Sheffield Arena
Utilita Arena Sheffield

Exterior view of venue (June 2022)
Interactive map of Sheffield Arena Utilita Arena Sheffield
Former names	Sheffield Arena (1991–2002, 2007–10, 2015–17, 2021) Hallam FM Arena (2002–07) Motorpoint Arena (2010–15) FlyDSA Arena (2017–21)
Address	Broughton Lane, Sheffield, S9 2DF, England
Coordinates	53°24′0″N1°25′8″W / 53.40000°N 1.41889°W /53.40000; -1.41889
Public transit	Y  TT  Arena / Olympic Legacy Park
Operator	ASM Global
Capacity	Concert: 13,600 Ice hockey: 9,300[5] Steel Hall: 4,500[6]
Construction
Broke ground	1989
Built	November 1990 (roof structure)[1]
Opened	30 May 1991
Renovated	2013
Construction cost	£34 million
Architect	HOK Sport, Lister Drew Haines Barrow[2]
Project manager	Roger Colebourn[3]
Structural engineer	Cleveland Bridge & Engineering Company[4]
Services engineer	Oscar Faber & Partners
Main contractors	RM Douglas
Tenants
Sheffield Steelers(EIHL) (1991–present) Sheffield Sharks(BBL) (1994–2004) 1991 World Student Games
Website
Venue Website

Sheffield Arena, known for sponsorship purposes asUtilita Arena Sheffield, is a multi-purpose arena located inSheffield, England. It is situated nearMeadowhall and lies betweenSheffield city centre andRotherham town centre.

Opened in 1991, it is used for concerts and sporting events, and is also home to theSheffield Steelersice hockey club. Attendance for all events at the venue has totalled around 14 million since its opening. It has a maximum capacity of 13,600.^[7]

Constructed at a cost of£34 million, it was opened byQueen Elizabeth II on 30 May 1991 as Sheffield Arena.^[8] The first concert took place that evening,Paul Simon playing as part of his "Born at the Right Time" tour. The arena then took on the role of Gymnastics Hall for the1991 World Student Games which were held in the city and which prompted the investment in, and development of, both the arena and nearbyDon Valley Stadium.

Since the venue opened in 1991 the arena has averaged 122 shows a year with over 650,000 customers passing through the doors each year.^[9]

The Arena was the location of the infamousLabour PartySheffield Rally during the1992 United Kingdom general election which was widely criticised for being prematurely triumphalist.^[10]

The arena was renamedHallam FM Arena in 2002, but returned to its original name from 1 November 2007.^[11] On 9 August 2010, Sheffield Arena was officially renamed Motorpoint Arena Sheffield, after theDerby based car sales company invested £1 million to rename the venue.^[12] In August 2015 the arena was once again rebranded as Sheffield Arena, however in September 2017 nearbyDoncaster Sheffield Airport began sponsoring the arena giving it a rebrand, FlyDSA Arena.^[13] In 2021,Utilita Energy took over sponsorship of the arena.

The arena underwent a major renovation installing a new roof, doors, seats, lighting, catering and toilet facilities in July 2013.^[14]

In 2013 the arena was ranked as the 18th most popular arena in the world and this was in the year that the building was closed for over 2 months to enable the multi-million pound refurbishment of the venue. More recently, in 2019,Pollstar ranked the arena at 65th worldwide and 7th in the UK as part of their 'Top 200 Arena Venues'with 311,125 tickets sold,^[15] up 5 places from 70th in 2018.^[16]

During theCOVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, the car park of the arena was used as a drive-throughphlebotomy service operated bySheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, the first of its kind in the country. This allowed patients to attend for routine blood tests from within the isolation of their cars, reducing the requirement for patients to attendGPs or hospital clinics. The drive-through phlebotomy service opened on 8 April 2020 for patients with underlying health conditions,^[17] and was expanded to become available to all patients in the Sheffield area on 27 April.^[18] The drive-through was deemed such a success that it was turned into a permanent service, relocating first to a warehouse next to theSheffield Parkway before settling into a permanent site next to theNorthern General Hospital after the end of the pandemic.^[19]

To support the rollout of the local COVID-19vaccination campaign, the Sheffield NHS Vaccination Centre opened at the arena on 25 January 2021, taking up the space previously occupied by the drive-through phlebotomy clinic before its relocation.^[20] The vaccination centre remained open until 26 July, when it was relocated to the formerNHS Blood and Transplant building next to the Northern General Hospital to allow the arena to reopen for its usual events.^[21]

In April 2020, the interior space of the arena was used as a storage location for 1,800 additionalhospital beds which were being delivered to hospitals in Sheffield to support pandemic operations. Photographs of the hospital beds inside the arena later leaked onto social media, and the local NHS trust issued a statement denying rumours that the arena was going to be repurposed as aNightingale temporary hospital.^[22] In August 2020, anophthalmology clinic was opened inside the arena featuring eye imaging suites, remaining in operation until the arena reopened for normal usage after the pandemic.

This list isincomplete; you can help byadding missing items.(March 2020)

Sheffield's own Arctic Monkeys broke the Arena ticket sales records when they instantly sold out over 13,600 tickets for their date at the arena in November 2013. The previous record of 13,300 was held by fellow Sheffield band Pulp in December 2012.^[9]

The venue's record attendance for a seated music concert is currently held by Little Mix when 12,485 customers attended their Get Weird Tour Saturday 23 April 2016.^[9] The record for most shows in Sheffield Arena is held by Irish boybandWestlife with 32 shows played to date.^[23]

British-Irish boy-band,One Direction played their last concert, before going on an indefinite hiatus, on 31 October 2015 at the arena. The arena held from somewhere between 35,000–37,000 people raising over 3 million dollars.

The arena is a regular venue for some of the world's best known Comedians such asRussell Brand,Lee Evans,Jack Whitehall,Eddie Izzard andPeter Kay who in 2011 played the arena for 5 nights running with all shows selling out within hours of going on sale. In June 2018Michael McInytyre broke the venue's record attendance for a seated comedy show when his Big World Tour played the FlyDSA Arena on Saturday 23 June 2018 in front of 12,347 fans.

The arena is the home to the city'sElite Ice Hockey League team, theSheffield Steelers, who began to play at the arena in 1991. Whilst the standard capacity for ice hockey at the arena is around 9,300,^[5] the Steelers have recorded crowds of over 10,000 in the building with extra seating being installed at the venue. In 2019 the Steelers were the highest ranked team in the UK in terms of attendance and 35th in Europe drawing an average crowd of 6,045 to the arena.^[31]

The first ever competitive Sheffield Steelers game at Sheffield Arena took place on Sunday 6 October 1991, when the Steelers were held to a 3–3 draw againstChelmsford Chieftains in front of 300 spectators. However, the first Ice Hockey game played at the Sheffield Arena took place on Thursday 26 September 1991 whenDurham Wasps beat a Sheffield Steelers select 7–1 to win the World Leisure Cup. Durham'sRick Brebant scored the first goal at 2:18 in front of an estimated crowd of 2,000.

In February 2020 it was announced that the arena had secured planning permission to install a new 22-ton machine to make production of the ice surface more cost-effective and environmentally friendly.^[32]

Disney On Ice holds the record for the most performances & customers of any touring show to perform at the Arena. Feld Entertainment has promoted the show every year since the building opened over November/December. As of 2013 there have been 260 performances seen by 1.3 million customers.^[9]

The arena was the location for theLabour Party's 1992Sheffield Rally. Attended by over 10,000 party members and the entire shadow cabinet. Held just before that year's general election, which Labour was widely expected to win, the event is often seen as a factor in the party's defeat.^[33] While the event was seen as a success to those within the hall, many commentators, and Labour politicians, viewed it as triumphalist in nature.^[33] However, it has also been asserted that the event had negligible impact on the outcome,^[34] with a fall in the party's support having already occurred.^[35]

TV shows such asThe X Factor,Britain's Got Talent,Strictly Come Dancing andDancing on Ice visit the arena every year as part of their tours. It hosted the BBC revival ofGladiators in 2023^[36][37] and will host it again on select dates during August 2024; the arena previously hosted the live show during Easter 1995.

The arena has hosted major special high-profile events, including TheInternational Indian Film Academy Awards, which took place on Saturday, 9 June 2007 and was broadcast live around the world. This included a season hosted by the city ofSheffield and nearbyLeeds. Also, in 2009, the arena hosted the annualBBC Radio 1Xtra concert and the 2009BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

The arena has hosted major boxing events such as whenJoe Calzaghe first won hisWBO world title here on 11 October 1997 against former world championChris Eubank. On the same bill Sheffield bornNaseem Hamed defended his WBO title against Jose Badillo. On 26 November 2005Ricky Hatton extended his unbeaten record to 40–0, defending hisIBF andRing Magazine Junior Welterweight world titles and winning theWBA belt by 9th-round knockout againstCarlos Maussa.Sheffield fighterClinton Woods also defended his IBF light-heavyweight title against MexicanJulio César González on two occasions, winning on points both times.Kell Brook has had many fights here, his most notable being a fourth-round knockout victory ofVyacheslav Senchenko.

TheGreat Britain men's national basketball team played a test match againstPortugal in that arena in preparation for the 2012 Olympics.

As well as being home to theSheffield Steelers the venue has also hosted other ice hockey events such as the 2019 Super Series between USA and Canada featuring many ex-NHL stars^[38] and has acted as a neutral site for theEIHLChallenge Cup final

The arena has hosted manyprofessional wrestling events held by companies includingWWE,NXT and5 Star Wrestling over the years dating as far back as theWWEUK Rampage events in1992 and1993

Since 2007, it has played host to thePremier League Darts.

Every year students from both Sheffield Hallam and The University of Sheffield assemble to watch the final game of their varsity play out as both universities ice hockey teams play and the stadium fills to capacity.

ASM Global has taken over the operation ofUtilita Arena Sheffield andSheffield City Hall, starting in January 2025. This marks a new chapter for both venues, with ASM Global aiming to reimagine the Utilita Arena as a world-class touring destination.^[39]

The arena is easily accessible by road with the nearest motorway junctions being Junction 34 of theM1 if approaching from the North and Junction 33 of the M1 if approaching from the South. The arena has parking for around 1,200 cars^[40] which is often available to pre-book in advance at a discounted rate.

The arena is accessible via theSouth Yorkshire Supertram with the primary stop,Arena / Olympic Legacy Park, being served by both the Yellow Route and Tram Train. TheValley Centertainment entertainment complex nearby provides a secondary stop for the arena, Valley Centertainment, which is also served by the Yellow Route and Tram Train. This stop has Park & Ride facilities.

There are 3 train stations that are connected to the arena by Supertram –Sheffield,Meadowhall Interchange andRotherham Central – as well as nearbyDarnall which is a 5-minute drive from the arena.

The arena is serviced by many bus routes (includingX1 Steel Link) stopping at the Sheffield Arena and/or Arena Square stops nearby.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSheffield Arena.

• Official website

• Attercliffe
• Basketball venues in England
• Buildings and structures in Sheffield
• Indoor arenas in England
• Ice hockey venues in England
• Sheffield Sharks
• Sports venues in Sheffield
• Darts venues
• Sports venues completed in 1991
• 1991 establishments in England
• Music venues in South Yorkshire
• Music venues completed in 1991

• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use British English from September 2017
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Use dmy dates from April 2024
• Pages using infobox mapframe without shape links in Wikidata
• Coordinates on Wikidata
• Incomplete lists from March 2020
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia
• Pages using the Kartographer extension