Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza | |
|---|---|
| Wachovia Arena or The Arena | |
 |
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| Location | 255 Highland Park Blvd., Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania 18703 |
| Opened | 1999 |
| Owner | Luzerne County |
| Operator | SMG |
| Surface | Ice, Turf |
| Tenants | |
| Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (1999-present) Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers (2004-present) |
|
| Seats | |
| 8,343 (hockey) | |
The Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza is an 8,300-seat multi-purpose arena located in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania managed by SMG.
The Arena is home to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins ice hockey team (American Hockey League) and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Pioneers (arenafootball2). Built in 1998, the Arena was originally named First Union Arena until in the summer of 2003 when First Union Bank merged into Wachovia.
[edit] Recognition and events
The Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza has been recognized by many entertainment magazines as one of the best in the country for arenas under 10,000 in capacity, especially for its attendance and ease of show setup and teardown. The Penguins hold the record for most sellouts in a season, selling out all 40 home games, and ran a streak of over 140 consecutive sellouts from 2000-2004. The team, in its seventh AHL season, is consistently in the top three teams in attendance.
Other than Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hockey games and Pioneers football games, other events that occur at the arena include NBA exhibition games, NCAA Division I basketball, circus performances, an annual Christmas-time Trans-Siberian Orchestra performance, professional ice skating shows, WWE RAW,SmackDown! and house shows, and concerts.
For instance, two such concerts performed there include a November 2003 spectacular of ten American Idol finalists and, once, a Cher farewell concert. Elton John has performed in front of a sellout crowd at the Arena twice. President George W. Bush spoke at the Arena on October 22, 2004 during his campaign for re-election to the presidency of the United States.
[edit] External links
| Current arenas in the American Hockey League | ||
|---|---|---|
| Eastern Conference | Western Conference | |
| Arena at Harbor Yard | Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena | Cumberland County Civic Center | DCU Center | Dunkin' Donuts Center | GIANT Center | Hartford Civic Center | MassMutual Center | Norfolk Scope | Pepsi Arena | Tsongas Arena | Verizon Wireless Arena | Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza | Wachovia Spectrum | Allstate Arena | AT&T Center | Blue Cross Arena | Bradley Center | Carver Arena | Copps Coliseum | MTS Centre | Omaha Civic Auditorium | Ricoh Coliseum | Toyota Center | Van Andel Arena | War Memorial at Oncenter | Wells Fargo Arena | |
| Current arenas in the af2 |
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| American Conference | National Conference | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Allen County War Memorial Coliseum | Chevrolet Centre | Everett Events Center | Freedom Hall | The MARK of the Quad Cities | Pepsi Arena | Qwest Arena | Rabobank Arena | Resch Center | Selland Arena | Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena | Stockton Arena | Toyota Center | U.S. Bank Arena | Wachovia Arena | Verizon Wireless Arena | Alltel Arena | Amarillo Civic Center | American Bank Center | Berry Center | Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center | CenturyTel Center | Dodge Arena | Ford Center | Germain Arena | Gray Civic Center | Laredo Entertainment Center | Lubbock Municipal Coliseum | Tulsa Convention Center | Von Braun Center | ||
