"The Vault" | |
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 Pinnacle Bank Arena in 2013 | |
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| Former names | West Haymarket Arena |
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| Address | 400 Pinnacle Arena Drive |
| Location | Lincoln, Nebraska, United States |
| Coordinates | 40°49′4″N96°42′48″W / 40.81778°N 96.71333°W /40.81778; -96.71333 |
| Owner | City of Lincoln |
| Operator | ASM Global |
| Executive suites | 36[1] |
| Capacity | Basketball: 15,500 Boxing: 14,660 Ice hockey: 12,700 Volleyball: 15,290 Center stage: 16,130 End stage: 14,620 Half-house: 10,900[1] |
| Record attendance | 15,998(March 9, 2014)[2] |
| Surface | Multi-surface |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | September 7, 2011[3] |
| Opened | August 16, 2013; 12 years ago (2013-08-16) |
| Construction cost | Arena:$180,797,782[4] ($244 million in 2024) Project:$328,200,000[5] ($443 million in 2024) |
| Architect | DLR Group BVH Clark Enersen Partners |
| Structural engineer | Buro Happold[6] |
| Services engineer | M–E Engineers, Inc.[6] |
| General contractor | Hampton Construction Mortenson Construction |
| Tenants | |
| Nebraska Cornhuskers (NCAA) Men's basketball (2013–present) Women's basketball (2013–present) | |
| Website | |
| www | |
Pinnacle Bank Arena, known asWest Haymarket Arena during construction and commonly referred to asPBA, is a multi-purposeindoor arena located in theWest Haymarket District ofLincoln, Nebraska, United States, just southwest of theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln's City Campus. The 15,500-seat arena was completed in 2013 and replaced theBob Devaney Sports Center as the home of Nebraska's men's and women's basketball teams. The arena serves as the primary large-scale entertainment venue in Lincoln and annually hostsNebraska School Activities Association state basketball tournament games.
In its standard configuration, Pinnacle Bank Arena is the second-largest arena in the state ofNebraska and fifth-largest in theBig Ten Conference.[7]
The possibility of a new downtown arena to host Nebraska's basketball teams and serve as the anchor of a redevelopment of theHaymarket District was noted years prior to Pinnacle Bank Arena's September 2011 groundbreaking.[8] ThePershing Center, then the largest entertainment venue in Lincoln, had a listed capacity of just 4,526 and was considered inadequate to meet the logistical demands of modern concerts.[8] The larger but agingBob Devaney Sports Center, home to Nebraska's indoor sports teams since 1976, was similarly incapable of hosting large-scale performances and required tens of millions of dollars of maintenance updates.[9] In 2007, the City of Lincoln completed a study of five potential sites for a 12,000-seat, $50 million arena and identified its preferred location in the West Haymarket near the Lincoln Main Post Office, approximately a quarter-mile southwest of theUniversity of Nebraska–Lincoln's City Campus.[10]
The project's momentum slowed during the2008 financial crisis, but reemerged on a larger scale when renderings of a $200 million to $300 million complex were released.[10] The City of Lincoln established the West Haymarket Joint Public Agency (JPA) in conjunction with the University of Nebraska–Lincoln to control the financing of the proposed arena and oversee a potential redevelopment of the entire West Haymarket area.[10] In May 2010, fifty-six percent of Lincoln voters approved a $25 million general obligation bond to fund the arena, with the city eventually repaying the remainder of the Haymarket project's estimated $344 million price tag from several revenue streams.[11][12] These included a potentialnaming rights agreement and the university's rent payments to host basketball games, but the most significant was a "turn back" occupation tax, which was initially estimated to run through 2045 and includes a two-percent tax on restaurants and bars and a four-percent tax on hotels and rental cars.[13] A decade after the arena's opening, the JPA said the tax had generated $202 million in revenue, far more than expected, and as a result it was ahead of schedule in its bond repayments.[13]
In August 2011, Lincoln-based Hampton Construction andMinneapolis-based Mortenson Construction began concrete and foundation work for the arena and nearby parking garages.[14] The $63 million price tag for this work, which included structural steel and roofing material, represented over forty percent of the arena's initially planned $150 million construction cost. Development of the arena was made difficult given the space constraints of the site, between two railway lines which could not be relocated until after construction was scheduled to begin. The arena was therefore constructed "inside out" with interior concrete work largely performed prior to the erection of the steel superstructure, which was assembled as more of the site became available.[15] Approximately $50 million was spent to reroute the railroad tracks, construct anew railway station (the original station, theBurlington Northern Railroad Depot, was converted into an antique mall), and remove any fuel-contaminated soil.[5]
Pinnacle Bank signed a twenty-five-year, $11.25 million naming rights agreement in December 2011.[16] Upon completion, the 470,000-square-foot building had a listed arena capacity of 15,500 in its standard configuration, with thirty-six executive suites, twenty loge boxes, 832 club seats, two private club lounges, seventy-three concession areas, and a Huskers Authentic team store.[1] The arena has no upper deck around its north end, allowing room for a potential expansion to a capacity of approximately 18,500.[17] The first event at the arena was the University of Nebraska–Lincoln's summer commencement ceremony on August 16, 2013, though PBA did not host its official "grand opening" event until the following month.[3]
Nebraska's men's and women's basketball teams each played and won their first regular-season game in the arena on November 8, 2013.[18] For men's games, thestudent section (the "Red Zone") was placed at midcourt directly behind the team benches, with the stated goal of increasing student interest and providing a more intense atmosphere for opposition.[17] The men's team went 15–1 in its inaugural season at what became known as "The Vault," which included a late-season victory overWisconsin that propelled the program to its firstNCAA Division I tournament since 1998.[19] Ten years later, the team went 18–1 and defeated No. 1Purdue at Pinnacle Bank Arena, NU's first victory over the country's top-ranked team in forty-two years.[20]
Nebraska's men's program has ranked in the national top twenty-five in attendance each year it has played at Pinnacle Bank Arena. Its women's program has never ranked lower than twentieth.[21]
PBA hosted regional semifinal and regional final games in the2014 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament, which featured eventual national championConnecticut. Fourth-seeded Nebraska was upset byBYU in the second round and did not play on its home court. The arena hosted a sold-out preseason game between theNBA'sDallas Mavericks andChicago Bulls in 2015; the Bulls won on a last-second shot by formerCreighton standoutDoug McDermott.[22] Chicago was coached byFred Hoiberg, who returned to PBA four years later as Nebraska's head coach. TheMinnesota Timberwolves andDenver Nuggets played the arena's second NBA preseason game the following year.
The arena annually hosts several games of theNebraska School Activities Association state basketball tournaments.[23]
Michael Bublé played the first concert at Pinnacle Bank Arena on September 13, 2013.[24] It has since hosted hundreds of bands and artists, including theEagles,Paul McCartney,Billy Joel,Elton John,Metallica,Twenty One Pilots,Jay-Z,Cher,Katy Perry,Lorde,Fleetwood Mac,Kenny Chesney,Snoop Dogg,Blake Shelton,Lil' Wayne,Carrie Underwood,Justin Bieber,KISS,Iron Maiden,Kendrick Lamar,P!nk, andMorgan Wallen. On May 20, 2015,Eric Church performed in front of a crowd of 15,823, the highest attendance at the arena for an event other than a Nebraska men's basketball game. An April 23, 2022George Strait concert set an arena record with $3.1 million in gross sales.[21]
Notable among the arena's non-musical events are theHarlem Globetrotters,Cirque du Soleil,Monster Jam,WWE SmackDown,Disney on Ice, and several professionalboxing andmixed martial arts events, including a2017 fight betweenTerence Crawford andJulius Indongo in whichOmaha native Crawford became the undisputed light welterweight champion. Comedians who have performed at the arena includeJeff Dunham,Larry the Cable Guy,Jeff Foxworthy,Daniel Tosh, andBert Kreischer.
In 2021, the Lincoln-Lancaster County Health Department set up a series of clinics at Pinnacle Bank Arena to provideCOVID-19 vaccinations, issuing over 130,000 vaccine doses at the venue.[21]
Authority control databases: Geographic |
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