Idaho Center

The Idaho Center is a complex of sports and entertainment venues in Nampa, Idaho, approximately 15 miles (24 km) west of Boise.

Venues include an indoor arena opened in 1997 with a seating capacity of 12,279 and 31,200 square feet (2,900 m2) of floor space and a 10,500-seat outdoor amphitheater opened in 1998 with a 60-by-40-foot stage. Additionally, the Idaho Horse Park is used for horse shows and the Sports Center is utilized for indoor track and field events, including the home meets of the Boise State University Broncos track teams. It features a 200-meter indoor track and is scheduled to host the 2012 NCAA Indoor Track Championships.

The Idaho Center arena is best known for rodeo. It annually hosts the Snake River Stampede, considered one of the nation's top rodeos, during the third week in July. The Stampede moved indoors to the Idaho Center arena in 1997; it was formerly held in an outdoor stadium (now demolished) near Lakeview Park. Since 1999, the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) has hosted a Built Ford Tough Series (originally Bud Light Cup) event at the Idaho Center in what has been a major stop of the tour (although they did not visit the Idaho Center in 2011).

The arena is used for concerts, trade shows, sporting events, and other events. It is the former home of the Idaho Stampede of the Continental Basketball Association and the Idaho Stallions of the now defunct Indoor Professional Football League. The Idaho Center arena is the former home of the NAIA Division II Men's Basketball Tournament. Upon its completion, the tournament moved to the Idaho Center in 1998 from its former home on the campus of Northwest Nazarene University (then Northwest Nazarene College). The tournament left town in 2000 when NNC became a university and left the NAIA to join the NCAA in Division II.

In March 2004, the Idaho Center arena was the home court for the Boise State men's basketball team in the second round matchup in the NIT against the UWM Panthers. The game was moved to the Idaho Center due to a prior scheduled Metallica concert at Boise State's Taco Bell Arena. The game drew more than 10,000, the largest for a basketball game in the arena's history. BSU and Idaho played a non-conference basketball game at the arena on December 31, 2011; the Broncos won 76-73 before 7,540 spectators at the "neutral" site.

The amphitheater hosts an annual Monster Jam event, and has also played host to music festivals, including The Vans Warped Tour, The Gigantour, The Lilith Fair, and The Mayhem Festival.

Pearl Jam performed during their Binaural Tour on November 3, 2000, with Supergrass as their opening act. The show was filmed and later released as a live album, titled 11/3/00 – Boise, Idaho. Tina Turner was scheduled to perform during her Twenty Four Seven Tour on December 9, 2000, but the show was cancelled.

The Rolling Stones played their first concert in the state of Idaho at the arena during their A Bigger Bang Tour on Tuesday, November 14, 2006.

Read more about Idaho Center:  North Nampa Urban Renewal Agency

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