Rose Garden (arena)
The Rose Garden, also commonly known as the Rose Garden Arena, is the primary indoor sports arena in Portland, Oregon, United States. It is suitable for large indoor events of all sorts, including basketball, ice hockey, rodeos, circuses, conventions, ice shows, concerts, and dramatic productions. The arena has a capacity of 19,980 spectators when configured for basketball, fewer for other events. The arena is equipped with state-of-the-art acoustics and other amenities.
It is owned by Vulcan Inc., a holding company owned by Paul Allen, and is currently managed by Anschutz Entertainment Group and AEG Live. The primary tenant is the Portland Trail Blazers NBA franchise, also owned by Allen. The other major tenant of the building today is the major junior hockey franchise Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League, which splits its schedule with the Memorial Coliseum next door. In addition to the Blazers and Winterhawks, several other professional sports franchises, and the Portland State University men's basketball team, either currently play home games in the Rose Garden, or have done so in the past. In addition, the Rose Garden is a popular venue for concerts and other artistic productions.
Construction on the Rose Garden began in 1993, and the arena opened on October 12, 1995. The arena cost US$262 million to build; construction was financed with funds obtained by a variety of sources, including the City of Portland, Allen's personal fortune, and $155 million in bonds issued by a consortium of mutual funds and insurance companies. These bonds would become the subject of an acrimonious 2004 bankruptcy in which the Oregon Arena Corporation, the holding company which owned the arena at the time, would forfeit title to the Rose Garden in lieu of repaying the bonds per the payment terms. Allen would later repurchase the arena from the creditors in 2007.
Read more about Rose Garden (arena): Description, Ownership and Management, Tenants and Events, History
Famous quotes containing the words rose and/or garden:
“Upon entering my vein, the drug would start a warm edge that would surge along until the brain consumed it in a gentle explosion. It began in the back of the neck and rose rapidly until I felt such pleasure that the world sympathizing took on a soft, lofty appeal.”
—Gus Van Sant, U.S. screenwriter and director, and Dan Yost. Bob Hughes (Matt Dillon)
“I am a willow of the wilderness,
Loving the wind that bent me. All my hurts
My garden spade can heal. A woodland walk,
A quest of river-grapes, a mocking thrush,
A wild-rose, or rock-loving columbine,
Salve my worst wounds.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)