Toyota Center (Kennewick, Washington) Explained

Stadium Name:Toyota Center
Nickname:The Coliseum, Retter & Company Theatre
Pushpin Map:Washington#USA
Pushpin Map Caption:Location within Washington State##Location within the United States
Pushpin Relief:1
Pushpin Label:Toyota Center
Location:7016 W. Grandridge Blvd.
Coordinates:46.22°N -119.217°W
Broke Ground:1987
Opened:November 19, 1988[1]
Owner:City of Kennewick
Operator:VenuWorks
Surface:Multi-surface
Construction Cost:$10 million[2]
($ in)
Architect:PBK Architects, Inc.[3]
Tenants:Tri-City Americans (WHL) (1988–present)
Tri-City Chinook (CBA) (1991 - 1995)
Tri-Cities Fever (AF2/NIFL/IFL) (2005–2016)
Tri-Cities Fire (AWFC) (2019)
Seating Capacity:7,200 (concerts)
6,519 (basketball)
5,694 (hockey)
2,081 (theatre)[4]
Former Names:Three Rivers Coliseum
(2004–2005)
Tri-Cities Coliseum
(1988–2004)
Logo Image:Toyota Center (Kennewick, Washington) Logo.png

The Toyota Center is a multi-purpose arena in the northwest United States, located in Kennewick, Washington.

Opened in 1988 as the Tri-Cities Coliseum, the arena's name was changed in 2004 to the Three Rivers Coliseum to match the Three Rivers Convention Center, which was built next door in the same year. In October 2005, a deal was reached between the city of Kennewick and Toyota, which agreed to pay $2 million over ten years for naming rights. The city uses the funds for needed improvements and upgrades to the facility. A smaller facility next door, built by the city in 1998, was named "Toyota Arena."

The Toyota Center is located west of central Kennewick, just northwest of Vista Field, which closed in 2013. The elevation at ground level is approximately 500feet above sea level.

Sports

The Toyota Center is home to the Western Hockey League's Tri-City Americans hockey team.[5] The center was formerly the home of the Tri-City Chinook of the Continental Basketball Association[6] and the Tri-Cities Fever indoor football team. The seating capacity for hockey is about 6,000.

During the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle, the venue was used for ice hockey, since the Kingdome was in use by the Mariners.[7] It has also hosted the state championships for high school volleyball, held in November.

Concerts and shows

The arena is also used for concerts (capacity 7,715), banquets, ice shows, circuses, and trade shows (27132square feet of space). Recently, the theatre configuration of the facility has been named "Retter and Company Theatre", sponsored by Retter & Company Sotheby's International Realty & SVN Retter & Company, and the facility now hosts Broadway shows.

It also hosted acts such as Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie, Slipknot, and Avenged Sevenfold who to date holds the record for largest attendance for any event held, with a sellout of 6,842, based on the configuration for the concert. The legendary rock band KISS is scheduled to perform on July 10, 2016, and is expected to be the highest grossing and biggest concert ever held at the Toyota Center.[8] A concert by Shinedown was filmed at the Toyota Center, and aired on Palladia with the title Madness from Washington State.

Other events

The Toyota Center has also hosted yearly Jehovah's Witnesses conventions during the month of July. It has held numerous professional wrestling events: WWE house shows when WWE is taping Monday Night Raw or Friday Night Smackdown or a PPV event in the nearby cities of Spokane, Yakima, Seattle, and Portland, Oregon.

The arena also hosts children's events, such as Sesame Street Live Make a New Friend!, making the venue an attraction for all ages.[9]

See also

Notes and References

  1. News: A Dream Fulfilled – Developer sees state-of-the-art building as first of many . Kathleen Knutson . Tri-City Herald . 20 November 1988 . 23 March 2012.
  2. News: Tri-Cities steps into the big-time with Coliseum . Jim Riley . Tri-City Herald . 21 November 1988 . 23 March 2012.
  3. Web site: Sports & Entertainment – complete project list . PBK Architects, Inc. . 23 March 2012.
  4. Web site: The Toyota Center General Information . 2019-11-20 .
  5. Web site: Tracci . Dial . . . Time Lapse: Toyota Center Changeover From Ice to Turf to Court . March 7, 2014 . March 8, 2014.
  6. News: Tri-City Chinook fold . Spokesman-Review . Spokane, Washington . wire services . March 21, 1995. C2.
  7. News: Tri-Cities Coliseum gets Games' hockey, skating . Spokesman-Review . Spokane, Washington . Associated Press. March 16, 1989. D5.
  8. Web site: Legendary rock band KISS to perform July 10 in Kennewick Tri-City Herald. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160412034622/http://www.tri-cityherald.com/latest-news/article70685562.html. 2016-04-12.
  9. Web site: Sesame Street Live! Make Your Magic! Toyota Arena . www.toyota-arena.com . June 13, 2024 . en.