US Airways Center
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US Airways Center (formerly America West Arena) is a sports and entertainment facility located in Phoenix, Arizona. It is home of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury, arena football's Arizona Rattlers, and the ECHL's Phoenix Roadrunners. The NHL's Phoenix Coyotes previously played here, from 1996 to 2003. Since then, the Phoenix Roadrunners of the ECHL have made this their home. It was also the home of the indoor soccer Arizona Sandsharks. Three of the games of the 1993 NBA Finals between the Suns and the Chicago Bulls, including game six where John Paxson hit basketball's version of the shot heard around the world, were played there, as was one of the three 1998 WNBA finals games and two Arena Bowl games. In 1997, the Rattlers won the Arena football world championship at America West Arena. It also hosted the 1995 NBA All-Star Game.
Construction of this arena began in 1988, as Suns owner Jerry Colangelo envisioned a need for a new playing facility to replace Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum. In 1993, the arena was officially inaugurated with an 111-105 Suns win over the Los Angeles Clippers. After the Suns failed to win the NBA championship that year, a parade that attracted more than 300,000 Suns fans finished up at the arena.
When the Winnipeg Jets announced their intention to move to Phoenix as the Coyotes for the 1996-97 season, the arena was quickly retrofitted for hockey. However, the arena's floor was not large enough for a hockey rink, unlike most modern arenas. Several seats had badly obstructed views. The problem was so serious that by the team's second season in Phoenix, listed capacity for hockey had to be cut down from over 18,000 seats to just over 16,000--the smallest capacity in the NHL at the time. Even then, the setup was completely inadequate for the Coyotes. A small section of seats on one end of the arena actually hung over the boards, and some fans reported seeing where the original concrete was sheared off to create retractable seating for hockey. The Coyotes eventually moved to the suburban Glendale Arena in early 2003.
In 2003 the US Airways Center hosted SummerSlam (2003) and hosted WWE Judgment Day in 2006. In addition to sports events, many famous singers and musical acts, such as The Spice Girls, Britney Spears, REO Speedwagon, *NSYNC, The Backstreet Boys, Green Day, Blink 182, Gwen Stefani, Vicente Fernandez and others have performed at the arena. Oscar De La Hoya had one of his first professional boxing bouts (versus Narciso Valenzuela) there, and Michael Carbajal also fought there various times.
The arena, which is situated across the street from Chase Field, is named after its sponsor, US Airways, under a naming rights arrangement. After America West's merger with US Airways, it was announced that America West Arena would be renamed to US Airways Center on November 14, 2005 with the name change taking place in January 2006.
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