Blue Cross Arena

Blue Cross Arena
Earlier names
Rochester Community War Memorial (1951-1998)
Data
place	Rochester , New York , USA
Coordinates	43 ° 9 '14 "  N , 77 ° 36' 39"  W Coordinates: 43 ° 9 '14 "  N , 77 ° 36' 39"  W
owner	City of Rochester
operator	Spectacor Management Group
start of building	1951
opening	October 18, 1955
costs	7.5 million US dollars $ 41 million US dollars (renovation)
capacity	11,215 (ice hockey, lacrosse) 12,428 (maximum capacity)
Societies)
Rochester Royals ( NBA , 1955–1957) Rochester Americans ( AHL , since 1956) Rochester Knighthawks ( NLL , since 1995) Rochester Brigade ( af2 , 2001–2003) Rochester Razorsharks ( PBL , since 2005) Rochester Raiders ( IFL , since 2008)

The Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial in Rochester , New York , is a multi-purpose arena that has been the home of the Rochester Americans since the founding of the Rochester Americans . The Americans (Amerks for short) play in the American Hockey League , the second highest division in North American ice hockey . The maximum number of spectators is 12,428, but only 11,215 for ice hockey and lacrosse games.

The Canadiens de Montréal were the first opponent of the Amerks in the arena on September 25, 1956 - on October 14, 1956, the first league home game against the now defunct Cleveland Barons was played in the arena in front of 6,303 fans (final score 2: 2). Today the Americans share their arena with the Rochester Knighthawks , an indoor lacrosse team , and the Rochester Razorsharks , which are part of the American Basketball Association .

In addition to the sports events mentioned, various other events also take place in the hall. Rodeos were held in the hall until the beginning of the 1990s, but no longer take place due to the risk of contamination from the ice. The hall is also used for concerts.

history

In 1880 the Kimbal Tobacoo Factory was opened on the area of ​​today's hall, which was closed again in 1905 when the Cluet Peabody & Co. Company took over the construction and began producing clothing. In 1924 the hall changed hands again, with the new owner (George Eastman) giving it to the University of Rochester for public events. A short time later, however, it was the university that in turn passed the hall on to the city, which it used as a public library and town hall.

After the Second World War , the city wanted to erect a memorial to the war veterans of the Second World War, but it was agreed to create something that would permanently help the city to a higher quality of life. For this reason, it was decided to build a multi-purpose arena on the site of the former Kimbal Tobacco Factory, which was demolished in 1951. Finally in 1955, almost ten years after the first plans to build a war memorial, the arena was completed. 7.5 million dollars had been built in, considerably more than the originally anticipated 2.5 million that were expected when the first thought in 1945 about building a multi-purpose arena.

In 1996, 40 years after its opening, extensive renovation and expansion work began on the War Memorial. $ 41 million was spent to convert the previous VIP area in the hall into 25 VIP suites, set up 60 percent more sales booths, install new sanitary facilities and increase the total capacity from 7,250 to 11,200 (for ice hockey), with the renovation work being carried out There were only continuous benches in the hall and these were replaced by individual seats.

Surname

In 1955 the hall was opened under the name Rochester Community War Memorial as it was dedicated to war veterans of World War II. In 1998 the name of the hall was expanded when the American insurer Blue Cross acquired the name rights to the hall. After protests by many war veterans and other interest groups, the name Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial was compromised .

Web links

• official homepage