Sleep Train Arena

Sleep Train Arena

Location	One Sports Parkway Sacramento, California 95834 United States [2]
Former names	ARCO Arena (1988-2011) Power Balance Pavilion (2011-2012)
Owner	Sacramento Kings
Operator	Sacramento Kings
Capacity	Basketball and concerts: 17,317 Indoor soccer 10,632
Broke ground	September 5, 1986
Opened	November 8, 1988
Closed	December 17, 2016
Cost	$40 million
Sacramento Kings (NBA) (1988-2016) Sacramento Monarchs (WNBA) (1997–2009) Sacramento Attack (AFL)

The Sleep Train Arena (formerly ARCO Arena and Power Balance Pavilion) is a defunct multi purpose indoor arena, located in Sacramento, California. The arena served as home to the National Basketball Association's Sacramento Kings from 1988-2016.

Background

Sleep Train Arena hosted nearly 200 spectator events each year. The current configuration seats up to 17,317 and can host such varied events as concerts, ice shows, rodeos and monster truck rallies. Nearly two million spectators from throughout Northern California visited what was then called ARCO Arena last year. The configuration for ice shows and ice hockey actually runs perpendicular to the basketball court with the normal sideline seating being retractable to allow for an international standard ice rink.

Owned and operated by Maloof Sports & Entertainment, Sleep Train Arena was the home of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings from 1988-2016. 

Sleep Train Arena played host to the Ultimate Fighting Championship 65 and 73, NCAA Men's Basketball Tournaments multiple times and was the host site for the 2007 NCAA Volleyball Championships.

Details

The original ARCO Arena (1985–1988), where the Kings played their home games for three seasons (1985 to 1988), after moving from Kansas City had a capacity of 10,333 seats. 

Power Balance Pavilion is located in a once isolated area on the expanding northern outskirts of the city. It was constructed at a cost of just $40 million, the lowest of any venue in the NBA. It is the smallest arena in the NBA with a seating capacity of 17,317. In 2006, there was a campaign to build a new $600 million facility in downtown Sacramento, which was to be funded by a quarter cent sales tax increase over 15 years; voters overwhelmingly rejected ballot measures Q and R, leading to the NBA publicly calling for a new arena to be built at another well-known Sacramento facility, Cal Expo, the site of California's state fair.

The original namesake sponsor of the arena, energy company ARCO, had corporate sponsorship since the arena's inception as well as the original ARCO Arena.  On March 19, 2007, the Maloof brothers announced a multi-year agreement extending the naming rights of ARCO Arena.

Power Balance Pavilion has hosted and currently hosts several state high school basketball championship games (1992, 1996, 1998–2009, 2011-present). Power Balance Pavilion hosts many graduation celebrations for local high schools. The facility's most attended event to date is the 1995 Billy Graham Greater Sacramento Crusade, which accounts for the four largest crowds in arena history. The facility has hosted the WWE Pay-Per-View event WWE The Bash on June 28, 2009, as well has hosted the 1993 Royal Rumble, and Judgment Day 2001. It has later hosted Friday Night SmackDown on August 12, 2011 which saw "Grotesque" Cody Rhodes win the Intercontinental title from Ezekiel Jackson.  Power Balance Pavilion has also hosted a PBR Built Ford Tough Series bull riding event every year since 2005. The arena hosted World Extreme Cagefighting's first ever pay-per-view event, WEC 48, on April 24, 2010.

The naming rights for the arena, ARCO, expired in February 2011. The arena was renamed Power Balance Pavilion on March 1, 2011 for its new sponsor, Power Balance, a manufacturer of sports wristbands.

On October 15, 2012, the arena assumed its current name when The Sleep Train purchased the naming rights.

Future

As part of the successful effort to keep the Kings in Sacramento, an ownership group led by Vivek Ranadivé purchased the majority stake in the team from the Maloof family, with the city agreeing to partner with the Kings to build a new arena by 2016. Construction began October 29, 2014.[2][6] Turner Construction, known in the Sacramento area for having built Terminal B at Sacramento International Airport and other projects, is the head of development for the new arena. The Kings' previous owners, led by the Maloof family, first proposed a downtown arena in 2012. The arena's estimated cost was $391 million. The City of Sacramento would have paid $255.5 million, the Kings would have contributed $73.25 million, and AEG was going to contribute $58.75 million. The Kings began occupying the Golden 1 Center in 2016 season.

Seating

The arena seats 17,317 for basketball, and has 30 luxury suites and 412 club seats.

Baseball stadium

There is an unfinished baseball stadium directly north of the arena. The stadium was never finished because the Sacramento Sports Association ran out of money during construction in 1989. The completion of Raley Field has stopped any possibility of this stadium being completed.

Popular culture

There is an instrumental song called "Arco Arena" on the album Comfort Eagle by Sacramento band Cake. The band also released a version of the song with lyrics as a B-Side. The music video for Bel Biv Devoe's "She's Dope" was filmed at the arena. This was also the home for the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs until they folded in 2009.

Arco Arena set a Guinness World Record for loudest sports roar by reaching over 130 decibels on November 8, 2006.

External links

• Power Balance Pavilion official website

Sacramento Kings arenas
Edgerton Park Arena (1949-1954) • Rochester War Memorial (1955-1957) • Cincinnati Gardens (1957-1972) • Kansas City Municipal Auditorium (1972-1974) • Omaha Civic Auditorium (1972-1978) • Kemper Arena (1974-1985) • ARCO Arena (1985-1988) • Sleep Train Arena (formerly ARCO Arena II/Power Pavilion) (1988-2016) • Golden 1 Center (2016-present)