ShoWare Center
| The Show | |
 | |
| Former names |
Kent Events Center (working name before opening) The Amiga Center at Kent (pre-opening, 2007) |
|---|---|
| Location |
625 West James Street Kent, WA 98032 |
| Coordinates | 47°23′18″N 122°14′24″W / 47.38833°N 122.24000°WCoordinates: 47°23′18″N 122°14′24″W / 47.38833°N 122.24000°W |
| Owner | City of Kent |
| Operator | SMG |
| Capacity |
Hockey: 6,500 Concerts: 2,500–7,600 |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | September 25, 2007[1] |
| Opened | January 2, 2009[2] |
| Construction cost | $84.5 million |
| Architect |
LMN Architects PBK Architects |
| Project manager | Shiels Obletz Johnsen |
| Structural engineer | Magnusson Klemencic Associates[3] |
| Services engineer | Wood Harbinger[3] |
| General contractor | Mortenson Construction |
| Tenants | |
|
Tacoma Stars (MASL) (2015-present) Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) (2009–present) Seattle Mist (LFL) (2009–present) Rat City Rollergirls (WFTDA) (2009–present) Kent Predators/Seattle Timberwolves (IFL) (2010–2011) Seattle Impact (MASL) (2014–2015) | |
ShoWare Center, originally going to be Kent Events Center is a 6,500-seat, 154,400-square-foot (14,340 m2) multi-purpose arena in Kent, Washington, United States. The construction of the arena was completed on January 2, 2009. Its principal tenants are the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League, Tacoma Stars of the Major Arena Soccer League, and the Seattle Mist of the Legends Football League. Naming rights to the arena were initially sold to Amiga, Inc. and the arena was to be called "The Amiga Center at Kent".[4] However, Amiga failed to make a promised down payment, and lost the naming rights as of August 2007.[5] In November 2008 the Kent City Council announced that the city had sold the naming rights to the Fresno, California-based VisionOne, Inc., an e-business software developer which in turn named the arena after ShoWare, its flagship box office operations program.[6]
The arena is managed and operated by Philadelphia-based SMG.[7]
The design architect is LMN Architects of Seattle, in association with PBK Architects of Vancouver, British Columbia.
Among other events, it has hosted the 2012 edition of Skate America.
Facts and Milestones
- Approximate square footage: 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2)
- Scoreboard: The “Chandelier” scoreboard with four 6’ x 12’ video screens.[8]
- Opening: January 3, 2009 (Seattle Thunderbirds 4 vs. Everett Silvertips 3)
- Seating: Multi-use facility with seating capacity of 6,100 including a 6,500-seat ice arena for Thunderbird home games. Retractable seating to provide additional space for concerts, basketball, shows and other events.
- Usage: Studies indicate that the center will host approximately 110 to 117 events annually, including about 40 Thunderbird games.
- First Event: Brenden Silvester of the Seattle Thunderbirds scored the first goal in the history of the ShoWare Center in the 2nd period on January 3, 2009 against the Everett Silvertips in a 4-3 Seattle win.
- First Hat-Trick: Greg Scott of the Seattle Thunderbirds scored the first hat trick in the ShoWare Center on February 6, 2009
- First Non Hockey Events: January 30, 2009, Kent-Meridian, Kentlake, Kentwood, and Kentridge's boys and girls high school basketball teams played an evening long event at ShoWare Center.
- Hockey attendance record of 6,220 set in March, 21 2015 against the Portland Winterhawks.[9]
- In November 2011, the Showare Center hosted a house show of the TNA Wrestling promotion.
- Country band Florida Georgia Line draws 7,129 people.[10]
- 2 millionth guest at ShoWare on November 11, 2014.[11]
- The 2015-2016 hockey season reached an all time ShoWare attendance record with an average of 4,792 people per game.[12]
References
- ↑ Cortes, Charles (November 28, 2008). "Events Center Ceremony Wins National Award". Kent Reporter. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
- ↑ Hunter, Steve (January 2, 2009). "Big Plans for ShoWare Center Grand Opening". Kent Reporter. Retrieved March 10, 2012.
- 1 2 "ShoWare Center" (PDF). Retrieved March 10, 2012.
- ↑ Gaschk, Matthew (April 18, 2007). "T-Birds' proposed arena gets a name". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved January 5, 2009.
- ↑ Brunner, Jim (July 31, 2007). "Amiga fails to deliver cash, loses naming rights to Kent arena". The Seattle Times. Retrieved January 5, 2009.
- ↑ Hunter, Steve (November 19, 2008). "New name for the Kent Events Center". Kent Reporter. Kent, Washington: Sound Publishing. Retrieved January 5, 2009.
- ↑ "Kent Events Center Operator Contract Approved" (Press release). City of Kent official site. March 19, 2008. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
- ↑ http://www.showarecenter.com/venue/venue_overview
- ↑ http://www.seattlethunderbirds.com/schedule/show/game/34215
- ↑ "ShoWare Center 5th Anniversary Celebration". seattlethunderbirds. CANADIAN HOCKEY LEAGUE. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
- ↑ "Welcome to our Two Millionth Guest!". showarecenter. SMG. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
- ↑ "Seattle Thunderbirds Yearly Attendance Graph". hockeydb. hockeyDB.com. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
External links
- ShoWare Center official site
| Preceded by KeyArena |
Home of the Seattle Thunderbirds 2009 - present |
Succeeded by current |