Enterprise Center is an 18,724-seat arena located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Its primary tenant is the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League, but it is also used for other functions, such as NCAA basketball, NCAA hockey, concerts, professional wrestling and more. In a typical year, the facility hosts about 175 events. Industry trade publication Pollstar has previously ranked Enterprise Center among the top ten arenas worldwide in tickets sold to non-team events, but the facility has since fallen into the upper sixties, as of 2017.
The arena opened in 1994 and was known as Kiel Center until 2000, Savvis Center from 2000 to 2006, and Scottrade Center from 2006 to 2018. On May 21, 2018, the St. Louis Blues and representatives of Enterprise Holdings, based in St. Louis, announced that the naming rights had been acquired by Enterprise and that the facility's name would change to Enterprise Center, effective July 1, 2018.
Video Enterprise Center
Current tenants
It is the home of the St. Louis Blues of the NHL. In addition to the NHL franchise, the facility has hosted the annual Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament since 1995, commonly referred to as "Arch Madness", with the winner receiving an automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The University of Illinois and University of Missouri play their annual men's basketball rivalry game at Enterprise Center each season, typically on the Saturday before Christmas.
Enterprise Center also hosts a variety of non-sporting events each year, including concerts, ice shows, family events, professional wrestling, and other events. On average, the facility sees about 175 total events per year, drawing nearly two million guests annually to downtown St. Louis.
The facility is frequently chosen by the NCAA to host championship events, including its men's hockey "Frozen Four" in 2007, the women's basketball Final Four in 2001 and 2009, wrestling championships in 2000, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2015, and 2017, and several men's and women's basketball Midwest Regional tournament games. After the Missouri Tigers joined the SEC in 2012, St. Louis was added to the list of cities that could serve as hosts for the men's SEC Men's Basketball Tournament, doing so for the first time in March 2018, at the completion of the 2017-2018 regular season.
The building is operated by SLB Acquisition Holdings LLC, owner of the St. Louis Blues, under its chairman, Tom Stillman.
Maps Enterprise Center
Former tenants
Former tenants of Enterprise Center include the Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball team from Saint Louis University, St. Louis Vipers roller hockey team, St. Louis Ambush and St. Louis Steamers indoor soccer teams, the St. Louis Stampede arena football team, and the River City Rage indoor football team.
History
The arena opened in 1994 to replace Kiel Auditorium, where the Saint Louis University college basketball team had played, which was torn down in December 1992. The Blues had played in the St. Louis Arena prior to moving into Kiel Center in 1994; however, they would not play in the arena until January 1995 due to the lockout that delayed the start of the 1994-95 season. The first professional sports match was played by the St. Louis Ambush, an indoor soccer team. The building is currently known as Enterprise Center, after naming rights were sold in May 2018 to Enterprise Holdings. The Kiel name still exists on the adjoining parking structure and the building cornerstone. Signs for the nearby MetroLink stop have been changed to read "Civic Center", since the building has been renamed four times in its history.
The Opera House portion of the building was not razed when the original Auditorium was but remained closed since 1992, as members of Civic Progress, Inc., who promised to pay for the renovation of the Opera House, reneged on that promise, while opposing all outside efforts to achieve that renovation. In June 2009, the St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted 25-1 to subsidize the renovation and reopening of the Opera House under the direction of its new owners, Sports Capital Partners (who also own the Blues). The subsidies were funded by municipal bonds and state/federal historic tax credits. On July 12, 2010, it was announced that the name of the opera house would be changed to the Peabody Opera House, named after the company Peabody Energy. On October 1, 2011, the Peabody Opera House opened for the first time since the $79 million renovation.
Through its history, the arena has been known as Kiel Center until 2000, Savvis Center from 2000 to 2006, Scottrade Center from 2006 to 2018, and Enterprise Center since July 2018.
The largest crowd to attend an event at the arena was 22,612, which happened twice during the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament. The largest non-sporting event crowd was for a Bon Jovi concert in May of 2011 as part of the Bon Jovi Live Tour with 20,648 in attendance.
A three-phase renovation of the arena began in 2017 and will complete in 2019, with all building works being done in the hockey off-season to minimize schedule disruption. The first phase was largely composed of engineering upgrades (new lighting, sound, HVAC, and ice plant) and dressing rooms, as well as a new scoreboard and replacement of some lower-tier seating on the west end (where the Blues shoot twice) with "theater boxes". Phase two will see the replacement of all upper-tier seats, "theater boxes" added to the east end, and a re-built lower-tier concourse with new club areas for premium ticketholders as well as a beer garden opening onto 14th Street. The third and final phase will include the replacement of lower-tier seats and renovations to private boxes.
Naming rights
Blues management decried its former naming-rights deal with tech company SAVVIS, as much of the compensation was in Savvis shares, then riding high. However, when the tech bubble burst, the team was left with nearly worthless shares.
In September 2006, Scottrade founder Rodger O. Riney and chief marketing officer Chris Moloney announced a partnership with the St. Louis Blues hockey club and arena. The new name of the arena, Scottrade Center, was revealed in a joint press conference. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but were described as "long-term and significant," by Moloney. Both Scottrade and the Blues said the agreement was "equitable" to both parties. Most of the signage and other promotions were changed to Scottrade Center prior to the first home game of the Blues on October 12, 2006. The Sports Business Journal in March 2007 described it as "one of the fastest naming rights deals in history."
Scottrade announced on October 24, 2016 that it was being sold to TD Ameritrade for $4 billion. It was originally believed that once the deal closed, Scottrade Center would become the TD Ameritrade Center in a naming rights deal set to run until 2021. However, less than a year later, TD Ameritrade announced that it would give back its naming rights upon the closure of the Scottrade acquisition.
On May 21, 2018, Enterprise Holdings, based in St. Louis, and the St. Louis Blues announced that beginning July 1, the facility would be known as Enterprise Center. The 15-year agreement calls for interior and exterior signage featuring the Enterprise logo.
Seating capacity
The facility's seating capacity for hockey has varied since opening.
Events
Sports
- The PBR has hosted a Built Ford Tough Series (formerly Bud Light Cup) event at this venue annually since 1997.
- 1997 Conference USA men's basketball tournament.
- Hosts the Mid-States Club Hockey Association Challenge Cup and Wickenheiser Cup finals for high school hockey teams in St. Louis
- 1998 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional
- Women's Final Four in 2001 and 2009
- Hosted the 2006 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January 2006, which was used as the primary means to select the United States Figure Skating team for the 2006 Winter Olympics.
- 2014 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament 2nd round & Regional Quarterfinals
- NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships host in 2000, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2017
- Hosts yearly NBA preseason games. The most recent game took place on October 24, 2014, between the Chicago Bulls and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
- In 2018, the Scottrade Center hosted the Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament for the first time in the center's history.
MMA & Boxing
- Hosted the Cory Spinks vs. Zab Judah undisputed welterweight title fight in 2005.
- At Bellator 157 on June 25, 2016, Michael Chandler won the Bellator Lightweight Championship by knocking out Patricky Freire, and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton Jackson edged Olympic gold medalist judoka Satoshi Ishii on points.
Wrestling
- No Mercy (2001)
- Survivor Series (1998)
- Raw is Owen
- Badd Blood: In Your House
- Judgment Day (2007)
- Elimination Chamber (2010)
- Royal Rumble (2012)
- Raw 1000
- Extreme Rules (2013)
- Survivor Series (2014)
- Battleground (2015)
- Money in the Bank (2017)
Many historic WWE moments have taken place at the Scottrade Center. Former WWE and World Heavyweight Champion Kane made his WWE debut at this arena in 1997 at the event Badd Blood: In Your House. At that same event, the very first Hell In A Cell match took place. The Rock won his very first WWE Championship in the building at the Survivor Series event in 1998. Chris Jericho won his first World Championship in this arena at the No Mercy event in 2001, and won his latest World Championship in the arena at the Elimination Chamber event in 2010. In 2005 John Cena was revealed here as the first draft pick for Monday Night Raw, where he would remain for most of his career. Dave Batista won his second WWE Championship at the Elimination Chamber event in 2010. The 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw was also held there. At the 2014 Survivor Series Sting made his official debut in WWE. Arguably the most emotional wrestling card held at Scottrade was "Raw is Owen", held in the aftermath of Owen Hart's death the previous night at Over the Edge across the state in Kansas City. That night, ten matches were held with all booking put aside, and many wrestlers and fans paid tribute to the popular Hart.
The arena, alongside Madison Square Garden in New York City, the Staples Center in Los Angeles, Philadelphia's Wells Fargo Center and the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, is known for having one of the best crowds in WWE. St. Louis native Randy Orton is particularly well-supported, much like how the Allstate Arena crowd was firmly behind Chicago native CM Punk. Often one can see fan signs saying the words "Orton Country", among others, whenever Orton is scheduled to compete.
References
External links
- Official website
Source of article : Wikipedia
0 Comments