Amalie Arena is an arena in Tampa, Florida that has been used for ice hockey games, basketball, football arenas, and concerts. It is home to the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League.
The building was originally known as the Ice Palace . In August 2002, the naming rights of the building were sold to St. Petersburg Times , which became Tampa Bay Times in January 2012; accordingly, the arena is known as St. Pete Times Forum from 2002 to 2012 and Tampa Bay Times Forum (2012-2014). In September 2014, the arena was renamed Amalie Arena when the naming rights were transferred to the Amalie Oil Company.
Video Amalie Arena
History
The venue, located in Tampa's Channelside Downtown is a secondary location chosen after the failure of Tampa Coliseum Inc. to get funding to build the arena at the Tampa Authority Authority near the Tampa Stadium. The city of Tampa paid $ 86 million and Tampa Bay Lightning paid $ 53 million for the construction and infrastructure of the venue. Opened in 1996 as the Ice Palace. The first show was a show by Royal Hanneford Circus. The first hockey game was Lightning which hosted the New York Rangers, which Lightning won 5-2. Brian Bradley scored the first goal in the arena.
The Arena was built as a new home for Lightning, required for the lack of a major league arena in the Tampa Bay Area. Two arena in the area, Bayfront Arena in St. Petersburg and Expo Hall at the Florida State Fairgrounds are too small for the NHL team. Before the opening of the Ice Palace, Lightning spent a season at Expo Hall, and then moved to the Florida Suncoast Dome, dubbed "Thunderdome", at St. Petersburg, Florida in 1993. The Thunderdome, now Tropicana Field, is currently home to the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball.
The arena is owned by Hillsborough County and is leased to the Tampa Sports Authority. Authority hired the arena back to Lightning, which operated it. The current lease agreement binds the arena with Lightning ownership.
The naming rights to the arena are sold to then St. Petersburg Times , daily newspapers circulating throughout the Tampa Bay Area. Other entertainment events that are sometimes held at the Forum include concerts, NBA exhibition matches, USF and NCAA basketball games, tennis, professional wrestling, boxing, figure skating, and rodeos (as well as stand-alone bull riding events; PBR, Bud Light Cup (renamed Built Ford Tough Series in 2003), every year since 1998.)
The Tampa Bay Times Forum ranks, in 2010, as the 4th busiest arena in the United States.
A $ 35 million renovation is scheduled to be completed before the Republican National Convention of 2012. The renovations include the grand plaza entrance rebuilt, the removal of 2 lower level suites on every corner (8 of the 28 suites at this time) leaving the view from the concourse area to the play area, renovation of each suite, removal of 323 and 324 sections at the terrace level (574 seats) for the bar and stage area that will feature new digital theater organ, more concession area on the terrace level, an 11,000 square foot outdoor deck and a party area overlooking to the outside of the plaza and facing downtown skyline, a new climate of control that improves both the ice surface and audience comfort, new lighting, all new soft chairs, a refined and redecorated concourse, combining icons and restaurants Medallions into one place, which is updated.
Also in 2012, the Tampa Bay Times Forum installed a new video display board. This board is billed as the largest of its kind in North America. Two larger faces measuring 28 ÃÆ'â € "50 feet (8.5-15.2 m), while two smaller faces are 28 ÃÆ'-20 feet (8.5 Ã, Â ± 6.1 m). For comparison, the old display boards of this arena are 16 ÃÆ'â € "Ã, 28 feet (4.9 ÃÆ'â € Ã, Â ± 8,5 m) on all sides.
On September 3, 2014, Lightning owner Jeff Vinik announced the renaming Forum to Amalie Arena after coming to an agreement with Amalie Oil Company, a Tampa-based oil company.
Maps Amalie Arena
Events
As home of the Tampa Bay Lightning, Amalie Arena has hosted matches in the Stanley Cup Final, hosting one, two, five and seven games from the 2004 Stanley Cup Final, where Lightning beat the Calgary Flames four games to three to win their first Stanley Cup. During the 2015 Stanley Cup Final against the Chicago Blackhawks, the arena is a one, two and five game venues. In addition, Amalie Arena has hosted the National Hockey All-Star Game twice, in 1999 and back in 2018.
At college basketball, the arena is the regular host for games in NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament and NCAA Division I Basketball Women Tournament. Arena has hosted first and second round games for men's tournaments in 2003, 2008 and 2011 and is scheduled to host the match again in 2020. In the women's tournament, Amalie Arena has hosted the Four Final tournaments 2008 and 2015, and is scheduled to host home of the Final Four 2019. The arena also hosts a conference tournament, hosts the 2007 Men's Basketball Tournament and the SEC Men's Basketball Tournament in 2009, and is scheduled to return to host the SEC Tournament in 2022.
During the arena time as the home of the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League, it hosted a league championship game, known as the Bowl Arena, on two occasions, hosting Arena Bowl XII in 1998 and ArenaBowl XVII in 2003.
The arena is scheduled to host the NBA preseason games in 2010 between the Orlando Magic and Miami Heat, two Florida league teams. However, months before the game, the basketball floor of the arena was treated with an oil-based cleaning solution that resulted in the formation of a slick film on it. According to the Magic players, the floor was so slippery that they had to walk through their shooting arena. When it became clear that there was no way to make the court playable, the game was canceled half an hour before the scheduled tipoff. All fans receive a full refund.
Frozen Four from NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament 2012 was held at the arena, hosted by University of Alabama in Huntsville, college hockey team closest to Florida. This is the first time Frozen Four has been held outside the northern United States since 1999, when the University of Alaska Anchorage hosted the event at Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim in Anaheim, California. Boston College won a 4-1 national championship game against Ferris State. Four years later, Amalie Arena again hosted the Frozen Four of the 2016 Icelic Ice Hockey Tournament 2016.
The arena hosts the 1999 and 2018 HOL League All-Star Game
More events
Amalie Arena organizes the 2012 Republican National Convention.
Marvel Universe Live! kicked off its national tour at Amalie Arena on July 11, 2014.
Gallery
See also
- Downtown Tampa
- List of indoor arenas in the United States
References
External links
- Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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