History
The arena's construction broke ground on April 3, 2002 and the Coyotes moved into the arena in late 2003. The team had spent its first 7½ seasons since relocating from Winnipeg in 1996 in the America West Arena (now the US Airways Center) in downtown Phoenix. The AWA was not an old arena (it had made its debut as the new home of the NBA's Phoenix Suns only four years earlier, in 1992) but it was primarily designed for NBA basketball. It was quickly retrofitted for hockey. However, the arena floor was just barely large enough to fit a regulation hockey rink, and several seats had badly obstructed views. As a result, before the team's second season in Phoenix, its hockey capacity had to be cut down from over 18,000 seats to just over 16,000—the second-smallest capacity in the NHL at the time. After the Colorado Avalanche moved from McNichols Sports Arena into Pepsi Center in 1999, and the Toronto Maple Leafs moved from the Maple Leaf Gardens to Air Canada Centre later in the same season, America West Arena was the smallest NHL venue. A small section of seats on the lower level actually hung over the boards, obstructing the views for up to 3,000 spectators.
When the Coyotes were sold to a partnership led by Steve Ellman, that group committed to building a new arena in suburban Glendale. With agreements signed with the city of Glendale in 2001, Glendale Arena opened midway through the 2003–04 season, on December 26, 2003, with the Arizona Sting of the National Lacrosse League defeating the Vancouver Ravens, 16–12. The first NHL game was held the next evening, as the Coyotes dropped a 3–1 decision to the Nashville Predators on December 27, 2003. The first goal ever in the arena was scored by Nashville forward Scott Walker.
Jobing.com Arena was expected to gain the 2009 NHL All-Star Game after losing the 2006 All-Star Game because of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement ratification in the National Hockey League; however the Montreal Canadiens and their arena, Bell Centre, were awarded the 2009 All-Star Game. Under the terms of the new agreement, the All-Star Game would not be held during the year of the Winter Olympics in order for players to participate in the Games. Philips Arena in Atlanta, which lost the All-Star Game in 2005 because of the lockout, was awarded the 2008 All-Star Game. As Carolina has been awarded the 2011 All-Star Game, it is unknown whether the All-Star Game will ever be held in Arizona.
Beginning in 2005, Jobing.com Arena has been host to the Arizona state high school basketball, volleyball, wrestling and cheerleading tournaments in a mega-event called "February Frenzy", as the result of a formal agreement between the city of Glendale and the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA).
The Arizona Sting folded after the 2007 season.
Since 2004, the PBR's Built Ford Tough Series bull riding tour has hosted an annual event at this venue (except for 2006 when the event was held at Chase Field).
Prior to the 2009-2010 season, this was the only current NHL arena to have never hosted a playoff game, as the Coyotes' last playoff appearance was in 2002 when they still played home games in downtown Phoenix. However, the team qualified for the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, ending that drought. They played the Red Wings and lost the series 4-3. The 2010-2011 Coyotes season ended at Jobing.com arena with a 4 game sweep of the Coyotes by the Detroit Red Wings.
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“What has history to do with me? Mine is the first and only world! I want to report how I find the world. What others have told me about the world is a very small and incidental part of my experience. I have to judge the world, to measure things.”
—Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889–1951)