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Reunion Arena was an indoor arena in the Reunion district of downtown Dallas, Texas (USA). The arena held 17,300 for basketball and 17,000 for ice hockey. It was finally demolished in November 2009, and the site is scheduled to be cleared by the end of the year.[1] [2]
[edit] HistoryReunion Arena was completed in 1980 at a cost of $27 million.[3] It was named for the early mid-nineteenth century commune, La Reunion. In late 2005, the arena and the Dallas Convention Center were used as the primary Dallas shelters for evacuees of Hurricane Katrina. In 1994, President Bill Clinton visited the arena to watch his beloved University of Arkansas basketball team play in the NCAA Tournament. Reunion Arena also hosted the WCT Tennis Tournament in the 1980s, including The Virginia Slims Invitational Tournament. Due to scheduling conflicts in 1984, the WCT Tennis Tournament forced the Dallas Mavericks to play Game 5 of their first ever playoff series at Moody Coliseum, against the Seattle SuperSonics. While Southern Methodist University competed in the Southwest Conference, Reunion Arena was known by University of Arkansas Razorbacks fans, as Barnhill South, due to the big following by the Arkansas fans away from home, the Barnhill Arena was the home to all UA games until 1993. [edit] AboutThe arena also hosted numerous concerts and other events. While the first concert at Reunion was billed as The Who on July 2, 1980, at least two other concerts played there in late June: Foghat and Pat Travers on June 25, 1980; and Ted Nugent, Scorpions, and Def Leppard on June 26, 1980. Queen appeared August 9, 1980. The rock band Journey played three consecutive shows at the arena in April 1983 and again in December 1986.Van Halen played three shows in June 1984 and Pink Floyd played three consecutive shows at Reunion in November, 1987. Pop songstress Whitney Houston played two sold-out concerts at Reunion in September, 1987. The video for the Scorpions' song "Still Loving You" was filmed there. The arena featured 30,000 ft² (2,790 m²) of arena floor space and had great sightlines, making it ideal for a number of events and games, including many high school graduations. Country music superstar Garth Brooks filmed his first television special, This Is Garth Brooks, in the arena during two sold-out concerts in September 1991, and country music superstar Shania Twain once performed her Come on Over Tour in the arena on September 12, 1998 and was filmed in her first DVD released Shania Twain Live. Dire Straits played there during their On Every Street world tour in 1991. Reunion was also a venue that was frequently used by World Class Championship Wrestling in the 1980s, in which the promotion held many, if not all of their bi-monthly Star Wars events. [edit] Home teamsThe arena's last remaining full-time sports tenant was the MISL Dallas Sidekicks, but the club has been inactive since the Fall of 2004 season. The arena was the home of the Dallas Mavericks from 1980 to 2001 and the Dallas Stars from 1993 to 2001. Both teams moved to the American Airlines Center in 2001. The Dallas Desperados indoor football team used the arena for its 2003 season but ultimately returned to American Airlines Center. [edit] ClosureAfter a unanimous vote by the Dallas City Council, Reunion Arena officially closed on June 30, 2008. [edit] Demolition In August 2008 the Dallas City Council said it would implode the stadium if it could find an entity willing to foot the bill. The council hoped for the implosion to be part of a movie scene with the film company picking up the tab for the implosion. When no filmmaker seemed interested, the city decided to demolish the arena using other methods, a process which took several months. [4] Demolition was officially completed on November 17, 2009 and the site is expected to be completely cleared by the end of 2009. As of November 2009, the adjacent parking garage remains standing and there are no plans for construction on the former arena site. [edit] Events
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Categories: Dallas Stars arenas | College basketball venues in the United States | Dallas Mavericks arenas | 1980 establishments | 2009 disestablishments | Hurricane Katrina relief | Sports venues in Dallas, Texas | Defunct National Hockey League venues | World Class Championship Wrestling venues | Defunct indoor soccer venues in the United States | Defunct arena football venues | Defunct National Basketball Association venues | Abandoned buildings in the United States | American football venues in Texas | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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