The Marriott Center is a 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 ...

in the

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the We ...

, located on the campus of

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is the List of cities and towns in Utah, fourth-largest city in Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front. Provo is the largest city and county seat of Utah County, Utah, Utah County and is home to Bri ...

. It is home to the

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the West Co ...

men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardle ...

basketball teams. The seating capacity for basketball games at the Marriott Center is officially 18,987. The largest basketball arena in the

West Coast Conference West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

(in which BYU competes for most sports, except

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 ...

), it is among the largest on-campus basketball arenas in the nation. In addition to basketball, the Marriott Center is used for weekly devotionals and forums. The

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § ...

of the court is approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardis ...

History

The Marriott Center was named in honor of benefactor and hotel tycoon J. Willard Marriott, founder of the

Marriott Corporation Marriott Corporation was a hospitality company that operated from 1927 until 1993, founded by J. Willard Marriott and Frank J. Kimball as Hot Shoppes, Inc. In 1957, Marriott Corporation opened its first hotel in Arlington County, Virginia, ...

. When the arena opened in 1971, it passed the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

Williams Arena Williams Arena is an indoor arena located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the home arena for the University of Minnesota's men's and women's basketball teams. It also housed the men's hockey team until 1993, when it moved into its own buildi ...

as the largest college basketball arena in the nation. It was also the largest venue in the nation built for basketball, larger than any NBA (or ABA) arena at that time. It lost both distinctions when the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a public land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky, the university is one of the state ...

opened

Rupp Arena Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center is an arena located in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Since its opening in 1976, it has been the centerpiece of Central Bank Center (formerly Lexington Center), a convention and shopping facility o ...

in 1976, but remained as the largest basketball-specific facility on a U.S. college campus until 1987, when the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee (officially The University of Tennessee, Knoxville; or UT Knoxville; UTK; or UT) is a public land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee. Founded in 1794, two years before Tennessee became the 16th sta ...

opened

Thompson–Boling Arena Thompson–Boling Arena is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The arena opened in 1987. It is home to the Tennessee Volunteers (men) and Lady Vols (women) basketball teams. Since 2008, it h ...

Prior to 1971, the Cougars played basketball games at

Smith Fieldhouse The George Albert Smith Fieldhouse is a 5,000 seat multi-purpose arena in Provo, Utah. Built in 1951, it is the home of the Brigham Young University Cougars volleyball teams and most home gymnastics meets. It was named for George Albert Smith, t ...

, which remains the primary venue for volleyball and gymnastics. The court was replaced in 2003 with a permanent floor. The Marriott Center hosted the West Regionals of the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams fro ...

four times (

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democrat ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

), and the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Utah, Washington, and Texas. Due to most of t ...

men's basketball tournament in 1988. On February 7, 1993, Cody Judy threatened

LDS LDS may refer to: Organizations * LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah, US Religion * Latter Day Saint movement (LDS movement), a collection of independent church groups **The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest group within t ...

apostle Howard W. Hunter with a supposed bomb in front of a crowd of 15,000–17,000 onlookers in the Marriott Center.Daily Universe covers fireside threat on Pres. Hunter
, by Alicia Barney, BYU ''Daily Universe'', 8 December 2005 A devotional conference featuring LDS Church President

Gordon B. Hinckley Gordon Bitner Hinckley (June 23, 1910 – January 27, 2008) was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from March 1995 until his death in January 200 ...

on October 17, 1995, drew the largest crowd to ever attend an activity at the arena: 25,875 people. In 1999, the Marriott Center set an NCAA record for highest attendance for a men's volleyball match: 14,156 watched BYU defeat Long Beach State on February 19, shattering the previous record of 10,225 (held by Hawaii).Honolulu Star-Bulletin Sports: UH falls to BYU
/ref>

Renovations

In April 2012, BYU announced renovations to the Marriott Center. The lower bench seating on the north side was replaced with prime chair seating. A new sound system was installed, and the men's and women's locker rooms were renovated. The changes in the lower seating lowered the Marriott Center’s capacity from 22,700 to 20,951. The remaining lower bench seating was replaced after the

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

season, lowering

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile tha ...

to around 19,000.Marriott Center renovations
by '' Digital Universe'', 7 July 2015 The new renovation also installed new video boards for the Marriott Center and added the Marriott Center Annex building, where practice sessions take place for both BYU basketball teams. The Marriott Center Annex was placed between the Marriott Center and the BYU Broadcasting Building.

References

External links

Brigham Young University Athletics
– Marriott Center {{Provo, Utah BYU Cougars basketball venues College basketball venues in the United States Sports venues in Utah Brigham Young University buildings Sports venues completed in 1971 1971 establishments in Utah

History

Renovations

See also

References

External links