Pete Maravich Assembly Center

Pete Maravich Assembly Center

"The Deaf Dome"
Former names	LSU Assembly Center (1971–1988)
Location	North Stadium Road Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803 United States
Owner	Louisiana State University
Operator	LSU Athletics Department
Capacity	13,215 (2009-present) 13,472 (2006-2009) 14,164 (1990-2005) 14,236 (1983-1990) 14,262 (1981-1983) 14,327 (1975-1981) 14,351 (1972-1975)
Surface	Hardwood
Construction
Broke ground	1970
Opened	January 3, 1972
Construction cost	$11.5 million ($83.8 million in 2024 dollars)
Architect	Robert M. Coleman Architects
Tenants
LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers (Basketball) (NCAA) LSU Lady Tigers gymnastics (NCAA) LSU Lady Tigers volleyball (NCAA)

Pete Maravich Assembly Center

The Pete Maravich Assembly Center is a 13,215-seat multi-purpose arena in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The arena opened in 1972. It is home to the Louisiana State University Tigers and Lady Tigers basketball teams, LSU Lady Tigers gymnastics team and LSU Lady Tigers volleyball team. It was originally known as the LSU Assembly Center, but was renamed in honor of Pete Maravich, a Tiger basketball legend, shortly after his death in 1988. Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer signed an act to rename the building in Maravich's honor (under Louisiana law, no LSU or state owned building may be named after a living person). Maravich never played in the arena, but his exploits led LSU to build a larger home for the basketball team, which languished for decades in the shadow of the school's football program. The Maravich Center is known to locals as "The PMAC" or "The Palace that Pete Built," or by its more nationally known nickname, "The Deaf Dome," coined by Dick Vitale. The Maravich Center's neighbor, Tiger Stadium is known as "Death Valley".

The slightly oval building is located directly to the north of Tiger Stadium, and its bright-white roof can be seen in many telecasts of that stadium. The arena concourse is divided into four quadrants: Pete Maravich Pass, The Walk of Champions, Heroes Hall and Midway of Memories. The quadrants highlight former LSU Tiger athletes, individual and team awards and memorabilia pertaining to the history of LSU basketball, gymnastics and volleyball. Prior to building the Assembly Center, LSU played its games at John M. Parker Agricultural Coliseum (aka, the "Cow Palace"), located on the southeast corner of the campus.

Practice facilities

In 2010, LSU completed a basketball practice facility which is connected to the Maravich Center through the Northwest portal. The facility features separate, full-size duplicate gymnasiums for the men's and women's basketball teams. They include a regulation NCAA court in length with two regulation high school courts in the opposition direction. The courts are exact replicas of the Maravich Center game court and have two portable goals and four retractable goals. The gymnasiums are equipped with a scoreboard, video filming balcony and scorer's table with video and data connection. The facility also houses team locker rooms, a team lounge, training rooms, a coach's locker room and coach's offices.

The building also includes a two-story lobby and staircase that ascends to the second level where a club room is used for pre-game and post-game events and is connected to the Maravich Center concourse. The lobby includes team displays and graphics, trophy cases and memorabilia of LSU Basketball.

With the completion of the basketball practice facility, the LSU volleyball team moved into a state-of-the-art locker room facility off the southwest corridor in 2011. It includes the team locker room, film room, equipment room and training rooms. The auxiliary gym located underneath the north section of the arena was converted to a volleyball-only practice facility.

Also located in the arena is the “L” Club meeting room along with Tiger Athletic Foundation offices.

NCAA Tournament

The Maravich Assembly Center has been a host site for both the men’s and women’s NCAA Basketball Tournament.

It played host to the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament twice, in 1976 and 1986. In 1976, Indiana University defeated Alabama and Marquette in the Mideast Regional en route to an undefeated season and the national championship, and in 1986, LSU defeated Purdue and Memphis to begin an unlikely run to the Final Four as a #11 seed, the lowest seed (through 2007) to reach the national semifinals.

The arena has played host to the NCAA Women’s Basketball First and Second Rounds in 2004, 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013.

NIT Tournament

The Maravich Assembly Center has played host to NIT Men's Tournament games in 1982, 1983, 1987, 1989, 2002 and 2009.

SEC Tournaments

The Maravich Center played host to the 1981 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament, the 1988 SEC Men's Basketball Tournament and two SEC Volleyball Tournaments.

Events

In addition to sporting events, the arena hosts concerts, graduations, convocations, lectures and other special events. A stage can be lowered into place at the north end allowing 4,000 additional seats for theatrical productions. An additional 1,000 seats can be placed on the floor.

In 1977, the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd was involved in a plane crash on their way to play at the Maravich Assembly Center. Several of their members were killed.

Non-LSU tenants

After the NBA's New Orleans Hornets were displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the arena was under consideration as a possible temporary home for the team. The Hornets played just one of six scheduled home games at the Maravich Assembly Center during the 2005-06 season.

In 1998, the arena played host to the Louisiana Bayou Beast of the Professional Indoor Football League. The Beast played 2 preseason games, 8 regular season games, and the PIFL Championship Game on August 15, 1998 in the Maravich Center.

Hurricane Katrina

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the arena was quickly turned into the largest triage center and acute care field hospital ever created in United States history. The 800-bed facility, which was under the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was staffed by ordinary citizen volunteers up to and including physicians. Some of the volunteers were themselves displaced from New Orleans due to the hurricane. Helicopters with injured evacuees landed on the infield of LSU's Bernie Moore Track Stadium, which is adjacent to the arena, while ambulances from around the region lined up with other patients that needed treatment. Those deemed healthy enough were either transferred to out-of-state facilities or to LSU's Carl Maddox Field House which had been transformed into a large emergency shelter.

See also

• LSU Tigers

External links

• Pete Maravich Assembly Center at LSUSports.net
• Pete Maravich Film and Video highlights from LSU