Colonial Life Arena

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The Colonial Life Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Columbia, South Carolina, primarily home to the University of South Carolina men's and women's basketball teams. Opened as a replacement for the Carolina Coliseum with the name Carolina Center in 2002, the 18,000 seat arena is also host various events like conferences, concerts, and graduation ceremonies throughout the year. It is the largest arena in the state of South Carolina and the tenth largest College athletics venues.

The naming rights were acquired in 2003 by Colonial Life & Accident Insurance Company of Columbia, a subsidiary of Chattanooga, Tennessee-based insurance company Unum, and it was renamed to the Colonial Center. On July 22, 2008 the USC board approved renaming the building to the Colonial Life Arena as part of a rebranding by Colonial Life.

History and Use

The arena first opened on November 22, 2002 with the season opener of the South Carolina women's basketball team. A sell-out crowd of 17,712 fans saw the 72-58 Gamecocks victory over in-state rival Clemson, with a one-dollar admission charge, commonly used by the women's basketball team to promote major games. The official grand opening took place December 2, 2002. The men's basketball team defeated Temple 66-47.

Aside from Gamecock basketball, the Colonial Life Arena also hosts the South Carolina High School Basketball Championships each year. The facility is built to also host ice hockey games, but because of legal issues with the funding for the facility, has yet to host one.

The Colonial Life Arena was ranked 22nd in the world in ticket sales in 2003 . It was also ranked the #1 arena in the Carolinas and was the #2 rated university arena in the world in 2005, based on ticket sales for touring shows .

It is managed by Global Spectrum, whose Philadelphia 76ers played an exhibition game in the venue in October 2005.

Ticketing is provided by New Era Tickets, and tickets can be purchased through the Arena's web site.

Criticism & Controversy

The venue was built to host future NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Tournament games, but before the venue opened, it was banned from such use by the NCAA under a policy, enacted shortly before construction began, banning venues in South Carolina and Mississippi from hosting such events under recommendations from the NAACP. The NAACP and several other groups objected to South Carolina hosting NCAA tournament games because of a Confederate battle flag on a soldiers' memorial nearby on the South Carolina Statehouse grounds.

The arena has been criticized for being too large for Gamecock basketball. While some non-conference games attract no more than 12,000, over 15,000 typically show up for SEC games, including several 17,500+ crowds, and sellouts annually for Kentucky, and the biennial game against Clemson. The basketball program won the 2005 and 2006 National Invitational Tournaments.

Non-Basketball Events

Other events held at the Arena have included Disney on Ice, Sesame Street, American Idols Live!, and Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus. Some of the artists that have performed in the Colonial Life Arena so far are Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band (first artist to perform at venue), Prince, Britney Spears, Cher, Billy Joel, Michael W. Smith, Point of Grace (first vocal group at the venue), and Elton John among others.

The University of South Carolina holds most of its commencement exercises in the Colonial Life Arena. The first commencement speaker for ceremonies at the Colonial Center was President George W. Bush in 2003.

On October 9, 2006, WWE held an edition of Monday Night Raw in Columbia. The special 3-hour edition was entitled 'WWE Homecoming - Family Reunion.' The WWE's first visit came in November 2002, when the Colonial Life Arena played host to a taping of Smackdown.

In 2007 it will be home to the Columbia Stingers of the National Indoor Football League.

On June 28, 2007, selected contestants from Dancing with the Stars (US TV series) performed dances, as part of their summer tour.

On December 9, 2007, a rally for Barack Obama was scheduled to be held at the arena. Because the rally also featured Oprah Winfrey, tickets to the event sold out days before the rally. The rally was eventually moved to the nearby Williams-Brice Stadium

On March 24,2008, WWE hosted an event of Monday Night Raw.

The venue, like all Comcast-Spectator managed facilities, has its own ticketing policy, and therefore concerts are not controlled by the major ticketing-industry industry firms.

Notes and References

External links

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Last updated on Tuesday July 22, 2008 at 18:58:13 PDT (GMT -0700)
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