Utilita Arena Birmingham (previously known as Arena Birmingham, The Barclaycard Arena, originally as the National Indoor Arena and still commonly called The NIA) is an indoor arena and sporting venue in central

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England. It is owned by parent company the

NEC Group The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, England, near to Birmingham and Solihull. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International ra ...

. When it was opened in 1991, it was the largest indoor arena in the UK. The arena is located alongside the Birmingham Canal Navigations Main Line's Old Turn Junction and opposite the National Sea Life Centre in Brindleyplace. The building straddles the main Birmingham to Wolverhampton Intercity railway line (originally the Stour Valley Line), but does not have a station of its own. There are three adjoining car parks with a total of 2,156 spaces. Close to the arena is The ICC which is also owned by the NEC Group. It is currently the fourth-largest indoor arena in the United Kingdom by capacity. In 2019, the arena had ticket sales of 530,597, which was the 4th highest in the United Kingdom.

Background

The arena was officially opened, as the National Indoor Arena, on 4 October 1991 by the athlete

Linford Christie Linford Christie (born 2 April 1960) is a Jamaican-born British former Sprint (running), sprinter and athletics coach. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes ...

. When it was opened, the arena was intended to be an indoor sporting venue. However, the venue began to host entertainment events shortly after opening. The arena currently hosts a variety of events including concerts, sporting events and conferences. It has a capacity of up to 15,800 using both permanent seating and temporary seating configurations. The arena was renamed after it underwent an extensive renovation which was completed at the end of 2014.

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Regarded as a pop icon, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American ...

opened the renovated arena on 2 December 2014. In 2018 the arena had ticket sales of 497,443, which was the 4th highest in the United Kingdom.

Naming history

* National Indoor Arena * Barclaycard Arena * Arena Birmingham * Utilita Arena Birmingham

Renovation

In 2012 plans to refurbish and renovate the NIA were approved by

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local authority for the city of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. Birmingham has had an elected local authority since 1838, which has been reformed several times. Since 1974 the council has been a metropo ...

. The plans included creating a showpiece entrance from the canal-side, three "sky needle" light sculptures, a new glazed facade fronting the canal and new pre-show hospitality elements. The design was by the architecture firm Broadway Malyan and the building contract was awarded to Royal BAM Group in 2013 with a projected finishing date of Winter 2014. The £26 million redevelopment began in June 2013. The redeveloped arena was officially opened with a performance by singer

on 2 December 2014. It was renamed the "Barclaycard Arena" in November 2014 after

Barclaycard Barclaycard (; stylised as barclaycard) is a brand for credit cards of Barclays PLC. It is considered as the United Kingdom's first and now biggest credit card provider with 5 million accounts. History Barclays launched Barclaycard on 29 June ...

won the naming rights for five years, but in May 2016 it was announced that the naming deal would end early, and from September 2017 it would be named Arena Birmingham. On 16 January 2020, it was announced that the arena will be renamed Utilita Arena Birmingham from 15 April 2020.

Notable events

The arena has been used for several major events in the past, including counting no fewer than eight constituencies in the hall for the 1992 general election.''Election 92'',

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, 9 April 1992 *'' Gladiators'' was recorded at the arena from 1992 to 1999. *

1993 IBF World Championships The 1993 IBF World Championships ( World Badminton Championships) were held in Birmingham, England in 1993. Venue * National Indoor Arena Medalists Medal table Events External linksBWF Results {{World badminton champs BWF World Champi ...

* 1995 Netball World Championships * Eurovision Song Contest 1998 * 1999 World Judo Championships * 1999 WWF Rebellion. * The 2001

Robot Wars Robot Wars may refer to: Film and television * ''Robot Wars'' (film), 1993 ** ''Robot Wars'' (soundtrack) * ''Robot Wars'' (TV series), a British TV competition, 1998–2004 and 2016–2018 ** '' Nickelodeon Robot Wars'', a U.S. TV game show ...

Live Tour. *

2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 9th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom from 14 to 16 March 2003. It was the first time the Championships had been held in the UK. There were a total number of 5 ...

. *

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...

tennis matches (vs.

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, vs.

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

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 vs.

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

) * BBL Cup and BBL Finals Weekend matches * 2003 IBF World Championships * 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships. *The Premier League Darts every year since 2007 * 2010 European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships *

2010 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships The 28th European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships held from 28 April to 2 May 2010 in Birmingham. Timetable Medal Winners Detail results Seniors Team ‡ Romania's Ana Porgras injured herself on her dismount on be ...

* 2010 Wheelchair Basketball World Championship * 2011 Trampoline World Championships * Lee Evans performed here from 17 to 21 September 2014 to record his final stand-up show tour Monsters before his retirement. *

Linkin Park Linkin Park is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Agoura Hills, California, in 1996. The band's current lineup consists of vocalist/rhythm guitarist/keyboardist Mike Shinoda, lead guitarist Brad Delson, DJ/turntablist Joe Hahn, bass ...

performed here as part of the One More Light Tour on 6 July 2017. This was the band's last performance of the European leg, as the remaining show in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

were cancelled due to a

bombing A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...

at the

Manchester Arena Manchester Arena (currently known as AO Arena for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the Manchester city centre, city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria station in air rights space. Pr ...

, where the band was supposed to perform. It was also the final performance of lead singer

Chester Bennington Chester Charles Bennington (March 20, 1976 – July 20, 2017) was an American singer who was the lead vocalist of the rock band Linkin Park. He was also the lead vocalist of Grey Daze, Dead by Sunrise, and Stone Temple Pilots at various po ...

before his

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

on 20 July 2017. *

2018 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 17th IAAF World Indoor Championships was held from 1 to 4 March 2018 in Birmingham, United Kingdom. This was the city's second hosting of the event as it previously did so in 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships, 2003. Bidding process Birmin ...

2022 Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England betw ...

Monster Jam Monster Jam is a live motorsport event tour operated by Feld Entertainment. The series began in 1992, and is sanctioned under the umbrella of the United States Hot Rod Association. Events are primarily held in North America, with some addition ...

Ramped Up made its worldwide debut on 29-31 March 2024, featuring the all new Monstergon.

Ticket sales

NEC Group

Parent company The NEC Group also owns and operates the

ICC Birmingham The International Convention Centre (ICC) is a major conference venue in Birmingham, England. The centre incorporates Symphony Hall and faces Centenary Square, with another entrance leading to the canals of Birmingham. The Westside area, whi ...

in central Birmingham, and the

National Exhibition Centre The National Exhibition Centre (NEC) is an exhibition centre located in Marston Green, England, near to Birmingham and Solihull. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International rail ...

(NEC) and bp pulse LIVE (previously Resorts World Arena, Genting Arena and LG Arena), based on The NEC site in nearby

Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...

References

External links

*
Construction of the arena's roof
{{Authority control Basketball venues in England Indoor arenas in England Sports venues in Birmingham, West Midlands Badminton venues Indoor track and field venues Darts venues Sports venues completed in 1991 1991 establishments in England Judo venues Netball venues in England 2022 Commonwealth Games venues Gymnastics at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Music venues in Birmingham, West Midlands Music venues completed in 1991