick Place. It also is the home of the Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA).
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AEW Road Rager was an annual professional wrestling television special produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) in the summer. Established in 2021, the inaugural event aired as a special episode of the promotion's flagship weekly television program, Wednesday Night Dynamite. In 2022, it was expanded to a two-part event, with the second part airing as a special episode of Friday Night Rampage. The 2022 event would be the final Road Rager as the event was not held in 2023.
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