The State Farm Arena is a multi-purpose complex, in Hidalgo, Texas. It was formerly known as Dodge Arena, until February 4, 2010.
The arena seats up to 5,500 persons in its configuration for ice hockey, indoor football and indoor soccer, and up to 6,800 persons in its center stage concert configuration, which has also been used for boxing events.
The arena also features 25 suites, 500 club seats, 2,200 on-site surface parking spaces, an adjacent 2,000-square-foot (190 m2) lounge with access from outside the arena, as well as a 1,000-square-foot (93 m2) bar and a 300-square-foot (28 m2) pro shop.
It is home to the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees of the Central Hockey League since 2003, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA Development League since 2007, and the Rio Grande Valley Magic of the Lone Star Football League since 2011. The Rio Grande Valley Dorados of arena football's AF2 league were tenants from 2004 until 2009, when the team folded along with the league.
It was built in 2003, at a cost of $20 million, and is owned by the City of Hidalgo Municipal Facilities Corporation. The former DaimlerChrysler Corporation, at that time the owner of the Dodge brand, purchased the naming rights to the arena. Country music star Alan Jackson gave the first concert at the arena. On February 4, 2010, State Farm Insurance bought the naming rights for the arena.
One of the most notable events in State Farm Arena history took place in 2009, when Mexican singer Gloria Trevi, who was on tour at the time, performed before a soldout crowd. The concert was made more notable due to Trevi having been a resident of the Rio Grande Valley in recent years (she presently resides in McAllen, of which Hidalgo is a suburb.)
Famous quotes containing the words state, farm and/or arena:
“In former years it was said that at three o’clock in the afternoon all sober persons were rounded up and herded off the grounds, as undesirable. The tradition of insobriety is still carefully preserved.”
—For the State of Vermont, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“I respect not his labors, his farm where everything has its price, who would carry the landscape, who would carry his God, to market, if he could get anything for him; who goes to market for his god as it is; on whose farm nothing grows free, whose fields bear no crops, whose meadows no flowers, whose trees no fruit, but dollars; who loves not the beauty of his fruits, whose fruits are not ripe for him till they are turned to dollars. Give me the poverty that enjoys true wealth.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“O the joy of the strong-brawn’d fighter, towering in the arena in perfect condition, conscious of power, thirsting to meet his opponent.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)