Mellon Arena (formerly the Civic Auditorium and Civic Arena, nicknamed The Igloo) is an arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It primarily serves as the home to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the city's National Hockey League (NHL) franchise.[1] Constructed in 1961 for use by the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera (CLO), Mellon Arena has hosted multiple concerts, as well as hockey, basketball, tennis, boxing, wrestling, and soccer matches. The Arena was the world's first major indoor sports stadium with a retractable roof. It is named for Mellon Financial, which purchased the naming rights in 1999.
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The US$22 million arena was built for the CLO in 1961.[2] Funding was provided by a combination of public and private money, including grants from Allegheny County, City of Pittsburgh, and Edgar J. Kaufmann owner of Kaufmann's department store.[1] The arena's design incorporated 2,950 tons of stainless steel from Pittsburgh.[2] The Arena was designed for the CLO, which previously held productions at Pitt Stadium. The roof, which is supported by a 260 foot arch, is free of internal support leaving no obstruction for the seats within. The roof, which has a diameter of 415 feet, is divided into eight sections. Six of the sections could fold underneath two—in two and one-half minutes—making the Mellon Arena the world's first major indoor sports stadium with a retractable roof.[3] The stadium's capacity fluctuates depending on the event being hosted, but has increased due to additions between 1972 and 1991.[3] The arena originally consisted only of lower bowl seating, but over time, upper decks were installed in the arena's "end zones" to increase capacity. In December 1999, Mellon Financial purchased the Arena's naming rights in a 10 year, $18 million agreement, which renamed the arena Mellon Arena.[4]
On September 19, 1961, the Ice Capades hosted the arena's first event. Over the years, multiple performing artists including Frank Sinatra, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Aerosmith, The Ramones, KISS, Queen + Paul Rodgers and the Grateful Dead performed at the Arena. Garth Brooks performed six straight sold-out shows in October 1997. America's first high school basketball All-Star game, The Dapper Dan Roundball Classic was held there annually between 1965 and 1992.[5] The Beatles performed in 1964 and Elvis Presley performed at the Civic Arena in 1973 and New Year's Eve 1976.
Sporting events including roller hockey, boxing matches including Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sonny Liston and Floyd Patterson took place at the Arena. The University of Pittsburgh and Duquesne University,[6] Pittsburgh Pipers, Pittsburgh Condors, and the Harlem Globetrotters hosted basketball games at the Arena. World TeamTennis and the Pittsburgh Spirit Major Indoor Soccer League team also hosted matches at the Arena.[1][7] The 1983 World Figure Skating Championships and first and second round games of the 1997 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament were held at the Arena.[4]World Wrestling Entertainment has frequently been to the Arena over the years. Monday Night Raw and Friday Night Smackdown have taken place there. Six pay-per-views have been at the Mellon Arena: SummerSlam (1995), King of the Ring (1998), WWE Unforgiven in 2001, No Way Out (2005), Armageddon (2007), and WWE Bragging Rights in 2009. The final WWE event to take place will be Monday Night Raw on May 10, 2010.
The Pittsburgh Hornets, members of the American Hockey League (AHL) played home games at the Duquesne Gardens, located in the Oakland section of Pittsburgh. The team played 20 seasons in the Gardens prior to its demolition, which made room for an apartment building.[8] The Arena opened on September 17, 1961.[8] With the Arena available, the Hornets resumed play in the 1961–62 season and went on to win the Calder Cup in the 1966–67 season.[8]
As part of the 1967 NHL expansion, the city of Pittsburgh was selected to host one of six new franchises. With a hockey seating capacity of 12,508, Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena was eight seats over the NHL's minimum seating benchmark.[3] Due to its outward appearance, the Arena was nicknamed "The Igloo" which led to the naming of the Penguins.[9] The Penguins debuted at the Civic Arena on October 11, 1967 in a 2–1 loss to the Montreal Canadiens. Andy Bathgate scored the Penguins's first goal in the arena. The Penguins won their first game at the Arena on October 21, when they became the first expansion team to beat an original NHL franchise—besting the Chicago Blackhawks 4–2.[10] On January 21, 1990, the Civic Arena hosted the 41st National Hockey League All-Star Game. Pittsburgh's Mario Lemieux scored three goals on his first three shots—the first coming 21 seconds into the game. He later scored a fourth goal and was named the game's Most Valuable Player.[11] The arena also hosted the 1997 NHL Entry Draft.[12] Games of the 1991, 1992, and 2009 Stanley Cup Finals, which the Penguins won, were hosted at the arena, as were three games of the 2008 Finals.[1] The 2008 Finals marked the only occasion that the Stanley Cup was presented on Mellon Arena ice, after the Penguins were defeated by the Detroit Red Wings in six games.
The Mellon Arena hosted the first and second round regional games of the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in 1997 and 2002 and will have its successor Consol Energy Center host them in 2012. It also hosted th womens first and second round games in 2001.
For five seasons the arena hosted the Eastern 8 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament every March. From 1978 to 1982 many of the current Big East Conference powers Atlantic 10 powers fought for their conference crown at the center. For the final season, the Mellon Arena hosted a record crowd of 16,056, the third-largest conference basketball championship crowd in the nation that year.[13]
As of 2010, Mellon Arena is the oldest and lowest capacity arena in the NHL by official capacity. In later years, the arena's staff was forced to use space for multiple purposes never intended in the building's original design.[14] The Penguins franchise agreed to a deal with city and state officials to fund a new home arena for the franchise in March 2007. The Consol Energy Center will be located across the street from the site of Mellon Arena and will have a higher seating capacity.[1] It is expected to open for the 2010–11 NHL season.[15]
Meanwhile the future of Mellon Arena is currently being debated in Pittsburgh. During the first of seven meetings intended to collect and evaluate ideas for developing the 28-acre site. The demolition of Arena was stated as just being "one option", according to a Sports & Exhibition Authority (SEA) spokesman. Historic preservationists want to reuse the building, as a possible park and retail center. However the Penguins want to demolish it and find a developer to create a residential and retail district on the site. Penguins executives have said removing the arena would free up land near the Downtown business district. On January 20, 2010, SEA, Mellon Arena's owner, declined to speculate whether the Penguins could challenge them in court if it decided to reuse the arena instead of demolishing it. SEA stated that if the structure was to be reused, it would be set up in a way that would benefit the redevelopment of the area.
A March 2007 agreement between the SEA and the Penguins, states that Mellon Arena would be demolished after completion of Consol Energy Center, in July 2010. However, SEA is currently conducting a historic assessment of the arena. It is currently eligible to appear on the National Register of Historic Places mainly because of its unique, retractable dome. A private consultant to SEA was hired to conduct the survey. The consultant is to follow the state Historic and Museum Commission guidelines to determine whether demolishing the arena, or reusing it, would adversely affect historic structures or artifacts in the area. The recommendations of the consultant to SEA are scheduled to be delivered in June 2010.[16]
| Preceded by first arena |
Home of the Pittsburgh Penguins 1967 – ca. 2010 |
Succeeded by Consol Energy Center |
| Preceded by Northlands Coliseum |
Host of NHL All-Star Game 1990 |
Succeeded by Chicago Stadium |
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