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  Ford Center Location within Indiana Show map of Indiana Ford Center Location within the United States Show map of the United States | |
| Address | 1 Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard |
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| Location | Evansville,Indiana, U.S. |
| Coordinates | 37°58′19.88″N087°34′4.24″W / 37.9721889°N 87.5678444°W /37.9721889; -87.5678444 |
| Public transit |  METS |
| Owner | City of Evansville |
| Operator | Venuworks |
| Capacity | Concert: 11,000 Basketball: 10,000 Hockey: 9,000 |
| Surface | Multi-surface |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | October 20, 2009[1] |
| Opened | November 5, 2011 |
| Construction cost | $127.5 million[2] |
| Architect | Populous[3] Hafer Associates |
| Structural engineer | Thornton Tomasetti |
| Services engineer | M-E Engineers, Inc. |
| General contractor | Hunt/Harmon JV |
| Tenants | |
| Evansville Purple Aces (NCAA) (2011–present) Evansville IceMen (ECHL) (2011–2016) Evansville Thunderbolts (SPHL) (2016–present) | |
| Website | |
| fordcenter | |
TheFord Center is a multi-useindoor arena in downtownEvansville, Indiana, with a maximum seating capacity of 11,000.[4] It officially opened in November 2011 and is mainly used forbasketball,ice hockey, andmusicconcerts. It is home to theEvansville Thunderbolts minor league hockey team in theSPHL and theEvansville Purple Aces men's basketball team, representing theUniversity of Evansville. The UEwomen's basketball team also played at Ford Center from the venue's opening, but moved its home games back to its campus starting with the 2017–18 season.
The first public event held at the Ford Center was anEvansville IceMen hockey game on November 5, 2011, when the IceMen defeated theFort Wayne Komets 3–1. The first concert was held four days later on November 9, 2011, byBob Seger and hisSilver Bullet Band. TheEvansville Purple Aces played their first basketball game on November 12,2011, beating theButler Bulldogs 80–77 in overtime.
In its first year, the new arena also hosted concerts forElton John,Lady Antebellum,Reba, theTrans-Siberian Orchestra,Steel Panther withJudas Priest, andCirque du Soleil's performance of Quidam.
The Ford Center played host to a game in the 2012College Basketball Invitational, in which the Aces lost to thePrinceton Tigers 95–86. The Ford Center also played host to the 2013GLVC basketball championships and the 2014 and 2015NCAA Men's Division II Basketball Championship. In September 2014, the Ford Center hostedWomen's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA)Division 1 International playoffs,[5] hosted by localroller derby league,Demolition City Roller Derby, featuring teams from America, England and Canada.[6] In honor of the event, Evansville mayorLloyd Winnecke declared the week of the event to be "Roller Derby Week" in the city.[7]
The Ford Center was designed byPopulous (formerly HOK Sport) as a replacement forRoberts Municipal Stadium. The $127.5 million arena was approved by the Evansville City Council on December 22, 2008.[2] Demolition work on the site began on December 5, 2009.
The Ford Center is bounded by Main Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, 6th Street, and Walnut Street. As planned, it will eventually connect to a new convention hotel and the existing convention center.
On August 17, 2011, the facility's name, Ford Center, was announced. Thenaming rights were the result of a 10-year, $4.2 million agreement with the Tri-State Ford Dealers.[8][9][10]
On January 18, 2012, Aces junior Colt Ryan set an arena record with 39 points in a win against theBradley Braves.[11]
In 2016, theECHL'sEvansville IceMen and the City of Evansville failed to come to an agreement on a new lease and the IceMen's owner, Ron Geary, announced his intentions to relocate the team toOwensboro, Kentucky. It eventually ended up inJacksonville, Florida. In response, the City of Evansville brought in a new minor league hockey team called theEvansville Thunderbolts as part of theSouthern Professional Hockey League for the 2016–17 season.[12]
Authority control databases: Geographic |
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