| Ford Center | |
|---|---|
 
| |
| Location | 1 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Evansville, Indiana 47708 |
| Broke ground | October 20, 2009[1] |
| Opened | November 5, 2011 |
| Owner | City of Evansville |
| Operator | Venuworks |
| Surface | Multi-surface |
| Construction cost | $127.5 million[2]) |
| Architect | Populous |
| Project Manager | John J. Kish |
| Structural Engineer | Thornton Tomasetti |
| Services Engineer | M-E Engineers, Inc. |
| General Contractor | Hunt/Harmon JV |
| Former names | Evansville Events Center (planning) |
| Tenants | Evansville IceMen (CHL) (2011-present) |
| Capacity | Concert: 11,000 Basketball: 10,000 Hockey: 9,437[3] (9,487 according to announced sellout on 2/26/2012) |
- This article refers to the Ford Center in Evansville, Indiana. For the former Ford Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, see Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The Ford Center is a multi-use indoor arena in downtown Evansville, Indiana. Designed by Populous (formerly HOK Sport), it opened in 2011 and has a maximum seating capacity of 11,000.[4]
It was built to replace Roberts Municipal Stadium, and is mainly used for basketball, ice hockey, and music concerts. It serves as the home arena for the University of Evansville Purple Aces basketball teams and the Evansville IceMen of the Central Hockey League.
The Ford Center is bounded by Main Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Sixth Street, and Walnut Street. As planned, it will eventually connect to a new convention hotel and the existing convention center.
The $127.5 million arena was approved by the Evansville City Council on December 22, 2008.[5] Demolition work on the site began on December 5, 2009.
On August 17, 2011, it was announced that the Tri-State Ford Dealers had signed a 10-year, $4.2 million naming rights deal for the arena, giving it the Ford Center name.[6][7][8]
The Evansville IceMen played their first game at the Ford Center on November 5, 2011, defeating the Fort Wayne Komets 3-1. The Evansville Purple Aces played their first game on November 12, 2011, beating the Butler Bulldogs 80-77 in overtime. Bob Seger & the Silver Bullet Band performed the arena's first concert on November 9, 2011. The Icemen announced a sellout at the February 25, 2012 game with an announced attendance of 9,487[9], surpassing the previous record of 9,403 in attendance at the January 14, 2012 game[10].
References[]
- ↑ http://www.evansvillearenaproject.com/content/timeline
- ↑ "City Council OKs arena plans", Evansville Courier & Press. Retrieved on 2008-12-24.
- ↑ http://icemenmaniacs.com/blog/?p=264
- ↑ Evansville Arena Facts. Populous. Retrieved on 2009-09-09.
- ↑ "City Council OKs arena plans", Evansville Courier & Press. Retrieved on 2008-12-24.
- ↑ "Ford Motor Co. pays $4.2 million to name Downtown arena Ford Center", Evansville Courier & Press. Retrieved on 2011-08-17.
- ↑ "New Evansville Arena To Be Named Ford Center", Ford Center. Retrieved on 2011-08-17.
- ↑ "Evansville Unveils Arena Name", Inside Indiana Business. Retrieved on 2011-08-17.
- ↑ http://chl-evansville.stats.pointstreak.com/templatepreview/boxscore.html?gameid=1672834
- ↑ http://chl-evansville.stats.pointstreak.com/templatepreview/boxscore.html?gameid=1672704
External links[]
- Ford Center official website
- Evansville Athletics - Ford Center
- Interior/exterior of new Downtown arena official site
| This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Ford Center (Evansville). The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Ice Hockey Wiki, the text of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0 (Unported) (CC-BY-SA). |