Ball Arena

Ball Arena (formerly Pepsi Center) is a multi-purpose arena located in Denver, Colorado. It is situated at Speer Boulevard, a main thoroughfare in downtown Denver, and is served by 2 nearby exits off Interstate 25. A light rail station is on the western side of the complex. Opened in 1999, it is the home arena of the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League (NLL).

"Pepsi Center" redirects here. For the arena in Newfoundland and Labrador, see Corner Brook Civic Centre. For other arenas to which Pepsi owns naming rights, see Pepsi Arena (disambiguation).

Ball Arena
Exterior of arena (c.2013)
Former namesPepsi Center (1999-2020)
Address1000 Chopper Cir
Denver, CO 80204-5805
LocationAuraria
Public transitRTD:
 C 
 E 
 W 
at Pepsi Center/Elitch Gardens
OwnerKroenke Sports & Entertainment
Capacity18,000[1]
Construction
Broke ground20 November 1997 (1997-11-20)[6]
Opened1 October 1999 (1999-10-01)[6]
Construction costUS$187 million
($298 million in 2019 dollars[7])
ArchitectHOK Sport[8]
Project managerICON Venue Group[9]
Structural engineerThornton Tomasetti
Services engineerM-E Engineers[10]
General contractorMortenson Construction[11]
Tenants
Colorado Avalanche (NHL) (1999–present)
Denver Nuggets (NBA) (1999–present)
Colorado Mammoth (NLL) (2003–present)
Colorado Crush (AFL) (2003–08)
Website
Venue Website

History
Original Pepsi Center logo (1999–2009)

The arena replaced McNichols Sports Arena as the home of the Avalanche and Nuggets. Groundbreaking for the arena was held on November 20, 1997, on the 4.6-acre (19,000 m2) site. Its completion in October 1999 was marked by a Celine Dion concert.[4] Also included in the complex are a basketball practice facility used by the Nuggets, and the Breckenridge Brewery Mountain House[12], a restaurant accessible from within and outside the Center itself. The atrium of the building houses a suspended sculpture depicting various hockey and basketball athletes in action poses.

Prior to the 2013–14 season, the octagonal scoreboard that was in use since the arena's opening was replaced with a new four-sided rectangular scoreboard. The two center faces measure 27 by 48 feet (8.2 m × 14.6 m) long, while the two end faces measure 21 by 25 feet (6.4 m × 7.6 m) wide.

From its opening through 2020, the naming rights to the arena were held by PepsiCo, under which it was known as Pepsi Center. On October 22, 2020, the naming rights were sold to Broomfield-based Ball Corporation as part of a global multi-year agreement with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (KSE), which also makes it the exclusive "sustainability partner" of the arena. As part of the agreement, all KSE-owned sports teams and venues will employ recyclable aluminum products provided by Ball to reduce plastic waste, with Ball Arena to transition to serving concessions in aluminum packaging by 2022.[13][14]

Events
Ball Arena's interior during the 2008 Frozen Four hockey tournament, with the scoreboard used from 1999 to 2013.

Hockey

Ball Arena hosted the 2001 NHL All-Star Game. Later on June 7, 2001, the Avalanche clinched their second Stanley Cup in franchise history after beating the New Jersey Devils at home in game 7 of the 2001 Stanley Cup Finals. In 2007, the west regionals of the NCAA Division I hockey tournament were held at the arena, hosted by the University of Denver. The following year, it hosted the Frozen Four round of the 2008 tournament.

Basketball

Ball Arena hosted the 2005 NBA All-Star Game. The arena has hosted games of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament in 2004, 2008, 2011, and 2016. In 2012, the NCAA Women's Final Four was played at the arena, hosted by the Mountain West Conference.[15]

From 2004 to 2006, the arena hosted the Mountain West's men's conference tournament.

Mixed martial arts

UFC held its first event at the arena, UFC 135, on September 24, 2011.[16] It also hosted UFC 150 the following August.

Professional wrestling

The arena has hosted various WWE (and in the past, WCW) television broadcasts.

The "Denver Debacle"

On May 18, 2009, WWE cancelled and moved three events it had scheduled in Colorado, including a WWE Raw taping on May 25, 2009 at Pepsi Center, after the Denver Nuggets were scheduled to play Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers on the same date. The affected events were all moved to the Lakers' home arena of Staples Center, while WWE rescheduled an August 7 taping of Raw for Pepsi Center.[17][18]

In an appearance on KUSA, WWE chairman Vince McMahon accused the "inept management" of team and arena owner Stan Kroenke as having led to the conflict. A KSE spokesperson stated that "despite the propaganda campaign launched by WWE and Chairman Vince McMahon, the KSE team maintained a professional manner throughout this process. We had hoped for, and worked hard toward an amicable resolution - which we verbally had on Tuesday," [19]

The conflict would be referenced during the ensuing May 25 Raw, which opened with a skit between impersonators of Kroenke and Lakers owner Jerry Buss. "Kroenke" boasted about the Nuggets and his indifference to WWE and its fans. Mr. McMahon subsequently entered the ring, jokingly proposed the formation of his own basketball league, the XBA (a reference to his ill-fated XFL), and shoved "Kroenke" down — threatening that people who "push" WWE's fans would get "pushed back". In the main event, a 5-on-5 tag team match was held, where a face team wearing Lakers jerseys (John Cena, Batista, Jerry Lawler, MVP, and Mr. Kennedy) defeated a heel team wearing Nuggets jerseys (Randy Orton, The Miz, Cody Rhodes, Ted DiBiase, and Big Show).[20][21]

Other events

During the week of July 2–8, 2007, the arena hosted the International Convention and Contests of the Barbershop Harmony Society, a men's singing organization.

After a short-lived race at the Denver Civic Center in the early 1990s, the Champ Car World Series ran an annual street circuit race around Pepsi Center, the Grand Prix of Denver. The race was discontinued after the 2006 event.

The majority of the 2008 Democratic National Convention was held at the arena, culminating with the official nomination of then-Senator Barack Obama as the Democratic Party's candidate for the 2008 presidential election. However, the closing night of the convention, including Obama's acceptance speech, was instead held at Invesco Field at Mile High.[22]

References
  1. "PEPSI CENTER UNVEILS 'INFINITELY RECYCLABLE' CUPS". TheStadiumBusiness. October 17, 2019. Archived from the original on January 2, 2021. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  2. "Coaches and Staff". THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE COLORADO AVALANCHE. October 2017. Archived from the original on September 22, 2018. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  3. "Nuggets Staff Directory". NBA. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. October 2014. Archived from the original on October 15, 2017. Retrieved October 14, 2017.
  4. "Arena Facts". Pepsi Center Official Website. May 2009. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved May 24, 2009.
  5. McNicholas, Brendan; Bernstein, Danielle (January 2019). "Executive Staff" (PDF). 2017-2018 Colorado Avalanche Media Guide. Kroenke Sports & Entertainment: 6. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 5, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2021 – via NHL.
  6. Wiley, Matt (February 1, 2017). "Groundbreaking at Pepsi Center was 20 years ago. Here are our top sports moments". The Gazette. Archived from the original on January 2, 2021. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  7. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  8. "Pepsi Center". Populous. June 2009. Archived from the original on December 21, 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
  9. "Pepsi Center". ICON Venue Group. September 2009. Archived from the original on November 16, 2009. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
  10. "Pepsi Center". M-E Engineers, Inc. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved February 5, 2013.
  11. "Pepsi Center". Arenas by Munsey & Suppes. November 2004. Archived from the original on March 1, 2012. Retrieved September 22, 2011.
  12. "Breckenridge Brewery Mountain House | Pepsi Center". Pepsicenter.com.
  13. "LA Rams, Denver Nuggets and Arsenal all included in Ball Corporation's KSE partnership". SportsPro Media. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
  14. "After 21 years, Pepsi Center to be renamed Ball Arena as part of new partnership". The Denver Post. October 22, 2020. Retrieved October 22, 2020.
  15. Meisler, Natalie (2008-11-14). "Denver gets 2012 women's Final Four". The Denver Post. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  16. "UFC President Dana White: We Always Planned to Come Back to Denver". MMAWeekly.com. July 24, 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-24.
  17. "WWE event booted from Denver will be at Staples Center". Los Angeles Times. 2009-05-21. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  18. "NBA, WWE grapple over Denver booking conflict". ESPN.com. 2009-05-18. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  19. "WWE cancels 3 Colo. events over 'Denver Debacle'". KUSA.com. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  20. "PROWRESTLING.NET 5/25 Powell's WWE Raw Live Coverage: Vince McMahon vs. Stan Kroenke impersonator, Ric Flair calls out Randy Orton, 10-man tag with a mystery partner for the babyface team, Maryse vs. Mickie James for the WWE Divas Title". prowrestling.net. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  21. "WWE stages fight with McMahon, fake Kroenke". ESPN.com. 2009-05-26. Retrieved 2020-10-22.
  22. "Obama accepts Democrat nomination". BBC News. BBC. August 29, 2008. Archived from the original on January 5, 2010. Retrieved August 29, 2008.
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