Movistar Arena is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose

indoor 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 ...

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

. It is located inside O'Higgins Park, in downtown Santiago. Its main structure was built in 1956, but it remained unfinished and without roof, the roof was installed in 2000. Buyer Peter Hiller opened it on April 15, 2006 as Arena Santiago with a seat-capacity of 12,000.

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

's cell phone division

Movistar Movistar () is a major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, operating in Spain and Hispanic American countries. It is the largest provider of landline, broadband, mobile services, and pay television ( Movistar+) in Spain. Movistar ...

bought the stadium's

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of ...

, changing its name on October 6, 2008, while also expanding its capacity by 5,000 seats. It is one of the largest multi-purpose arenas in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

, with a total surface is 44,000 m². An additional 3,000 seats can be placed over the court during concerts, boosting the total capacity to 17,000 seats.

History

The original building was designed and conceived by

Mario Recordón Mario Recordón Burnier nicknamed ''The Tiger of Osorno'' (14 July 1922 – 5 June 1994) was a Chilean architect, athlete and educator. He led Chile to victory in the decathlon in the 1946 South American Athletics Championships and competed ...

in 1956 with the name "Metropolitan Indoor Stadium" to be the seat of the World Basketball Championship. However, funding was redirected to remodeling the Estadio Nacional de Chile, with a view to achieving the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place ...

. The roofed stadium was left in total neglect. In 1998, during the term of Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle it was decided to complete it. The work was financed by Hiller Investments, which received a grant from the Ministry of Public Works with a 20-year lease. Arena Santiago was symbolically opened on March 7, 2006 by then President Ricardo Lagos, and it was inaugurated on April 15 that year by his successor, Michelle Bachelet. In 2008, managers signed a contract with portable phone company

Chile for 16 years. On 13 March 2018,

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, g ...

gave a concert to 17.000 people, setting a new attendance record at the venue. On 5 November 2018,

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

performed on the arena as part of

The Heavy Entertainment Show Tour The Heavy Entertainment Show Tour was the twelfth concert tour by British recording artist Robbie Williams, to support his album ''The Heavy Entertainment Show''. The tour began in England and travelled throughout Europe in Summer 2017, extend ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harr ...

played their first ever arena show in Chile on 14 October 2019, as part of their

Legacy of the Beast World Tour The Legacy of the Beast World Tour was a concert tour by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, named after the comic and mobile game released by the band in 2017. Described as a "history/hits tour", Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood has revealed ...

. The show was announced because the first concert at the Estadio Nacional on October 15 sold out all the 63,000 tickets half a year before the show.

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

played in Movistar Arena on September 27, 2019 as part of their world tour called Walk The Earth Tour. It will be used as one of the venues for the

2023 Pan American Games The 2023 Pan American Games ( es, Juegos Panamericanos de 2023, links=no), officially the XIX Pan American Games and commonly known as Santiago 2023, is a forthcoming international multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, ...

and will host basketball events.

Davis Cup incident

On 7 April 2000, the site was the scene of a Chile-Argentina

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organi ...

rubber. During the second singles match between Nicolás Massú and Mariano Zabaleta, the crowd reacted violently, pelting the Argentine team with fruit, coins and plastic chairs. The Chilean Tennis Federation was fined almost US$50,000 and was banned from hosting Davis Cup games for two years.

References

External links

* (in Spanish) {{Authority control Indoor arenas in Chile Music venues in Chile Sports venues in Santiago Basketball venues in Chile 2006 establishments in Chile Sports venues completed in 2006