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| Former names | Checkerdome (1977–1983) |
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| Address | 5700 Oakland Avenue |
| Location | St. Louis,Missouri |
| Coordinates | 38°37′45″N90°16′58″W / 38.62917°N 90.28278°W /38.62917; -90.28278 |
| Owner | City of St. Louis[1] |
| Operator | City of St. Louis[1] |
| Capacity | Ice hockey: 14,200 (1929–1968) 14,500 (1968–1969) 15,500 (1969–1970) 17,776 (1970–1971) 17,821 (1971–1972) 18,005 (1972–1974) 18,008 (1974–1975) 18,006 (1975–1978) 17,968 (1978–1985) 17,640 (1985–1988) 17,188 (1988–1994) |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1927; 98 years ago (1927) |
| Opened | September 23, 1929; 95 years ago (1929-09-23) |
| Closed | May 23, 1994; 30 years ago (1994-05-23) |
| Demolished | February 27, 1999; 26 years ago (1999-02-27) |
| Construction cost | US$1.5 million |
| Architect | Gustel R. Kiewitt and Herman M. Sohrmann |
| General contractor | Boaz-Kiel Construction Company |
| Tenants | |
| St. Louis Flyers (AHA/AHL) (1929–1953) St. Louis Eagles (NHL) (1934–1935) Chicago Black Hawks (NHL) (occasional use; 1951–1959) Toledo-St. Louis Mercurys (IHL) (1959–1960) St. Louis Braves (CHL) (1963–1967) St. Louis Blues (NHL) (1967–1994) St. Louis Hawks (NBA) (occasional use; 1955–1968) St. Louis Bombers (NBA) (1946–1950) St. Louis Stars (NASL) (1971, 1974) Spirits of St. Louis (ABA) (1974–1976) St. Louis Steamers (MISL) (1979–1988) St. Louis Storm (MISL) (1989–1992) St. Louis Ambush (NPSL) (1992–1994) St. Louis Vipers (RHI) (1993–1994) Saint Louis Billikens men's basketball (NCAA) (1968–1973 and 1991–1994) Saint Louis Billikens men's ice hockey (1970–1979) | |
St. Louis Arena (known as theCheckerdome from 1977 to 1983) was anindoor arena inSt. Louis, Missouri. The country's second-largest indoor entertainment venue when it opened in 1929, it was home to theSt. Louis Blues and other sports franchises. The Arena sat acrossU.S. 40 (nowI-64) fromForest Park's Aviation Field.
The Arena hosted conventions, concerts, political rallies, horse shows, circuses, boxing matches, professional wrestling, Roller Derby competitions,indoor soccer matches, the1973 and1978 NCAA men's basketball Final Four, the NCAA Men's Midwest Regional finals in 1982, 1984, and 1993, the 1992–94Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament, the 1968, 1969, and 1970Stanley Cup Finals, and the 1975 NCAAFrozen Four ice hockey finals.
It was demolished in 1999.
At the conclusion of the1904 World's Fair, St. Louis ended its long tradition of annually hosting large indoor agriculture and horse shows. The city tore down its hugeSt. Louis Exposition and Music Hall and built theSt. Louis Coliseum which was aimed at individual events such as boxing matches.
In 1928 theNational Dairy Show offered the city the opportunity to become the permanent location for its annual two-week meeting of dairymen and their prize animals. With no public funds available, a group of businessmen raised private funding for what was projected as a $2 million building. The National Exposition Company in charge of the project hiredGustel R. Kiewitt as architect and the Boaz-Kiel Construction Company as general contractor.
Kiewit's design called for alamella roof supported by 20 cantilever steel trusses, eliminating the need for view-obscuring internal support pillars. The lamella design consisted of Douglas fir ribs, 3.75 inches (9.5 cm) thick, 17.5 inches (44 cm) wide and 15 feet (4.6 m) long, fitted together diagonally and giving the appearance of fish scales. The huge structure was completed in 1929, just over a year after construction began. At 476 feet (145 m) long and 276 feet (84 m) wide, it was behind onlyMadison Square Garden as the largest indoor entertainment space in the country. A 13-story building could have been erected inside of it.
The Arena was not well-maintained after the 1940s, and its roof was damaged bya February 1959 tornado. After repairs, it was re-opened as the home of theCentral Hockey League'sSt. Louis Braves, a Chicago Black Hawks farm team. The renovations included the removal of the fencing that enforcedsegregation, dating back to the time of theSt. Louis Eagles.[2]
On March 19, 1971, theSt. Louis Stars hosted the1971 NASL Professional Hoc-Soc Tournament here, which was the firstindoor soccer tournament sanctioned by aDivision One professional league in U.S. history.[3]
In the 1973 NCAA Basketball Final, theUCLA Bruins and legendary coachJohn Wooden defeatedMemphis State 87–66, behind 44 points fromBill Walton who went 21 of 22 from the floor. Over 19,000 were in attendance at the Arena.[4]
On February 13, 1974, theSt. Louis Stars played host to theRed Army team at the Arena in the final match of Russian squad's three-cityindoor soccer tour of North America. Attendance for the match was 12,241.[5][6][7][8]
In the 1978 NCAA Basketball Final, theKentucky Wildcats and coachJoe B. Hall defeatedDuke 94–88, led by the 41-point effort ofJack Givens.[9]
From 1980 to 1993, St. Louis Arena was the site of theBraggin' Rights basketball game played between theUniversity of Missouri and theUniversity of Illinois.
After the 1968 departure of the NBA'sHawks, theCarolina Cougars moved to the city and took the nameSpirits of St. Louis. The Spirits played in the Arena for the final two seasons of theAmerican Basketball Association (ABA), 1974–75 and 1975–76.[10] Their announcer on KMOX radio was a youngBob Costas. Young players such asSteve Jones ("Snapper", now a TV analyst),Marvin Barnes ("Bad News),Maurice Lucas andMoses Malone all played for the Spirits during their tenure at the Arena. The team was not included in theABA–NBA merger in 1976, when theIndiana Pacers,San Antonio Spurs,Denver Nuggets andNew York Nets joined the NBA. The Spirits and theKentucky Colonels were disbanded.[11]Spirits ownersOzzie and Daniel Silna pulled off a coup in their dissolution agreement when the ABA–NBA merger was finalized. The Silnas negotiated to receive a portion of TV monies in perpetuity, a deal that netted them over $250 million[12] before they were bought out by the NBA in 2014 for a reported $500 million.[13]
By the time the NHL'sSt. Louis Blues began playing at the Arena, it had fallen into such poor condition that it had to be heavily renovated for the1967–68 season. As a condition of getting the expansion franchise, Blues owner Sid Salomon Jr. purchased the Arena from theChicago Black Hawks and spent several million dollars to renovate the building and add some 3,000 seats, bringing the total to almost 15,000. It never stopped being renovated from that day on, and held almost 20,000 seats by the time the Blues left the Arena in 1994. Many fans considered its sight lines the best of any arena in the league, which is remarkable considering that it was not originally built for hockey. It was also known as one of the loudest arenas in the league.
The Blues played their first game at the Arena on October 11, 1967, against theMinnesota North Stars, which ended in a 2–2 tie.Bill Masterton scored the building's first goal whileLarry Keenan scored the first Blues goal.
In 1977, the Arena and the Blues were purchased byRalston Purina, which rechristened the building theCheckerdome after the company's checkerboard logo. By 1983, the cereal and pet food corporation had lost interest in the Blues and the Arena, and forfeited the team to the league. The team was nearly moved toSaskatoon,Saskatchewan, before it was purchased byHarry Ornest, a Los Angeles-based businessman, who promptly returned the Arena to its original name.
The Blues played their final game at the Arena on April 24, 1994, losing game four of the first round to theDallas Stars 2–1.Phil Housley scored the Blues' final goal in the Arena while Dallas'Mike Modano scored the building's final two goals.
After the Blues moved to their new home, the venue now known asEnterprise Center, during the 1994 offseason, the final event at the St. Louis Arena was a concert by Christian artistCarman Licciardello.[14]
As a condition for the private financing of the demolition of city-ownedKiel Auditorium and the construction of privately ownedKiel Center (now theEnterprise Center) on the sameDowntown site, local business group Civic Progress, Inc. insisted that theCheltenham-neighborhood would not be allowed to compete with Kiel Center for any events, while the insurance burden for the building was left with theCity of St. Louis. With no income allowed for the Arena while insurance expenses continued, the building sat vacant while pressure built on the city government to either make it revenue-producing (essentially impossible under the Civic Progress-imposed non-compete clause) or raze it. The Arena remained vacant for nearly five years before it was demolished in 1999.[citation needed]
A business/residential development, The Highlands (named after an amusement park that was once adjacent to the site), now occupies the land that the St. Louis Arena called home, and includes the following:
Sports teams that called the Arena home include:
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| Preceded by | Home of the St. Louis Eagles 1934 – 1935 | Succeeded by last arena |
| Preceded by | Occasional Home of the St. Louis Hawks 1955 – 1968 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by first arena | Home of the St. Louis Blues 1967 – 1994 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Host of the NHL All-Star Game 1970, 1988 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | NCAAMen's Division I Basketball Tournament Finals Venue 1973, 1978 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Home of the Spirits of St. Louis 1974 – 1976 | Succeeded by last arena |
| Preceded by | Host of the Frozen Four 1975 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Host of Arch Madness 1992 – 1994 | Succeeded by |
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