Bud Walton Arena (also known as the Basketball Palace of Mid-America) is the home to the men's and

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teams of the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkans ...

, known as the Razorbacks. It is located on the campus of the University of Arkansas in

Fayetteville, Arkansas Fayetteville () is the second-largest city in Arkansas, the county seat of Washington County, and the biggest city in Northwest Arkansas. The city is on the outskirts of the Boston Mountains, deep within the Ozarks. Known as Washington unt ...

and has a seating capacity of 19,368, which is the fifth largest for an on-campus arena in the United States. The arena features Bud Walton Arena Razorback Sports Museum on the ground level, which houses a history of Razorback basketball, track and field, baseball, tennis and golf.

Construction

The arena is named after

James "Bud" Walton James Lawrence "Bud" Walton (December 20, 1921 – March 21, 1995) was the brother of Sam Walton and co-founder of Walmart. Biography Early life Walton was born to Thomas Gibson Walton and Nancy "Nannie" Lee Lawrence Walton on December 20, 19 ...

, co-founder of

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, who donated a large portion of the funds needed to build the arena. Walton purportedly gave $15 million, or around half of the construction cost. Construction of the arena took only 18 months, a short time considering the size of the undertaking. When it was built, it was touted as a larger version of Barnhill Arena, the team's former home. In hopes of recreating the formidable home-court advantage the Razorbacks enjoyed at Barnhill, architect

Rosser International Rosser International was an architectural and engineering firm formed from the acquisition of FABRAP by the Atlanta engineering firm Rosser White Hobbs Davidson McClellan Kelly. The firm ceased operations around June 2019. Buildings *Memphis Pyra ...

built an arena that, as the company put it, had "more seats in less space than in any other facility of the same type anywhere in the world."

Early years

The arena has been the home to the Razorbacks since November 1993; the men's team won the national championship in the arena's first season of operation. The basketball team's former home, Barnhill Arena was renovated into a

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 Sum ...

-specific facility and now houses the Razorback women volleyball team. In its early years,

Nolan Richardson Nolan Richardson Jr. (born December 27, 1941) is a former American basketball head coach best known for his tenure at the University of Arkansas, where he won the 1994 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and led the Razorbacks to three F ...

's teams frequently attracted standing-room-only crowds of over 20,000.

Improvements

Since its opening, there have been a number of enhancements and improvements to the arena. In 2004, a new custom

scoreboard A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used ...

debuted, which is wide by tall, features four video screens, each wide by tall. (There is also a LED ring at the top that is used to display game statistics.) In 2005, the locker rooms were remodeled, and a lounge and meeting area were added. Prior to the 2008–09 season, eight luxury suites were added, raising the total to 47. In addition, courtside seating was added, the student section was reconfigured, and press seating was moved to the east side of the arena behind the basket. In 2008, LED ribbon boards were installed around the ring between the upper and lower decks. The addition of these improvements expanded seating to 19,368. Prior to the 2013-14 season, the press seating was moved to the southeast corner of the bottom bowl, with its prior location being used for an expanded student section.

Nolan Richardson Court

On March 28, 2019, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees voted unanimously to name the court at the arena in honor of former Arkansas head coach

Statistics of Bud Walton Arena

Attendance Record: 20,361 vs. Auburn, February 8, 2022. Attendance Chart (men) for every year Bud Walton Arena has been in operation

References

External links

Bud Walton Arena
- Arkansas Razorbacks
Google Maps Satellite/Map of Bud Walton ArenaBud Walton Arena overview at LadyBacks.com (official site of Arkansas women's athletics)FayettevilleTourism.com information on Bud Walton ArenaRateItAll.com Rating of Bud Walton Arena
{{Arkansas NCAA Division I college basketball venue navbox University of Arkansas buildings Arkansas Razorbacks basketball venues Basketball venues in Arkansas College basketball venues in the United States Indoor arenas in Arkansas Tourist attractions in Fayetteville, Arkansas Museums in Washington County, Arkansas Sports museums in Arkansas 1993 establishments in Arkansas Sports venues completed in 1993 University and college buildings completed in 1993