Mohegan Sun Arena

Location	1 Mohegan Sun Blvd Uncasville, Connecticut 06382-1355
Coordinates	41°29′28″N 72°5′23″W / 41.49111°N 72.08972°W / 41.49111; -72.08972Coordinates: 41°29′28″N 72°5′23″W / 41.49111°N 72.08972°W / 41.49111; -72.08972
Opened	2001
Owner	Mohegan Sun
Operator	Mohegan Sun
Capacity	Basketball: 9,518 Concerts: 12,000
Tenants
Connecticut Sun (WNBA) (2003-present) Mohegan Wolves (AFL2) (2002-2003)

The Mohegan Sun Arena is a 9,518 seat multi-purpose arena in Uncasville, Connecticut located inside the Mohegan Sun resort and casino. The arena facility features 30,000 square feet (2,800 m²) of configurable exhibition space and a 400-foot (120 m) clear span. It was built by the Perini Building company, and opened in 2001.

[edit] History

The arena originally served as home of the Mohegan Wolves arena football team until it was sold and moved to Manchester, New Hampshire in 2004.

On January 28, 2003 the arena was announced publicly to be the official home court for the Connecticut Sun. Prior to the fall of 2002, the NBA operating model prevented any WNBA team to exist without an NBA "brother" counterpart. By the time the Connecticut Sun moved in, Val Ackerman was the WNBA president, M. Jodi Rell was the state's Lieutenant Governor and Mark L. Brown was the chairman of the Mohegan Tribe. While the arena is attached to the Mohegan Sun casino, the facility does not accept any form of sports wagering or sports booking; in fact, sports betting is illegal in Connecticut.

The multi-purpose facility has hosted a wide variety of events; including the American Kennel Club, concerts featuring Britney Spears, R.E.M., Andrea Bocelli, Kelly Clarkson, Mariah Carey, Avril Lavigne, Shakira, Aerosmith, Janet Jackson, Van Halen, The Eagles, Rush, Bon Jovi, Jessica Simpson, Brooks & Dunn, Rascal Flatts, Stevie Nicks, Ringo Starr, Coldplay, David Bowie, Shania Twain, Cher, Jonas Brothers, Bette Midler, Jimmy Buffett, Sting, Billy Joel, The Who, Eric Clapton, Heaven and Hell, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Velvet Revolver, Nine Inch Nails, Alice in Chains, Gwen Stefani, Justin Timberlake, Simon & Garfunkel to the more regular sporting events such as WWE shows, PBR events, NCAA games, PBA tournaments, UFC bouts, World's Strongest Man Super Series Competition. Major network and cable television broadcasting companies, including CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, ESPN and CNN have all produced events through this arena.

On September 8, 2005, as a companion to the arena, the Mohegan Sun casino opened its first Connecticut Sun merchandise store called "Winter Essentials". It mainly sold Connecticut Sun WNBA team goods. It was the first store in the United States that sold professional basketball goods on casino ground. However, the store was closed when the casino underwent renovations in 2008. Connecticut Sun merchandise can now be purchased at the Clay Pipe store in the mall area.

[edit] Seating

As of 2006, the seatings can be configured into 5 common sports configurations. Basketball, boxing, bowling, rodeo, ping pong. It also can be reconfigured to fit 3 types of concerts: regular, fullhouse and round. The arena has won awards for being one of America's most modern concert venues.

[edit] Notable events

• October 26, 2001—NBA Pre-Season Game with Boston Celtics vs Washington Wizards. First professional basketball game ever held at the arena and one of Michael Jordan's first games since his second retirement
• December 1, 2001—Women’s Professional Tennis featuring Martina Navratilova vs. Monica Seles
• March 28, 2002 -- National Women's Basketball League (NWBL) Pro Cup Championship
• April 21, 2002 -- National Lacrosse League All-Star Game
• 2002 -- Boxing Fight of the Year featuring Micky Ward vs. Arturo Gatti
• November 21, 2003 -- UFC has its 10th anniversary show with UFC 45: Revolution
• February 6—8, 2004—The first round of the Davis Cup with United States vs. Austria
• 2004 -- Gymnastics Championships and Celebration of Gold Medalists Paul Hamm and Carly Patterson
• July 9, 2005 -- WNBA All-Star game
• 2005—Killerspin Extreme Table Tennis Championship
• September 10, 2006 -- WWE does its first full-blown high-definition television testing taping at a house show
• December 11, 2006—WWE broadcasted a live television version of its flagship program, RAW, from the grounds of the arena
• February 9-10, 2007—BooKoo US Open of Arenacross
• April 26—27, 2007 -- George Strait and Ronnie Milsap perform at the arena
• July 9, 2007 -- Rush played the arena as the first indoor venue on their Snakes & Arrows Tour
• October 21, 2007 -- Kelly Clarkson performed as part of her My December Tour
• January 7, 2008 -- Raw Roulette
• March 7 & 8, 2008 -- Bon Jovi, supported by Daughtry, performed here on their Lost Highway Tour
• May 23, 25, 29, 31, June 13, 15, 26, 28, July 3, 5, 2008 -- Billy Joel plays 10 sold-out concerts
• March 3, 2009 -- SmackDown Double Taping
• May 2 & 3, 2009 -- Britney Spears performed 2 sold out shows as part of her 2009 world tour "The Circus Starring: Britney Spears"
• June 20 -- Andrea Bocelli performs as part of his Incanto Tour
• June 28, 2009 Aerosmith performs and Steven Tyler injures his leg(tore his quad) he finishes show but Aerosmith cancels shows afterwards.
• July 10, 2009-- Ciara & Jay-Z performs as part of their summer tour "Jay-Z & Ciara Live"
• July 23, 2009-- Beyoncé performs as part of her I Am... Tour
• July 25, 2009 -- WNBA All-Star game
• August 2, 2009 -- Incubus performs as part of their Summer 2009 U.S. tour
• August 3, 2009 -- WWE Raw with special guest host Jeremy Piven.
• August 28, 2009 - Taylor Swift performs as part of her Fearless tour
• September 7, 2009 Journey performs to support their highly successful Revelation Tour
• October 2, 2009 -- Kelly Clarkson kicks off her All I Ever Wanted Tour
• October 3, 2009 -- Kiss performes on their hugely successful Kiss Alive/35 World Tour
• October 10, 2009—Jonas Brothers perform 2 shows that were added on later as part of their 2009 World Tour

[edit] Strength Athletics Grand Prix

Since 2005, the arena has hosted one of the premier international strongman Grand Prix events.

Year	Champion	Runner-Up	3rd Place	Event Name
2005	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Jessen Paulin	Don Pope	Mohegan Sun Grand Prix Final of WSM Super Series 2005
2006	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Jesse Marunde	Josh Thigpen	Mohegan Sun Grand Prix Final of WSM Super Series 2006
2007	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Kevin Nee	Mark Felix	Mohegan Sun Grand Prix Start of WSM Super Series 2007
2008	Derek Poundstone	Mariusz Pudzianowski	Terry Hollands	Mohegan Sun Grand Prix Start of WSM Super Series 2008
2009	Derek Poundstone	Travis Ortmayer	Brian Shaw	Mohegan Sun Grand Prix 2009[1] 17 May 2009 Start of Giants Live 2009

[edit] References

• "Perini Building Company". http://www.perini.org. Retrieved January 20 2005. 
• "WWE". http://www.wwe.com. Retrieved September 9 2006. 

[edit] External links

• http://www.mohegansun.com/entertainment/arena-360view-popup.html
• http://www.wnba.com/sun/news/winteressentials.html Mohegan Sun Winter Essentials Store