Agganis Arena is a 7,200-seat multi-purpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectator ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

, United States, on the campus of

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original cam ...

, built on the location of the former Commonwealth Armory. It is home to the five-time national champion

Boston University Terriers men's ice hockey The Boston University Terriers men’s ice hockey team is the college ice hockey team that represents Boston University. They played their first game in 1918 and have won five national championships, while making 22 appearances in the Frozen Four. ...

team. It is named after Harry Agganis, an outstanding

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

and baseball athlete for BU and the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

, who died at the age of 26 from a massive

pulmonary embolism Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a blockage of an artery in the lungs by a substance that has moved from elsewhere in the body through the bloodstream ( embolism). Symptoms of a PE may include shortness of breath, chest pain particularly upon breathin ...

. A life-size

bronze statue Bronze is the most popular metal for cast metal sculptures; a cast bronze sculpture is often called simply "a bronze". It can be used for statues, singly or in groups, reliefs, and small statuettes and figurines, as well as bronze elements ...

of Agganis sculpted by

Armand LaMontagne Armand LaMontagne (born 1939) is an American sculptor of celebrated personalities. Education LaMontagne is a graduate of Worcester Academy and Boston College. He is a self-taught artist who has honed his skills through practicing his profession. ...

stands outside the arena at the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Harry Agganis Way. The hockey rink is named Jack Parker Rink, after the legendary BU hockey player and coach. The arena is part of Boston University's ''

John Hancock Student Village The John Hancock Student Village or (StuVi) is a large residential and recreational complex at Boston University, covering between Buick Street and Nickerson Field, ground formerly occupied by a National Guard Armory, which had been used by th ...

'', which also includes dormitories and the university's five-story

Fitness and Recreation Center The Boston University Fitness and Recreation Center (or FitRec) is an athletic facility at Boston University. Built in 2004–2005 to replace the aging and inadequate Case Gym, the FitRec was built on the site of a National Guard Armory, to whic ...

. Agganis was dedicated in 2004 and hosted its first event in 2005. It replaced

Walter Brown Arena Walter Brown Arena is a 3,806-seat multi-purpose arena in Boston, Massachusetts. It is home to the Boston University Terriers women's ice hockey team and hosted the men's team before they moved to Agganis Arena. It is named in honor of Walter A. ...

, located at the

Case Athletic Center Case Gym is a 1,800-seat multi-purpose arena at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. It opened in 1972 as part of the Harold Case Physical Education Center, which is named after the university's fifth president, Harold C. Case. The gym ...

, as the home of BU Men's Ice Hockey, though Walter Brown Arena is still in use as the home of BU Women's Ice Hockey. In the arena's first decade, Boston University basketball played select home games at Agganis, with the remainder being played at

Case Gym Case Gym is a 1,800-seat multi-purpose arena at Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts. It opened in 1972 as part of the Harold Case Physical Education Center, which is named after the university's fifth president, Harold C. Case. The gym ...

. The school made the decision before the 2015-2016 season to move all home games back to Case Gym due to poor attendance at Agganis. The last BU basketball game played at Agganis was a 77-70 loss to rival Holy Cross on Feb. 28, 2015. It serves as a regional auditorium for large events, including concerts, ceremonies of other schools such as

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

, musicals, awareness events, and appearances by speakers such as

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

and

Dave Chappelle David Khari Webber Chappelle ( ; born August 24, 1973) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is best known for his satirical comedy sketch series ''Chappelle's Show'' (2003–2006), which he starred in until quitting in the middle of p ...

. Since 2008, Agganis has hosted the annual CRASH-B World Indoor Rowing Championship.

Tournaments

America East Basketball

It hosted the first rounds of the

2007 America East men's basketball tournament The 2007 America East men's basketball tournament was held from March 2–4 at Agganis Arena. The final was held March 10 at Patrick Gym. The Albany Great Danes won the tournament to advance to their second consecutive berth in the NCAA tournam ...

and the finals in 2011.

NCAA Frozen Four

Agganis Arena also hosted the 2009 Women's Frozen Four. The venue was also selected to host the 2020 Women's Frozen Four before the tournament was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Other events

The arena hosted

TNA Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the promo ...

's anniversary show

Slammiversary Slammiversary is a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the American promotion Impact Wrestling. It is one of Impact's “Big Four” PPV events (along with Hard to Kill, Rebellion, and Bound for Glory), and celebrates th ...

on June 2, 2013. In January 2018, the arena hosted the playoff stage for the ELEAGUE Major tournament for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It was the first time in the game's history that a North American team (

Cloud9 Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...

) won a major-level tournament. On October 9, 2019, professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) held the second episode of its live weekly television show ''

AEW Dynamite AEW or aew may refer to: * Airborne early warning, airborne radar system for detecting aircraft * Aerosvit Airlines, an airline based in Kyiv, Ukraine (ICAO airline designator: AEW) * AEW Capital Management, a property investment management company ...

'' at the arena. AEW returned to the Agganis Arena for its October 27, 2021 episode of ''Dynamite.'' That week's episode of '' AEW Rampage'' was also taped at the arena following the ''Dynamite'' taping. AEW returned once again on April 6, 2022 for a live episode of ''Dynamite'', as well as tapings of ''AEW Rampage'' and ''AEW Dark: Elevation''.

References

External links