American Airlines Arena

AmericanAirlines Arena
AAA
The Triple A
A3
Address 601 Biscayne Boulevard
Location Miami, Florida
Coordinates 25°46′53″N 80°11′17″W / 25.78139°N 80.18806°W / 25.78139; -80.18806Coordinates: 25°46′53″N 80°11′17″W / 25.78139°N 80.18806°W / 25.78139; -80.18806
Public transit Government Center
Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre
Parking 939 parking spaces
Owner Miami-Dade County
Operator Basketball Properties Ltd.
Capacity Basketball: 19,600;
16,500 (Without upper levels)
Concerts: 5,000-20,021
Surface Multi-surface
Construction
Broke ground February 6, 1998
Opened December 31, 1999
Construction cost $213 million
($303 million in 2016 dollars[1])
Architect Arquitectonica
360 Architecture (formerly Heinlein Schrock Stearns)
Project manager Parsons Brinckerhoff
Structural engineer Thornton Tomasetti
Services engineer Flack+Kurtz[2]
General contractor Morse-Diesel/Odebrecht/Facchina[3]
Main contractors John J. Kirlin, LLC[4]
Simpson Constructors[5]
Crown Corr Inc.[6]
Tenants
Miami Heat (NBA) (2000–present)
Miami Sol (WNBA) (2000–2002)

The AmericanAirlines Arena is a sports and entertainment arena located in Downtown Miami, Florida along Biscayne Bay. It was constructed beginning in 1998 as a replacement for the Miami Arena and was designed by the architecture firms Arquitectonica and 360 Architecture. The Arena is home to the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association.

The AmericanAirlines Arena is directly served by the Miami Metrorail at Government Center station via free transfers to Metromover Omni Loop, providing direct service to Freedom Tower and Park West stations. The Arena is also within walking distance from the Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre Metrorail station.

The AmericanAirlines Arena has 2,105 club seats, 80 luxury suites, and 76 private boxes. The Waterfront Theater is Florida's largest theater which is housed within the arena, that can seat between 3,000 and 5,800. The theater can be configured for concerts, family events, musical theatre and other stage shows. American Airlines which has a hub at Miami International Airport maintains the AmericanAirlines Arena Travel Center at the venue.[7]

The airline also holds the naming rights for another NBA venue, the American Airlines Center for the Dallas Mavericks, which opened in 2001.

History

The AmericanAirlines Arena opened on December 31, 1999 and its construction cost was $213 million. Architectural design team members included George Heinlein, Cristian Petschen, Reinaldo Borges, and Lance Simon. The AmericanAirlines Arena was inaugurated with a concert by Gloria Estefan. Two days later, on January 2, 2000, the Miami Heat played its first game in the new arena by defeating the Orlando Magic 111–103.

The main façade of the arena at night

As part of its sponsorship arrangement, American Airlines had a giant aircraft painted on top of the arena's roof, with an American Airlines logo in the center. The design is visible from airplanes taking off and landing at Miami International Airport, where American has a hub. The arena also has luxury skyboxes called "Flagship Lounges", a trademark originally used for American's premium-class lounges at certain airports.

Local sportscasters often refer to the arena as the "triple-A". Some sports reporters on the local news stations such as WSVN have referred to the arena as "A3" (A cubed). The arena is known for its unusual scoreboard, designed by Artist Christopher Janney. Drawing on the underwater anemone forms, the scoreboard also changes colors depending on the atmosphere. For concerts in an arena configuration, end stage capacity is 12,202 for 180° shows, 15,402 for 270° shows, 18,309 for 360° shows. For center stage concerts the arena can seat 19,146.

The Miami Heat has not had to pay to use the $357 million-venue, which sits on $38 million of county land; the county has paid $64 million in operating subsidies. "It was never a good deal," says former Miami-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorenson, who opposed the new arena in 1996. "There are certain politicians who just get stars in their eyes and don't really think about what the real cost is going to be."

WTVJ, the city's NBC owned-and-operated station in Miami, had their Downtown Miami Studios in the back of the arena from 2001 till 2011.

Despite American Airline's logo change, American Airlines Arena still uses the airline's old logo.

Accessibility

Transportation

The arena as seen from Freedom Tower station.

Traffic congestion after events can cause delays for those who choose to drive to the arena. Visitors to the American Airlines Arena are encouraged to take Metrorail, Metromover, or Metrobus, as parking can be scarce and expensive. Metromover's Freedom Tower station is located two blocks west of the arena. The nearest Metrorail stations are Government Center and Historic Overtown. The Metromover is free to ride and connects to Metrorail at Government Center station.

Parking on-site

AmericanAirlines Arena features 939 parking spaces during HEAT Games. On-site parking is reserved for Premium seat and Dewar's 12 Clubhouse ticket holders. On-site parking spaces must be pre-purchased through the Arena's Official Parking Provider, ParkJockey.[8][9]

Notable events

Basketball

Other sports

Music

Kanye West performed here for his Saint Pablo Tour on September 16-17

Gallery

Wikimedia Commons has media related to AmericanAirlines Arena.

References

External links

Events and tenants
Preceded by
Miami Arena
Home of the
Miami Heat

1999 – present
Succeeded by
current
Preceded by
first arena
Home of the
Miami Sol

2000–2002
Succeeded by
last arena
Preceded by
Save Mart Center
Home of the
Royal Rumble

2006
Succeeded by
AT&T Center
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/24/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.