History
The arena originally served as home of the Mohegan Wolves arena football team until it was sold and moved to Manchester, New Hampshire in 2004.
On January 28, 2003 the arena was announced publicly to be the official home court for the Connecticut Sun. Prior to the fall of 2002, the NBA operating model prevented any WNBA team to exist without an NBA "brother" counterpart. By the time the Connecticut Sun moved in, Val Ackerman was the WNBA president, M. Jodi Rell was the state's Lieutenant Governor and Mark L. Brown was the chairman of the Mohegan Tribe. While the arena is attached to the Mohegan Sun casino, the facility does not accept any form of sports wagering or sports booking; in fact, sports betting is illegal in Connecticut.
The multi-purpose facility has hosted a wide variety of events; including the American Kennel Club, concerts from major Classical, Country, Jazz, Metal, Rap, Rock, and Pop acts, as well as sporting events such as WWE shows, PBR events, NCAA games, PBA tournaments, UFC bouts, World's Strongest Man Super Series Competition.
Major network and cable television broadcasting companies, including CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, ESPN and CNN have all produced events through this arena.
On September 8, 2005, as a companion to the arena, the Mohegan Sun casino opened its first Connecticut Sun merchandise store called "Winter Essentials". It mainly sold Connecticut Sun WNBA team goods. It was the first store in the United States that sold professional basketball goods on casino ground. However, the store was closed when the casino underwent renovations in 2008. Connecticut Sun merchandise can now be purchased at the Clay Pipe store in the mall area. The Queen of Pop Lady Gaga will be performing here on March 3, 2013 as part as her Born This Way Ball.
Read more about this topic: Mohegan Sun Arena
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