Everything about The Mellon Arena totally explained
The
Mellon Arena (known as
Pittsburgh Civic Arena from
1961–
1999 and informally known as "
The Igloo") is an
indoor arena in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is home to the
Pittsburgh Penguins of the
National Hockey League and was formerly home to the
Pittsburgh Hornets of the
AHL; the
Pittsburgh Rens of the
ABL; the
Pittsburgh Pipers and
Pittsburgh Condors of the
ABA;
Pittsburgh CrosseFire of the
NLL; and
Pittsburgh Spirit of the
MISL (among others). The
arena seats 16,958 for
ice hockey (17,132 at standing room capacity) and features 56 luxury suites and 1,696 club seats.
History
Pittsburgh Civic Arena, as it was originally known, was completed in
1961 at a cost of $22 million, which makes it the oldest arena in use in the
NHL. Oddly enough, the arena wasn't originally intended for sports, but instead as to host the
Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, which had previously performed at
Pitt Stadium but grew tired of having performances rained out. The building was—and remains—unique, and well ahead of its time. It was built with a retractable dome made of six stainless steel arched panels, five of which could roll under the sixth. When the weather was pleasant enough, the dome could open in two and a half minutes, turning Pittsburgh Civic Arena into an outdoor venue.
The Civic Light Opera didn't stay in the building long, however, as it became clear that the acoustics were poor. The group left the arena by
1968. The AHL's Hornets were replaced by the expansion Penguins in
1967 and accordingly, the arena was gradually expanded. Renovations in
1975 and
1993 added upper level seating at each end zone and luxury suites and club seating, increasing the overall seating from 12,000 to 17,000. The
1995 addition of a new scoreboard prevents the roof from opening the entire way, but can still open up to two panels. The roof, however, is rarely opened due to the extremely high cost of electricity required to open the roof as the generator used has very low efficiency.
The Civic Arena played host to the 1990
NHL All-Star game. In that game,
Mario Lemieux scored four goals in front of his hometown crowd, en route to winning his third All-Star game Most Valuable Player award. The Civic Arena also hosted NHL Stanley Cup Finals games in both 1991 and 1992, as the Penguins won consecutive championships. Since 1984, the arena has been called "home" by three players who won NHL scoring titles and Most Valuable Player awards as members of the Penguins:
Mario Lemieux,
Jaromir Jagr, and
Sidney Crosby.
In 1995, the facility hosted
the World Wrestling Federation's SummerSlam. Mellon Arena has gone on to host other WWF/WWE
Pay-Per-View events, including
King of the Ring in 1998 (responsible for a match between
Mankind and
The Undertaker that's frequently cited as one of the WWF's greatest),
Unforgiven in 2001, and
No Way Out in 2005. WWE also hosted its annual
WWE Armageddon pay-per-view for 2007 on December 16th. WWE's visits over the years resulted in a record attendance for Mellon Arena: 18,150.
In
1999, the resident Pittsburgh Penguins signed an $18-million, 10-year agreement to rename the Civic Arena the Mellon Arena, after Pittsburgh-based money management firm
Mellon Financial.
In addition, the visitors' locker room is considered by many players from opposing teams as not being up to NHL standards.
(External Link
)
Agreement for new Penguins arena
An agreement announced on
March 13,
2007, between the Penguins, the city of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and the state of Pennsylvania, calls for a
New Pittsburgh Arena to be constructed for the start of the 2010/2011 NHL season. Although the Penguins' lease at Mellon Arena was scheduled to expire on
June 30,
2007, the team extended it for two more years as part of a 30-year lease deal for the new facility. It is expected that the 2009/2010 season will be the team's last in Mellon Arena.
Other events
Rock legend Alice Cooper brought his
1971 "Killer" tour to the Civic Arena on
December 27th,
1971. The concert spectacle set a new record attendance of 14,400 and grossed $91,000. On December 31, 1976, Elvis Presley performed at the Civic Arena; it would be his last New Year's Eve, as he died eight months later.
English rock band
Led Zeppelin performed at the venue three times: once in 1970 and twice during its
1975 tour. On March 25, 1995,
Robert Plant and Jimmy Page attracted a record attendance of 17,764 at the arena until January 30, 1999 when 18,150 fans packed the arena for a WWF house show.
Genesis performed at Mellon Arena on September 9, 2007; as part of their reunion tour: Turn It On Again: The Tour; which was the first tour for Genesis since 1992 and included Phil Collins, Tony Banks, and Michael Rutherford with their touring members Chester Thompson and Darryl Steurmer.
The arena has previously hosted NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament games, six
Atlantic Ten Conference men's basketball tournaments (1978–1983), and, until the construction of the
Petersen Events Center, was the alternate home court of the
University of Pittsburgh men's basketball team. From its inception, it has been an alternate home court for the
Duquesne University men's basketball team and was the team's primary home from 1965 to 1988. Since
November 2005, the
Pittsburgh Xplosion basketball team has played at both arenas.
Mellon Arena's roof has rarely been opened in recent years. The arena was the setting for the
1995 Jean Claude Van Damme action film Sudden Death, which was set during a fictional Game 7
Stanley Cup Final, and the climax featured the roof being opened during the game (surprisingly, without the fans noticing). The roof also was opened during a performance of area high school chourus groups (called "The Night Of 1000 Stars") during the climax of "Ode To Joy" as fireworks were set off above the darkened arena, and was opened again during part of
ArenaBowl I, marking the only time in
AFL history that a game was played in an open-air environment.
Another movie filmed at Mellon Arena was the
1979 basketball movie,
The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh. In addition, it was used to film the movie
Best in Show for both interior and exterior shots, though the movie was supposed to be in Philadelphia. Also on March, 28, 2008, during a game against the Islanders, several shots were filmed for the Dreamworks SKG studio film “She’s Out of My League.”
The Arena also will host the 2009 CBA All-Star Game, as it's home to the Pittsburgh Xplosion.
The Mellon Arena recently hosted
WWE Armageddon on December 17, 2007.
The Mellon Arena has also hosted several WWE events, including Edge winning the World Heavyweight title on two separate occasions. The most recent title win was WWE Armageddon 2007.
The Mellon Arena has also been a tour stop to the
United States Hot Rod Association since the mid 80's. The building can handle 8 trucks parked inside at once, but in the 80's the seats leading into the tunnels were opened so trucks came in one side and left on the other.
Further Information
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