Time Warner Cable Arena

Time Warner Cable Arena
The Hive, The Cable Box
Former names Charlotte Bobcats Arena (2005–2008)
Location 333 East Trade Street, Charlotte, North Carolina 28202
Coordinates 35°13′30″N 80°50′21″W / 35.22500°N 80.83917°W / 35.22500; -80.83917Coordinates: 35°13′30″N 80°50′21″W / 35.22500°N 80.83917°W / 35.22500; -80.83917
Public transit CTC/Arena
Owner City of Charlotte
Operator Charlotte Coliseum Authority/Hornets Sports & Entertainment
Capacity

Basketball: 19,077 (expandable to 20,200)
Ice Hockey: 14,100
Pro-Wrestling: 20,200 (maximum)
Concerts:

  • End stage 180°: 13,376
  • End stage 270°: 15,236
  • End stage 360°: 18,249
  • Center stage: 18,504
  • Theatre: 4,000–7,000
Surface Multi-surface
Construction
Broke ground July 29, 2003
Opened October 21, 2005
Renovated 2016
Construction cost $260 million
($315 million in 2016 dollars[1])
Architect Ellerbe Becket[2]
Odell Associates, Inc.
The Freelon Group, Inc.
Project manager PC Sports[3]
General contractor Hunt/R.J. Leeper[4]
Tenants
Charlotte Hornets (NBA) (2005–present)
Charlotte Checkers (ECHL) (2005–2010)
Charlotte Sting (WNBA) (2006)
Charlotte Checkers (AHL) (2010–2015)

Time Warner Cable Arena (originally Charlotte Bobcats Arena and commonly The Hive, Time Warner Arena, or The Cable Box), is an entertainment and sports venue located in center city Charlotte, North Carolina. It is owned by the city of Charlotte and operated by the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA. It made its grand opening in October 2005 as the Charlotte Bobcats Arena, with a concert by the Rolling Stones. The arena seats 19,077 for NBA games but can be expanded to seat up to 20,200 for college basketball games.

On April 8, 2008, the then-Bobcats announced a naming rights deal with Time Warner Cable, the area's largest cable television provider. As part of the renaming deal, the Bobcats ended a somewhat restrictive deal that kept them off satellite and regional cable television for their first four years of existence.[5] The change became effective immediately, with printed tickets for the Bobcats' April 8, 2008 game reflecting the arena's new name and the game airing on FSN South.[6]

In 2012, Time Warner Cable Arena served as the main venue for the Democratic National Convention.[7] The arena will further host the 2017 NBA All-Star Game.[8][9]

History

Time Warner Cable Arena opened on October 21, 2005, costing $265 million to build. Architects hoped the building would bring the city together, as its location and large outdoor plaza, among other things, would suggest.[10] The building's concourses and open design, plus artwork throughout also suggests the concept of community and socializing. One major feature of the arena during its inaugural year was its original center-hung scoreboard, which not only was the largest scoreboard in any NBA arena when it debuted, but also featured a one-of-a-kind light-up 360 degree 3D mural of the Charlotte skyline.[11]

NBA Games

The arena hosted its first NBA contest in 2005 and has since been home to numerous victories and defeats, including all Hornets home games. Charlotte's two largest comeback victories have occurred at the building. TWC Arena has also hosted the NBA playoffs in 2010, 2014, and 2016, respectively.

Other Sports

Charlotte Bobcats Arena logo
(2005–2007)
The arena in 2012
The arena during a Bobcats game in 2005

Although the arena was built with pro basketball in mind, it's also hosted many other sporting events. As North Carolina is a hotbed for college basketball thanks to constant success between its major universities, it was expected that the arena would host many NCAA basketball games, and that expectation was correct. Notable NCAA basketball games Time Warner Cable Arena has hosted to date include:

The Charlotte 49ers basketball teams have tentatively agreed to play a number of high-profile games at the arena over several seasons.

Tenants

Time Warner Cable Arena has had two other permanent tenants besides the Hornets in its history, one for almost a decade.

The Charlotte Checkers of the ECHL vacated historic Bojangles Coliseum to play in the new arena in fall 2005. When the ECHL Checkers gave way to an AHL team with the same name, they remained at the arena. Although primarily built for basketball, the arena can accommodate an NHL-sized ice hockey rink. The seating capacity for hockey was 14,100 in an asymmetrical seating arrangement. This resulted in a lot of seats with obstructed views and poor sightlines. Primarily because of those factors, on December 16, 2014, it was announced the Checkers would move back to Bojangles Coliseum starting with the 2015-16 AHL season.[13] Overall, the Checkers played nine seasons at the arena.

The WNBA's Charlotte Sting moved with the then-Bobcats to the arena in 2005, becoming the building's third permanent tenant. However, they only played one season at their new home in 2006 before folding in early 2007. This was due to low attendance and a lack of on-court success.[14]

Renovations

Little to no renovations were made to the arena during much of it's existence, mostly due to its young age. However, in September 2014, the Charlotte city council agreed to give the Hornets $34 million for arena renovations that would take place in the coming years. This was partially due to the upcoming All-Star Game.[15]

On January 24, 2015, the Hornets announced and unveiled images of a new scoreboard to be installed in summer 2016, costing $7 million. The board's new screens measure out at 25' high x 42' wide and 18' high x 31' wide, approximately, making them almost twice the size of the original board and among the NBA's largest. The screens will also be able to handle 1080p resolution, something unique to the NBA. Two smaller "underbelly" screens will also be included. In addition, the scoreboard will be able to change colors and have a visible 'hive' motif built-in throughout its design. It was also announced that four retractable auxiliary scoreboards will be installed in the corners of the upper level and finally, 360° ribbon boards are scheduled to be installed as well. Construction will be completed by the start of the 2016-17 NBA season. Also announced were plans for the renovation of the visitors locker room, suites, and other rooms.[16][17] This marks the first major renovations to Time Warner Cable Arena in its history.

Controversy

The arena in 2008, with its first logo as Time Warner Cable Arena

The arena was originally intended to host the original Charlotte Hornets back in the early 2000's. The Charlotte Coliseum was showing its age, despite being only 13 years old, and the team wanted a new arena closer to the city and state-of-the-art, something the Coliseum wasn't. Fan support for the team was low, the outdated arena not helping matters.

In 2001, a non-binding public referendum for an arts package, which included money to build the new uptown arena, was placed on the ballot for voters; it was placed in order to demonstrate what was believed to be widespread public support for new arena construction. The arts package would have been funded with the issuance of bonds by the city.

This resulted in opposition, with many feeling that the city shouldn't fund a new arena at all due to the Coliseum's relatively young age. Mayor Pat McCrory vetoed a living wage ordinance just days before the referendum. As a result, Helping Empower Local People, a grass-roots organization supporting a living wage, launched a campaign to oppose the arena, arguing that it was immoral for the city to build a new arena when city workers didn't earn enough to make a living.[18] Many of the city's black ministers switched sides in the arena deal and urged their parishioners to oppose it. The referendum failed with 43% for building the arena and 57% opposed.

City leaders then devised a way to build a new arena in a way that didn't require voter support, but let it be known that they wouldn't consider building it unless then-Hornets' owner George Shinn sold the team. While even the NBA acknowledged that Shinn had alienated fans, NBA officials felt such a statement would anger other team owners.[19] As it turned out, the NBA approved the Hornets' application to move to New Orleans. However, the league promised that the city would get a new team—which became the Bobcats—as part of the deal.

As of 2005, the total cost of the arena to Charlotte and Mecklenburg County was not known, but estimated at around $260 million. The construction was approved by the city council, which did not opt to present another referendum to the public. In early 2006, the arena was again the center of controversy as the Bobcats charged a $15,000 fee to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for graduation ceremonies held at the building. The fee was eventually waived following a story in The Charlotte Observer concerning the fees, however many high schools in the area moved graduations to Bojangles' Coliseum.

Entertainment

The arena is used for more than just sporting events, with musical acts, family productions and many other events, such as concerts, circuses and professional wrestling all performing there.

Other events

References

  1. ↑ "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Ellerbe Becket - Time Warner Cable Arena".
  3. ↑ Charlotte Arena - Quick Facts
  4. ↑ Carolina Character
  5. ↑ Cranston, Mike (April 7, 2008). "Time Warner gets naming rights for Bobcats Arena". WCNC-TV. Associated Press. Retrieved April 7, 2008.
  6. ↑ George, Jefferson; Bonnell, Rick (April 9, 2008). "Deals Widen Bobcats' TV Reach". The Charlotte Observer. Retrieved April 16, 2008.
  7. ↑ Spanberg, Erik (February 1, 2011) "Charlotte to follow Denver as host city of Democratic National Convention", Denver Business Journal. Retrieved February 1, 2011.
  8. ↑ http://www.cbssports.com/nba/eye-on-basketball/25221691/report-charlotte-will-host-2017-nba-all-star-game
  9. ↑ http://hurricanes.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=524489
  10. ↑ http://basketball.ballparks.com/NBA/CharlotteBobcats/
  11. ↑ http://www.timewarnercablearena.com/timewarner/highlights/
  12. ↑ http://www.theacc.com/news/ACC-Press-Conference_03-27-14_a59w19
  13. ↑ http://www.gocheckers.com/articles/952-charlotte-city-council-approves-funding-to-renovate-bojangles-coliseum
  14. ↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010301203.html
  15. ↑ http://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/blog/queen_city_agenda/2014/09/council-backs-34m-for-charlotte-hornets-arena.html
  16. ↑ http://www.nba.com/hornets/hornets-introduce-new-scoreboard-design
  17. ↑ http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nba/charlotte-hornets/article62221932.html
  18. ↑ "World Class City, Third World Paycheck". Creative Loafing Charlotte – Archives.
  19. ↑ "Council willing to amend 'new owner' statement". ESPN.com. Associated Press. February 16, 2002.

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