Chaifetz Arena ( ), is a 10,600 seat multi-purpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, located on the

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Missi ...

campus. The arena began construction on August 28, 2006, and opened on April 10, 2008. In February 2007,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

-based businessman Richard Chaifetz, CEO of ComPsych Corporation and 1975 graduate of SLU, made a $12 million donation to the university, which named the arena in his honor. Since the 2008–09 season, it has been the home of the Saint Louis University men's and women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

teams. Additionally, the attached Chaifetz Pavilion includes a two-court basketball and volleyball practice facility that also serves as an 800-seat venue that is the home for the university's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

teams. The arena, known as "the Jewel of Midtown," includes a three-story athletic office. Former VCU coach

Shaka Smart Shaka Dingani Smart (born April 8, 1977) is an American men's college basketball coach and former college basketball player. He is the current head men's basketball coach at Marquette University. Smart rose to prominence in 2011 after leading Vi ...

called Chaifetz Arena the toughest venue to play in the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. The A-10's member schools are located most ...

Men's basketball record at Chaifetz Arena

Events

The first event held at the venue was a

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters is an American Exhibition game, exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 ...

game against the

Washington Generals The Washington Generals are an American basketball team who play exhibition games against the Harlem Globetrotters. The team has also played under several aliases in their history as the Globetrotters' perennial opponents. Function The Gener ...

, played on April 11, 2008. Music acts such as

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

, and

Sabrina Carpenter Sabrina Annlynn Carpenter (born May 11, 1999) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She first gained prominence starring on the Disney Channel series ''Girl Meets World'' (2014–2017). She signed with the Disney Music Group, Disney ...

have performed at the arena; the lattermost breaking the attendance record with a crowd of 11,727. The first student concert was held on April 26, 2008, featuring artists

Tyler Hilton Tyler James Hilton (born November 22, 1983), is an American musician, actor, and author. He is known for playing Chris Keller, a prominent recurring character in the WB/ CW series '' One Tree Hill,'' and Elvis Presley in the Johnny Cash biopi ...

Chingy Howard Earl Bailey Jr. (born March 9, 1980), better known by his stage name Chingy, is an American rapper. He toured as an opening act with fellow St. Louis rapper Nelly in 2002, and signed with Georgia-based rapper Ludacris' record label, D ...

The Starting Line The Starting Line is an American pop-punk band formed in Churchville, Pennsylvania, Churchville, Pennsylvania in 1999. They are currently based in Philadelphia. History Early years (1999–2001) In 1999, the band that would become The Startin ...

Jo Dee Messina Jo Dee Marie Messina (born August 25, 1970) is an American country music artist. She has charted six number-one singles on the ''Billboard charts, Billboard'' country music charts. She has been honored by the Country Music Association and the ...

, and Augustana. Saint Louis University held its first commencement ceremony on campus in 60 years at the arena on May 17, 2008.

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...

personality and native St. Louisan

Joe Buck Joseph Francis Buck (born April 25, 1969) is an American sportscaster for ESPN. The son of sportscaster Jack Buck, he worked for Fox Sports from its 1994 inception through 2022, including roles as lead play-by-play announcer for Fox's Nati ...

delivered the Commencement Address. The first political rally at the Arena was on October 2, 2008, for Republican vice presidential candidate

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, and author who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nomi ...

. She appeared to supporters after the 2008 vice presidential debate held at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition operated by ''FIRST''®. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work to build robots capable of competing in that year's game. Robots c ...

has held its St. Louis FRC Regional at Chaifetz Arena for several years.

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American Music competition, singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle (company), Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It a ...

s Live! made its Chaifetz Arena debut in 2009, having previously been held at the

Enterprise Center The Enterprise Center is an 18,096-seat arena located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Its primary tenant is the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League, but it is also used for other functions, such as NCAA basketball, N ...

(

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

) and Family Arena (

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

–

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

). Chaifetz Arena also became the St. Louis stop for Champions on Ice and

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; ) is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, Montreal, Saint-Michel, Montreal, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Jun ...

, also in 2009. The arena hosted the Monster Truck Spectacular Fall Nationals on October 17, 2009. The

USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. It sets the domestic rules and policies that govern the sport, promotes and develops gymnastics on the grassroots ...

Championships occurred June 7–10, 2012 at the Chaifetz Arena. TNA No Surrender took place at the arena on September 12, 2013, The 2016 Men's U.S. Olympic Trials and P&G Gymnastics Championships were held at Chaifetz Arena June 23–26, 2016. The 2018 SEC Gymnastics championships were held at the arena.

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

held its first show there on July 21, 2018.

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

North American LCS spring finals was held on April 13, 2019, at the Chaifetz Arena. Professional wrestling promotion

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid Khan, Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as President (corporate title), president an ...

held an episode of their weekly television show ''

AEW Rampage ''AEW Rampage'', also known as ''Friday Night Rampage'' or simply ''Rampage'', is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), running from August 13, 2021, to Dece ...

'' at the arena on November 5, 2021. On January 20, 2024, AEW held an episode of their weekly television show '' AEW Collision.'' On April 21, 2024, All Elite Wrestling held

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a monarchy, monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A dynasty may also be referred to as a "house", "family" or "clan", among others. H ...

at the arena.

Tim McGraw Samuel Timothy McGraw (born May 1, 1967) is an American country singer and actor. He has released 17 studio albums (11 for Curb Records, five for Big Machine Records and one for Arista Nashville). 10 of those albums have reached number one on ...

performed a benefit concert at Chaifetz Arena on April 29, 2023. Proceeds from the show went to benefit Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis. The show was sold out. The

Zac Brown Band Zac Brown Band is an American country music band based in Atlanta, Georgia. The lineup consists of Zac Brown (lead vocals, guitar), Jimmy De Martini (fiddle, vocals), John Driskell Hopkins (bass guitar, guitar, baritone guitar, banjo, ukulele, ...

performed on April 6, 2024 for Cardinal Glennon.

References

External links

Official websiteArchived Construction Camera
{{Authority control 2008 establishments in Missouri Basketball venues in St. Louis College basketball venues in the United States College gymnastics venues in the United States Gymnastics venues in the United States Saint Louis Billikens basketball venues Sports venues completed in 2008 Sports venues in Missouri Sports venues in St. Louis Indoor arenas in Missouri Wrestling venues in the United States