The Times Union Center is an indoor arena located in Albany, New York, with a maximum seating capacity of 17,500 for sporting events. Current tenants include Siena College's men's basketball team, the Albany River Rats of the American Hockey League, and the Albany Conquest of af2.
The building, designed and built by Clough Harbour & Associates at a cost of $68.6 million, was opened on January 30, 1990 as the Knickerbocker Arena with a performance by Frank Sinatra. The naming rights of the arena were sold to Pepsi in 1997, and it was known as Pepsi Arena from 1998-2006. In May 2006 the naming rights were sold to the Times Union, a regional newspaper, and the name of the arena became the Times Union Center on January 1, 2007. The building is managed by SMG.
The Times Union Center also regularly hosts exhibition games of major sports leagues. The NBA, WNBA, and NHL have all played games at the arena. The Carolina Hurricanes play their pre-season exhibition games here.
The Times Union Center is often home to the annual Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference basketball tournament (1990-96, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006), and hosts the ECAC Hockey League championships every March. It will host the MAAC basketball tournament again in 2008 and 2010.
The Times Union Center's atriumIn 2003, the Times Union Center hosted the NCAA basketball East Regional, which was won by Syracuse University on their way to their first national championship. The arena also hosted the first and second rounds of the 1995 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament as the Knickerbocker Arena.
In 2006, the Times Union Center hosted the NCAA ice hockey East Regional tournament. The Michigan State Spartans of the Central Collegiate Hockey Association (CCHA), Harvard of the Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey League (ECACHL), Maine of Hockey East, and New Hampshire, also of Hockey East, all participated in the East Region. Maine ended up advancing to the Frozen Four. The arena has hosted ice hockey regionals several times in the past, most recently in 2004.
In 2000, the Times Union Center hosted a regional quarterfinal between St. Lawrence University and Boston University, which went into quadruple overtime; becoming the longest game in the history of the tournament and the second longest game in Division I men's college hockey history (it is currently the third longest game).
The Times Union Center also hosted the Frozen Four on two occasions, in 1992 (as Knickerbocker Arena) when Lake Superior State University defeated Wisconsin for the national championship, and again in 2001 as the Pepsi Arena when Boston College defeated North Dakota.
Since its opening, the Times Union Center has become a popular concert venue, due to its close proximity to larger cities like New York, Boston, and Montreal, where concert tickets tend to sell out faster. It is walking distance from the city's Greyhound Bus station, as well as being close to hotels, bars and restaurants. The open parking lots near the arena provide fans an excellent tailgating area for fans before the show.
In 1996, the jamband The Grateful Dead released a concert album from their March 1990 Knickerbocker Arena performances titled Dozin' at the Knick. In 2003, rock band Phish reunited with band co-founder Jeff Holdsworth for the first time in nearly 18 years.
On December 3, 2001 Britney Spears performed here as part of her Dream Within a Dream Tour.
On July 16, 2005, Bruce Springsteen played a solo acoustic show here as part of his Devils & Dust Tour.
On April 30, 2006, the then Pepsi Arena hosted the annual Parkfest celebration that featured an all day long street festival outside on South Pearl Street. Performances inside the Pepsi included New Found Glory, Dashboard Confessional, Chris Brown and Busta Rhymes. The event had previously been held at the Altamont Fairgrounds.
On April 17, 2007, Billy Joel played his ninth concert at Times Union Center, giving him the highest box office attendance of any artist to play at the arena. A banner was raised in his honor.
World Wrestling Entertainment has visited the arena quite often. Three superstars won their first WWE Championship in this arena. 1992's Royal Rumble took place here. The event is considered one of the most notable events in WWF History as Ric Flair went over an hour to win the Rumble, and claim the WWF Championship for the first time.
In 2000, the Pepsi Arena hosted the World Wrestling Federation's No Mercy, notable for the return of Steve Austin to active competition after being injured (in storyline) at the hands of Rikishi. This show also featured Kurt Angle winning the WWF Championship for the first time, defeating The Rock.
Around the same time at the then Pepsi Arena, Steve Austin had a beer truck driven down the ramp to the ring and sprayed Vince McMahon and company with beer.
Edge also won his first WWE Championship in January 2006, when it hosted New Year's Revolution.
It also hosted the second ECW On Sci Fi show on June 20th, accompanying a SmackDown! taping.
On August 28, 2007 the Times Union Center will hold a live televised ECW On Sci Fi accompanied by a SmackDown! taping. This will be the first ECW and Smackdown after WWE Summerslam 2007.
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