Philips Arena

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The Philips Arena is an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia. Completed in 1999 at a cost of $213.5 million, it is home to the Atlanta Thrashers of the NHL, the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA and Arena Football League's Georgia Force. It is owned and operated by Atlanta Spirit, LLC, the group of investors that also owns the Hawks and Thrashers. The arena seats 20,300 for basketball and 18,750 for ice hockey. It includes 96 luxury suites and 2,100 club seats. For concerts and other entertainment events, the arena can seat 21,000.

The arena was laid out in a rather unusual manner, with the club seats and luxury boxes aligned solely along one side of the playing surface, and the general admission seating along the other three sides. This was done so as to be able to bring the bulk of the seats closer to the playing surface while still making available a sufficient number of revenue-raising club seats and lodges.

The arena is sponsored by and named for Philips Electronics and therefore contains a large number of television screens made by Philips. On the exterior, angled steel columns supporting the roof facing downtown spell out "ATLANTA" and the side facing the Georgia World Congress Center spells out "CNN." The arena adjoins the CNN Center. The Dome/GWCC/Philips Arena/CNN Center rail station below the arena provides access to MARTA public transportation.

History

Philips Arena occupies the site of the Omni Coliseum, Atlanta's former large sports arena that was demolished in 1997.

Prior to its demise, the World Championship Wrestling (WCW) hosted a number of professional wrestling events at Philips Arena. The arena was also host to the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Royal Rumble event in January 2002, and Backlash in April 2007, and has hosted several episodes of Monday Night RAW and WWE SmackDown!.

It hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 2003.

The venue had been named the site of the 2005 Southeastern Conference Women's Basketball Tournament. However, when the NHL announced in early 2004 that the 55th NHL All-Star Game, scheduled for February 2005, would be held in Atlanta, arena officials withdrew the Southeastern Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, which moved 140 miles northeast on Interstate 85 to the Bi-Lo Center in Greenville, South Carolina.

The 2004-05 NHL Lockout led to the cancellation of events in Philips Arena, and Atlanta became the second (Boston the first) city to lose an All-Star Game planned in advance because of a labour dispute. Atlanta would receive the 56th NHL All-Star Game in 2008.

External links

[Official site]

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Current arenas in the National Hockey League
Eastern Conference		Western Conference
Air Canada Centre \| BankAtlantic Center \| Bell Centre \| Continental Airlines Arena \| HSBC Arena \| Madison Square Garden \| Mellon Arena \| Nassau Coliseum \| Philips Arena \| RBC Center \| St. Pete Times Forum \| Scotiabank Place \| TD Banknorth Garden \| Verizon Center \| Wachovia Center		American Airlines Center \| Arrowhead Pond \| Gaylord Entertainment Center \| GM Place \| Glendale Arena \| HP Pavilion \| Joe Louis Arena \| Nationwide Arena \| Pengrowth Saddledome \| Pepsi Center \| Rexall Place \| Savvis Center \| Staples Center \| United Center \| Xcel Energy Center

Current arenas in the National Basketball Association
Eastern Conference		Western Conference
Air Canada Centre \| AmericanAirlines Arena \| Bradley Center \| Charlotte Bobcats Arena \| Conseco Fieldhouse \| Continental Airlines Arena \| Madison Square Garden \| Palace of Auburn Hills \| Philips Arena \| Quicken Loans Arena \| TD Banknorth Garden \| TD Waterhouse Centre \| United Center \| Verizon Center \| Wachovia Center		American Airlines Center \| ARCO Arena \| AT&T Center \| Delta Center \| FedExForum \| Ford Center \| KeyArena \| New Orleans Arena \| Oakland Arena \| Pepsi Center \| Rose Garden \| Staples Center \| Target Center \| Toyota Center \| US Airways Center

Current arenas in the Arena Football League
American Conference		National Conference
Allstate Arena \| Delta Center \| Gaylord Entertainment Center \| HP Pavilion \| Pepsi Center \| Staples Center \| Thomas & Mack Center \| US Airways Center \| Van Andel Arena		American Airlines Center \| Frank Erwin Center \| Kemper Arena \| Nassau Coliseum \| Nationwide Arena \| Philips Arena \| St. Pete Times Forum \| TD Waterhouse Centre \| Wachovia Center¹ \| Wachovia Spectrum²
¹The Philadelphia Soul play Sunday home games only at the Wachovia Center. ²The Philadelphia Soul play Saturday home games only at the Wachovia Spectrum.