Brisbane Entertainment Centre

The Brisbane Entertainment Centre is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Brisbane suburb of Boondall, Queensland, Australia. The centre is managed by ASM Global.

Brisbane Entertainment Centre
Panoramic view of arena (c.2012)
Address1 Melaleuca Drive
Brisbane QLD 4034
LocationBoondall
OwnerStadiums Queensland
OperatorASM Global
Capacity13,601
Construction
Broke ground1985
Opened20 February 1986 (1986-02-20)
Construction costA$71 million
(A$205 million in 2018 dollars[1])
BuilderWatpac[2]
Tenants
Brisbane Bullets (NBL) (1986–97, 2007, 2016–19)
Queensland Firebirds (ANZ/NNL) (2008-18)
Website
Venue Website

The arena has an array of seating plans which facilitate the comfort of its users, subject to performance. Specific seating plans are usually allocated, depending on the performance and the size of its audience. The general seating arrangements are end stage mode, "in the round" and intimate mode, which only uses half of the arena. The centre also houses a sporting complex and small function rooms which are available to hire for wedding reception and business functions.

The centre's large audience capacity is mostly used for the staging of concerts and musical theatre shows, including Whitney Houston’s Nothing But Love World Tour, One Direction's Take Me Home Tour, Taylor Swift's Fearless and Speak Now Tours, Shawn Mendes' Illuminate World Tour, Grease, Beauty and the Beast, and The Man from Snowy River: Arena Spectacular. It has also staged ice-skating shows, including Disney On Ice. The Entertainment Centre was also the filming venue for the original Australian series of Gladiators from 1995 to 1997.

Location and access

Located in Boondall, just off the Gateway Motorway, patrons can catch a Queensland Rail City network service to Boondall railway station, on the Shorncliffe railway line, or travel by taxi. There are 4,000 car parking spaces. Buses do not run to the centre even on event nights.

Venue layout

The centre has 11,000 tiered seats and a maximum concert capacity of 13,601 making it the largest indoor live entertainment arena in Brisbane and the second largest permanent indoor arena in Australia behind only the 21,000 capacity Sydney Super Dome (it is smaller than the 14,820 seat Rod Laver Arena and the 14,856 seat Perth Arena, though both of those venues have a retractable roof).[3] It cost $71 million to construct.[4]

Seating plans[5]
Venue Capacity
Standard Mode 110,021
Standard Mode 27,847
Standard Mode 313,601
In The Round13,341
Intimate Mode 13,167
Intimate Mode 24,456
Intimate Mode 35,322
Intimate Mode 46,502
Sports Mode 16,799
Sports Mode 28,974
Sports Mode 35,032
Sports Mode 410,023

Sports

Brisbane Bullets

From 1986–1997 the BEC was home to former National Basketball League Australia(NBL) team the Brisbane Bullets.

The Bullets won the 1987 NBL championship against the Perth Wildcats, and secured their second NBL championship at this venue as they completed a two-game sweep of the Wildcats 2-0 after winning the first game which was played at the Perth Superdome.[6]

In 1987, the Brisbane Bullets won their second NBL championship and their first at the Entertainment Centre with a 2-0 series win over the Perth Wildcats (the Bullets previous championship win in 1985 was at the Sleeman Sports Centre).

In 1990 the Brisbane Bullets hosted games 2 and 3 of the National Basketball League Grand Final series against the Perth Wildcats, setting a new NBL attendance record for the time in Australia of 13,221 for game 2.

In 2007, the Brisbane Bullets won their third and last NBL championship when they defeated the Melbourne Tigers 3–1 in their best of five game series. The Entertainment Centre was used due to a date clash with the Bullets then home, the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre.

The Brisbane Bullets returned to the NBL in 2016–17 and will again play some games at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre.[7]

Queensland Firebirds

The venue was the main home court for netball side the Queensland Firebirds, who won premierships in the ANZ Championship at the venue in 2015 and 2016. In 2019, the club moved all of their home matches to the newly constructed venue dedicated to netball, Brisbane Arena.

Other

The facility co-hosted the FIBA Oceania Championship in 2007 and 2011. Both times, the Australian national basketball team won the gold medal.

Notable events

The opening event for the centre was on Thursday 20 February 1986, featuring World Champion, British ice skaters, Torvill and Dean. Ticket prices were Adults $22.90 and Juniors $15.90[8]

The grounds of the Brisbane Entertainment Centre
The grounds of the Brisbane Entertainment Centre

See also

References

  1. "Inflation Calculator". RBA. Archived from the original on 3 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  2. David James Robins. "Brisbane Entertainment Centre". Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
  3. Marissa Calligeros (17 October 2012). "Entertainment Centre in world's top 20". Brisbane Times. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 19 October 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
  4. Wanna, John; Robyn Davies (1995). "Local Resource Allocation in the City: Structural-Institutional Power". In Caulfield, Janice; Wanner, John (eds.). Power and Politics in the City: Brisbane in transition. Macmillan Education AU. p. 86. ISBN 0732929997. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  5. "Seating Configurations and Capacities". Brisbane Entertainment Centre Official Website. June 2004. Archived from the original on 9 June 2004. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  6. National Basketball League: 1987 Archived 26 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 22 March 2012.
  7. Brisbane Bullets vs Adelaide 36ers highlights - 2016
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 July 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), Retrieved on 9 July 2013
  9. Campbell, Lisa D. (1993). Michael Jackson: The King of Pop (1 ed.). Branden Books. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-8283-1957-7.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.