Ownership and Usage
The Bridgestone Arena is owned by the Sports Authority of Nashville and Davidson County and operated by Powers Management Company, a subsidiary of the Nashville Predators National Hockey League franchise, which has been its primary tenant since 1998. The Predators hosted the NHL Entry Draft here in 2003.
In 1997, it was the venue of the United States Figure Skating Association national championships, and in 2004 hosted the U.S. Gymnastics championships. It was the home of the Nashville Kats franchise of the Arena Football League from 1997 until 2001, and hosted the team's revival from 2005 to 2007, when the Kats folded.
The venue has also hosted numerous concerts and religious gatherings, and some major basketball events, including both men's (2001, 2006, 2010) and women's tournaments of the Southeastern Conference and the Ohio Valley Conference. Since 2002, it has also hosted a PBR Built Ford Tough Series bull riding event every year (except in 2005 and 2006) until 2010. The event moved to this venue in 2002 after having previously occupied the Municipal Auditorium from 1994 to 2001; during the venue's first year hosting this event, the Built Ford Tough Series was known as the Bud Light Cup.
The venue hosted numerous WWE events since 1997, including Judgment Day in 2002.
In odd-numbered years, the arena was regularly one of eight sites to host the first and second rounds of the men's NCAA Basketball Tournament for the first ten years of its existence, though it was taken out of the rotation for several years (the arena hosted the event again in 2012), partly due to the obsolete octagonal mid-1990s-style scoreboard that hung above the arena floor. It was replaced in the summer of 2007 by a new $5 million scoreboard and digital control room.
Beginning in 2006, the Country Music Association Awards have been held in the arena after the awards show moved from the Grand Ole Opry House with a one year stop in New York City at Madison Square Garden in 2005.
Due to the 2012 NHL Lockout, the Predators can not host a game, so the arena will host a Southern Professional Hockey League preseason game between the Predators only other Tennessee pro hockey inhabitant, the Knoxville Ice Bears, and their cross-border rivals Huntsville Havoc on October 20th.
Read more about this topic: Bridgestone Arena
Famous quotes containing the words ownership and/or usage:
“They had their fortunes to make, everything to gain and nothing to lose. They were schooled in and anxious for debates; forcible in argument; reckless and brilliant. For them it was but a short and natural step from swaying juries in courtroom battles over the ownership of land to swaying constituents in contests for office. For the lawyer, oratory was the escalator that could lift a political candidate to higher ground.”
—Federal Writers’ Project Of The Wor, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“...Often the accurate answer to a usage question begins, “It depends.” And what it depends on most often is where you are, who you are, who your listeners or readers are, and what your purpose in speaking or writing is.”
—Kenneth G. Wilson (b. 1923)