Civic Center Design Team (CCDT): Burt Taggart & Associates, Architects/Engineers, The Wilcox Group, Garver & Garver Engineering and Rosser International of Atlanta
On August 1, 1995, Pulaski County, Arkansas, voters approved a one-year, one-cent sales tax for the purpose of building a multi-purpose arena, expanding the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, and making renovations to the Main Street bridge between Little Rock and North Little Rock. $20 million of the sales tax proceeds went toward the Convention Center expansion, with the remainder used to build the arena.
Alltel Arena, as seen in 2008 from Little Rock.
That money—combined with a $20 million contribution from the State of Arkansas, $17 million from private sources, and $7 million from Little Rock-based Alltel Corporation—paid for the construction of the 377,000-square-foot (35,000m2) arena, which cost nearly $80 million to build. When its doors opened in 1999, the facility was paid for, and there was no public indebtedness.
Two sites in North Little Rock drew interest from county officials for the proposed arena. The first was a 19.5-acre (79,000m2) commercial site west of Interstate 30, which contained a strip mall, a Kroger, and an abandoned Kmart storefront (which in turn relocated to McCain Plaza in 1991, closing the Broadway Street location and closed in November 2000 as it was one of the 72 stores announced for closure that year[5]). The second site was an 11.6-acre (47,000m2) plot at the foot of the Broadway Bridge.
The Pulaski County Multipurpose Civic Center Facilities Board selected the larger site for the arena in 1996 and paid $3.7 million for the land, some of which was acquired through eminent domain, a move protested in court by several landowners.
The second site later would be chosen for the new baseball stadium, Dickey-Stephens Park, constructed for the Arkansas Travelers. The Class AA minor-league baseball team moved from the then 73-year-old Ray Winder Field in Little Rock to a new $28 million home in North Little Rock at the start of the 2007 season.
The arena was the home of the 2003, 2006, and 2009 Southeastern Conference women's basketball tournament and the 2000 Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament. The arena holds the all-time attendance record for an SEC Women's Tournament when 43,642 people attended the event in 2003.
The arena is also used for other events: concerts (seating capacity is between 15,000 and 18,000 for end-stage concerts; the arena has an 80-by-40-foot portable stage); rodeos and auto racing (seating capacity is 14,000); and trade shows and conventions (there are 28,000 square feet (2,600m2) of arena floor space plus 7,050 square feet (655m2) of meeting space and 2,580 square feet (240m2) of pre-function space). As a concert venue, its location prompted Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to play one of its most rarely performed numbers, 1973's "Mary Queen of Arkansas", during a March 2000 show on their Reunion Tour.
The arena is owned by the Multi-Purpose Civic Center Facilities Board for Pulaski County. The arena was designed by the Civic Center Design Team (CCDT), Burt Taggart & Associates, Architects/Engineers, The Wilcox Group, Garver & Garver Engineering and Rosser International of Atlanta.
The arena's 20-year naming rights were part of a $28.1 billion sale of Alltel to Verizon Wireless, effective on June 30, 2009, with Alltel Arena renamed as Verizon Arena.[6]
Fleetwood Mac performed at the arena May 4, 2013, with surprise guests former president Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton attending the show. Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood introduced the couple, who were seated in an arena suite, to the sold-out audience and dedicated the song "Don't Stop" to them, which was Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential election campaign song.
On October 5, 2016, the arena hosted the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions.[7]
With expiration of initial naming rights due in 2019, new naming rights for the arena were purchased by Arkansas-based Simmons Bank in a deal announced on November 9, 2018; the name change became official on October 3, 2019.[8]
On January 29, 2022, Elton John performed at the arena for his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road farewell tour to a sold out audience.
Later in 2022, The Eagles played at Simmons Bank Arena on November 27 during their Hotel California tour. The show featured country star Vince Gill, Deacon Frey - son of founding band member Glenn Frey, the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra, and members of the Little Rock Saint Mark's Baptist Church choir. The concert was a sellout.
Footprint Center is a multi-purpose arena in Phoenix, Arizona. It opened under the name America West Arena on June 6, 1992, at a cost of $89 million.
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 previously 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.
Heritage Bank Center is an indoor arena in downtown Cincinnati, adjacent to Great American Ball Park. It was completed in September 1975 and named Riverfront Coliseum because of its placement next to Riverfront Stadium. In 1997, the facility became known as The Crown, and in 1999, it changed its name again to Firstar Center after Firstar Bank assumed naming rights. In 2002, following Firstar's merger with U.S. Bank, the arena took on the name U.S. Bank Arena and kept that name until 2019.
Alltel was a landline, wireless and general telecommunications services provider, primarily based in the United States. Before its wireless division was acquired by Verizon Wireless and AT&T, Alltel provided cellular service to 34 states and had approximately 13 million subscribers. As a regulatory condition of the acquisition by Verizon, a small portion of Alltel was spun off and continued to operate under the same name in six states, mostly in rural areas. Following the merger, Alltel remained the ninth largest wireless telecommunications company in the United States, with approximately 800,000 customers. On January 22, 2013, AT&T announced they were acquiring what remained of Alltel from Atlantic Tele-Network for $780 million in cash.
The XL Center is a multi-purpose arena and convention center located in downtown Hartford, Connecticut. Owned by the City of Hartford, it is managed by the quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) under a lease with the city and operated by Spectra. In December 2007, the center was renamed when the arena's naming rights were sold to XL Group insurance company in a six-year agreement. The arena is ranked the 28th largest among college basketball arenas. It opened in 1975 as the Hartford Civic Center and was originally located adjacent to Civic Center Mall, which was demolished in 2004. It consists of two facilities: the Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the Exhibition Center.
The Lloyd Noble Center is a 10,967-seat multi-purpose arena located in Norman, Oklahoma, some 19 mi (31 km) south of downtown Oklahoma City. It opened in 1975 and is home to the University of Oklahoma men's and women's basketball and women's gymnastics teams of the Southeastern Conference. It also regularly hosts concerts, including city school orchestra concerts, and graduation ceremonies for colleges with the University of Oklahoma as well as those for several high schools in area.
The MassMutual Center is a multi-purpose arena and convention center complex located in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, in the city's Metro Center. The arena opened in 1972 and the convention center opened in 2005. It serves as a venue for meetings, conventions, exhibitions, sporting and entertainment events.
The CHI Health Center Omaha is an arena and convention center in the central United States, located in the North Downtown neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska. Operated by the Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority (MECA), the 1.1-million-square-foot (100,000 m2) facility has an 18,975-seat arena, a 194,000 sq ft (18,000 m2) exhibition hall, and 62,000 sq ft (5,800 m2) of meeting space.
The Donald L. Tucker Civic Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena located on the Florida State University campus in Tallahassee, Florida, United States. The arena has the biggest capacity of any arena in the Florida Panhandle. The arena opened in 1981 and was built at a cost of over $30 million, financed by the city. In 2013, the venue was purchased by the Florida State University Board of Trustees. The facility is located on the southeastern side of the university's campus, between the FSU College of Law and the future home of the FSU College of Business.
Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena is a multi-purpose arena in the northwestern United States, located in downtown Spokane, Washington. Opened in 1995, it is home to the Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League (WHL).
The Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center is a 5,280-seat multi-purpose arena in Mankato, Minnesota, built in 1994 and opened in early 1995. It is home to the Minnesota State Mavericks men's ice hockey team and women's ice hockey team, and also hosts musical performances, conventions and other events. Prior to its construction, the team played their home games at All Seasons Arena.
The Charleston Coliseum & Convention Center is a municipal complex located in the downtown area of Charleston, West Virginia, United States. Originally completed in 1958, it consists of four main components: the Coliseum, the Theater, the Auditorium, and the Convention Center.
Mobile Civic Center is a multi-purpose facility located in Mobile, Alabama. Owned by the City of Mobile and operated by ASM Global, the facility consists of three venues: a theater, an expo hall, and an arena. It is suitable for large indoor events including sporting events and trade shows. The theater seats for 1,938, while the expo hall can seat 3,000. The largest venue of the Mobile Civic Center is the arena, which can seat 10,112.
Barton Coliseum is a 7,150-seat multi-purpose arena located within the Arkansas State Fairgrounds in Little Rock, Arkansas. The coliseum was dedicated on September 29, 1952, in honor of Thomas Harry Barton, founder of Lion Oil.
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.
Jack Stephens Center is a 5,600-seat multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States and was built in 2005. It is home to the school's men's basketball, women's basketball, men's wrestling, and women's volleyball teams, known as the Little Rock Trojans, and named in honor of billionaire philanthropist Jackson T. Stephens, who donated $22.4 million for the construction of the facility. The facility is located on the north end of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock campus, adjacent to the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service State Office.
The Bank OZK Arena, formerly known as Summit Arena and Bank of the Ozarks Arena, is a 6,300-seat multi-purpose arena in Hot Springs, Arkansas, USA.
Little Rock is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Little Rock metropolitan area is the 81st-most populous in the United States with 748,031 residents according to the 2020 census.
Jackson Thomas Stephens Sr was an oilman and investment banker. He was the CEO of Little Rock, Arkansas-based Stephens Inc., a privately owned financial services company.
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