The Long Beach Arena was the first building to be completed in the complex. Capacities are as follows: 11,200 for hockey, 13,609 for basketball, and either 4,550, 9,200 or 13,500 for concerts depending on the seating chart.
The Arena has hosted various entertainment and professional and college sporting events, most notably the volleyball events of the 1984 Summer Olympic Games.
For trade shows, the arena features 46,000 square feet (4300 m²) of space, with an additional 19,000 square feet (1800 m²) of space in the lobby and 29,000 square feet (2700 m²) in the concourse. Hanging from the arena's 77 foot (23 m) high ceiling is a center-hung scoreboard with four White Way "Mega Color" Animation Screens. There is an 11 by 15 foot SACO Smartvision LED Wall located on the south end of the arena.
Long Beach Arena was the site of the first National Hockey League game involving an expansion team, as the Los Angeles Kings and the Philadelphia Flyers, both expansion teams, played on October 14, 1967. The Kings won, 4–2. The Kings played in Long Beach for the first half of their expansion season while the Forum was being completed.
The arena was also one of the sites of the 1986 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship Rounds of 64 and 32. The teams which played at Long Beach Arena included Maryland, Pepperdine & UNLV. Maryland's Len Bias played his final collegiate game at the Long Beach Arena on March 14, 1986 in a loss to UNLV in the Round of 32. The Arena was also the site of the Big West Conference men's basketball tournament from 1989 to 1993. It was the home court for Long Beach State's men's basketball team for several seasons in the 1970s and 1980s.
In the 1970s the arena hosted several games of the Los Angeles Sharks of the World Hockey Association and regular appearances of the Los Angeles Thunderbirds Roller Derby team.
The Arena was home to the former Long Beach Ice Dogs team, which played professional ice hockey in the ECHL. The Ice Dogs ceased operations of the team in 2007.
Read more about this topic: Long Beach Convention And Entertainment Center
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