Taco Bell Arena in 2009.

The Taco Bell Arena is a multi-purpose/multi-color indoor arena on the campus of Boise State University in Boise, Idaho. It is the home of the Boise State Broncos Basketball Team of the Western Athletic Conference and its current seating capacity is 12,820 for basketball. The arena is located on the east end of campus, between West Campus Lane & Cesar Chavez Circle, just northeast of Bronco Stadium. It is home to the Boise State Broncos basketball, wrestling, and gymnastics teams. The venue is also used for concerts (capacity 13,000) and many community events, including trade shows (17,000 square feet of arena floor space plus 10,000 square feet (930 m²) at auxiliary gym).

[edit] History

Ground was broken for the arena in February 1980, directly north of the Bronco Gymnasium (capacity 3,000). Construction also displaced the right field area of the baseball field, currently the site of the auxiliary gym on the west side of the arena. Eight tennis courts were rebuilt on the former baseball infield, west of the arena. (Home plate for the baseball diamond was near the southwest corner of the tennis court area.) The baseball field was not rebuilt as BSU dropped baseball as a varsity sport following the 1980 season. During their final season, the Broncos played their home games at Borah Field, four miles (6 km) west of campus.

The arena opened in May 1982 as the BSU Pavilion; its first three events were the graduation ceremonies for the city's public high schools.

British band Genesis played at the arena during their MAMA tour of 1984.

The BSU Pavilion was renamed in June 2004 after Taco Bell signed a 15-year naming rights agreement with the university for $4 million. ^[1]

[edit] Basketball tournaments

The venue has hosted four Big Sky Conference men's basketball tournaments: 1985, 1989, 1990, and 1994. BSU moved up to the Big West Conference after the 1995-96 basketball season, and then moved on to the WAC following the 2000-01 season.

Taco Bell Arena has been a familiar site for early-round NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament games, hosting first and second round competition eight times (1983, 1989, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2009). The tournament games played at the arena have resulted in some of the most memorable moments in NCAA history. In 1995, UCLA's Tyus Edney dashed the length of the 94-foot (29 m) court in just over 4 seconds to make a layup that gave the Bruins a 75-74 win over Missouri, which sustained UCLA's run to a national title.^[2] In 2001, it was the site of the closest first-round day at a single host location ever, with the four games played on March 15 decided by a combined total of 7 points. One of those games included #15 seed Hampton's upset of #2 seed Iowa State -- making Hampton only the fourth #15 seed to beat a #2 seed in tournament history.

The NCAA Basketball Tournament returned to Taco Bell Arena in 2009, with four first round games on Friday & two second round games on Sunday (March 20 & 22). Teams playing included Missouri, Xavier, Florida State, Wisconsin, and Marquette.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Taco Bell Arena.com - official site
• Bronco Sports.com - Taco Bell Arena
• ESPN.com - Taco Bell Arena - 18-June-2004
• Terraserver.microsoft.com - aerial photo (1998) & USGS topo map - BSU campus

Coordinates: 43°36′12.84″N 116°11′56.01″W / 43.6035667°N 116.1988917°W / 43.6035667; -116.1988917