Sprint Center

Sprint Center is a large, multi-use indoor arena in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The building is located at 14th Street and Grand Boulevard, on the east side of the Power & Light District. The arena's naming rights partner is the telecommunications company Sprint, whose headquarters is in nearby Overland Park, Kansas.

Sprint Center opened to the public on October 10, 2007, and a concert on October 13, 2007 by Elton John was the first event held at the arena. The arena seats more than 19,000 people and has 72 suites. Sprint Center has effectively replaced Kemper Arena, which was built in 1974, just a few miles away in the southern portion of the West Bottoms. Additionally, the College Basketball Experience, which includes the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, is connected to and located directly north of Sprint Center.

The Sprint Center is home to the Kansas City Command of the Arena Football League. The Command (formally the Brigade) played the 2008 season at Sprint before returning for the 2011 Kansas City Command season

Sprint Center also hosted the 2008 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament, and in addition hosted the first and second rounds of the 2009 NCAA Men's Tournament and the regional rounds of the 2010 NCAA Women's Tournament.

Kansas City has entered into discussions with the NHL and the NBA regarding possible expansion or relocation of a professional hockey and/or basketball franchise for the arena.

Details
Ground was broken for the arena on June 24, 2005, and construction completed on October 11, 2007. The final design, by the Downtown Arena Design Team (a collaboration of the architectural firms Populous (then HOK Sport), 360 Architecture, Rafael Architects and Ellerbe Becket), was selected in August 2005. The construction manager responsible for the entire project was M.A. Mortenson Company, based out of Minneapolis, MN. The complete exterior glass facade system, all metal panels for the adjacent buildings and all accessory metal cladding was custom designed, detailed and supplied by Overgaard Ltd. Hong Kong to Architectural Wall Systems, the Des Moines, Iowa based glazing contractor who installed the building envelope. In total there are approximately 13,000 m² (139,932 square feet) of double insulated glass and 5,000 m² (53,820 square feet) painted aluminum curtain wall panels. In addition there are roughly 200 tons of system profiles and accessories. All of the 2,404 individual glass units on the main building were produced sequentially and completely assembled prior to shipping. The 5,000,000 lbs of rebar used in construction was detailed, farbricated and supplied by The Carter-Waters Corporation of Kansas City. The arena also features a work of public art, The Moons, by artist Chris Doyle, commissioned by the Kansas City Municipal Arts Commission (KCMAC).

The Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held at Sprint Center in 2008, marking the tournament's return to Kansas City after three years in Dallas and Oklahoma City. After returning to Oklahoma City in 2009, the Sprint Center again hosted the tournament in 2010 and 2011. It is scheduled to be the tourney site through 2014.

The arena also houses the College Basketball Experience and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame which, is located at 1301 Grand Boulevard connected to Sprint Center.

The outside of the arena is entirely glass. Inside it has state of the art technology with a 360 degree LED video screen. This facility allows Kansas City to draw most concerts touring the United States. There has been speculation of an NBA or NHL team relocating to Sprint Center, but as of yet no definitive plans have been announced.

Sprint Center opened on time and on budget on October 10 at 10:10 am. A tour lasted from 10:10 am – 10:10 pm for those who wanted to see it to grab a ticket at the box office. The tour consisted of the College Basketball Experience, two open concession stands: "Taco Taco" and "Oak Street Pizza"; a free drink from UMB Bank and other free items: a UMB Bank cup, a UMB Bank frisbee, and a UMB Bank ice scraper. UMB Bank is the only ATM in the new arena because it is a Sprint Center Founding Partner along with Farmland, The University of Kansas Hospital, QuikTrip, and Olevia. There are other Sprint Center Founding Partners: H&R Block, Toyota, American Century Investments, YRC Worldwide, and Time Warner Cable of Kansas City.

Notable concerts

 * On October 13, 2007, Elton John performed the inaugural concert to a crowd that sold out in less than 90 minutes.


 * Garth Brooks performed nine sold out shows on November 5–12 & 14, 2007. All shows sold out in under two hours. The November 14 show was broadcast live in movie theatres across the United States.


 * The Britney Spears concert held on April 2, 2009 was the largest pop concert held at the arena, with 16,872 guests in attendance.


 * The February 27, 2010 concert of Elton John & Billy Joel holds the record for highest grossing show at the arena.


 * Reba McEntire & George Strait's performance on April 9, 2010, holds the record for concert with the highest attendance, with 18,045 guests in attendance.


 * Madonna's performance on October 30, 2012 marked the pop icon's first ever Kansas City performance, as well as her first ever performance in Missouri.

Linkin Park performed on January 29, 2011 as a part of their A Thousand Suns world tour

Possible major-league sports
The Kansas City Brigade played at the Sprint Center for one season before the original AFL folded after the 2008 postseason. However, the revamped AFL brought arena football back to the Sprint Center in 2011, with the team playing as the Kansas City Command.

William "Boots" Del Biaggio, III, made an offer to purchase the Nashville Predators of the NHL with the intention of bringing the team to the Sprint Center. However, Del Biaggio has since joined a group of Nashville investors in an effort to keep the Predators in Nashville. In June 2008, Kansas City's hopes to land the Predators took another blow as Del Biaggio ran into legal trouble over a multitude of unpaid loans, culminating in him filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, effectively ending any chance of Del Biaggio moving the Predators to Missouri. On January 10, 2007, it was reported that the Los Angeles Clippers have taken an interest in moving to the arena. New York Islanders owner Charles Wang announced the Islanders will play a preseason game September 22, 2009 at the Sprint Center against the Los Angeles Kings. Local media reported that anonymous team sources stated the game was a test of the Kansas City market. In 2007, Kansas City and the Sprint Center also attempted to attract relocation of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the Penguins reached a deal with the City of Pittsburgh to build a new arena, the Consol Energy Center, and stay in Western Pennsylvania. The Sprint Center had also been looked at as a possible relocation spot for the NBA's New Orleans Hornets and the Sacramento Kings (the latter of which had previously played in Kansas City) before both teams settled their local issues.

Other sporting events

 * The CBE Classic is held every year at Sprint Center. The event was held on November 19, 2007 and November 20, 2007. It was also held on November 24, 2008 and November 25, 2008.


 * AVP Pro Beach Volleyball's Hot Winter Nights Tour was held at Sprint Center on January 12, 2008.


 * The PBR holds a Built Ford Tough Series event at Sprint Center annually since 2008. Prior to 2008, the event was held at Kemper Arena.


 * The Kansas City Brigade of the Arena Football League played their 2008 season at Sprint Center. They returned in 2011 after the 2009 AFL season was canceled due to financial reasons and the 2010 season saw Kansas City decide to take a break from Arena Football.


 * The NCAA Women's Volleyball Final Four was held at the Sprint Center on December 16 and 18, 2010.


 * The Pittsburgh Penguins faced the Los Angeles Kings on September 27, 2011 in front of a sold-out crowd of 17,779. The Penguins won the NHL pre-season game 3-2 in a shootout.

Other events

 * The Arena hosted the general sessions of the 2009 National Catholic Youth Conference, a biannual event which hosts over 20,000 Catholic youth from across the country. The general sessions were held in conjunction with the Kansas City Convention Center, where overflow seating was offered.


 * Sprint Center is now home for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and hosted the last ever episode of WWE's ECW on Syfy on February 16, 2010. WWE's new Pay Per view (PPV) WWE Money in the Bank was held on Sunday July 18, 2010. WWE also held an episode of SmackDown on March 15, 2011. On September 26, 2011 Sprint Center hosted an episode of Raw.

Transportation
Kansas City International Airport is located 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Downtown Kansas City in Platte County, Missouri.

The arena's vicinity is served by five interstate highways:
 * [[Image:I-35.svg|20px]]  Interstate 35
 * [[Image:I-70.svg|20px]]  Interstate 70
 * [[Image:I-435.svg|20px]]  Interstate 435
 * [[Image:I-670.svg|20px]]  Interstate 670
 * [[Image:I-29.svg|20px]]  Interstate 29

and four U.S. Routes:
 * [[Image:US 24.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 24
 * [[Image:US 40.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 40
 * [[Image:US 71.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 71
 * [[Image:US 169.svg|20px]] U.S. Route 169