Madrid Arena (also known as Telefónica Arena due to naming rights) is an indoor arena located in the city of Madrid, at the fairgrounds in the Casa de Campo, just minutes from downtown. Built from the old Rockódromo, the pavilion has been designed by Spanish architects Estudio Cano Lasso who designed this versatile building in 2001 to accommodate sporting events, commercial, cultural and leisure activities. The pavilion is sponsored by the company Telefónica for what is also known by the names of Telefónica and Telefónica Arena Madrid Arena.
The arena was built in 2002 and it was the location of the Mutua Madrileña Masters Madrid men's tennis tournament until Caja Mágica was opened. It has a maximum seating capacity of 12,000 seats and it was the home games venue of CB Estudiantes from 2003 to 2010. When configured to host basketball games its seating capacity is 10,500.
Between 7–12 November 2006, the Madrid Arena hosted the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships, which is the season championship on the WTA Tour. The arena hosted the second stage of EuroBasket 2007.
It was built as part of the facilities planned for the Madrid 2012 Olympic bid. It was expected to house basketball competitions. The first phase was about in 2002, expanded the following year.
It has a maximum capacity of 10,248 spectators for basketball and 12,000 for boxing and 30,000 m². Its dome is 11,000 m² and is supported by a three-dimensional structure supported on 181 piles. It has a skylight that can be opened, letting in natural light. The facade is composed of a double curve of glass, very light and variable transparency.
It is distributed on three floors (access, intermediate and low). Its central court has three retractable bleachers, allowing the surface vary depending on the type of event.
The pavilion features a Satellite Pavilion, with an area of 2,100 m²
It is owned by the City of Madrid and is managed by Empresa Municipal Campo de las Naciones.
From 2002 to 2008, hosted the Masters Series Madrid tennis tournament.
The Student Basketball Club plays its matches in the Madrid Arena since the 2005-2006 season. It has signed a five-year contract with an option for another five. It was one of the sites of the Eurobasket 2007 to host matches in the final tournament.
On November 1st 2012 a human stampede in a Halloween party resulted in five girls crushed to death. Party's organizers were allowed to sell 9.000 tickets, but much more people entered, the judge having gathered more than 19.000 tickets. Few days after it was announced that the Madrid Arena was not going to host the Handball World Championship as forecasted.
Read more about Madrid Arena: Transport, Major Sporting Events Held At The Arena
Famous quotes containing the word arena:
“Children treat their friends differently than they treat the other people in their lives. A friendship is a place for experimenting with new ways of handling anger and aggression. It is an arena for practicing reciprocity, testing assertiveness, and searching for compromise in ways children would not try with parents or siblings.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)