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The Cajundome is a 13,500-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 spectato ...
located in
Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette (, ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the most populous city and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, located along the Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's fourth largest incorporated municipality by population and the 234 ...
on the South Campus of the
University of Louisiana at Lafayette The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL Lafayette, University of Louisiana, ULL, or UL) is a public research university in Lafayette, Louisiana. It has the largest enrollment within the nine-campus University of Louisiana System and the s ...
. It is home to the
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns are the athletic teams of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The college has been competing athletically since 1901. The Ragin' Cajuns compete in NCAA Division I, fielding 16 varsity teams. Nickname The un ...
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 rega ...
basketball programs in addition to hosting various University events and commencement ceremonies including high school graduations. The arena hosts many regional
concerts A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety an ...
(seating for concerts 8,481 to 13,500) and special events, such as
World Wrestling Entertainment World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and va ...
(WWE) events and the annual outdoor Cajun Heartland State Fair, an eleven-day state fair that attracts over 175,000. The arena also hosts the annual Jr.
Beta Club The National Beta Club (often called "Beta Club" or simply "Beta") is an organization for 4th through 12th grade students in the United States. Its purpose is "to promote the ideals of academic achievement, character, leadership and service among ...
Louisiana state conventions for middle and elementary school students and previously held the Sr. Beta Conventions for high schoolers. The facility is a recognizable Lafayette landmark that was built by the State of Louisiana, funded by the City of Lafayette, and is owned by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and managed by the Cajundome Commission. Currently, the Cajundome is the largest basketball arena in the
Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams partici ...
, the largest college basketball arena in Louisiana, the third largest overall indoor arena in Louisiana (behind the
Smoothie King Center Smoothie King Center (locally referred to as SKC) is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is located in the city's Central Business District, New Orleans, Central Business District, adjacent to Caesar ...
in
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City), one of the largest mid-major college basketball arenas, and in the top 10 largest college basketball arenas in the
deep south The Deep South or the Lower South is a cultural and geographic subregion in the Southern United States. The term was first used to describe the states most dependent on plantations and slavery prior to the American Civil War. Following the war ...
.


History


Development

The stadium was first proposed in 1978 by the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce, then headed by
journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...
Ron Gomez, a member of the
Louisiana House of Representatives The Louisiana House of Representatives (french: link=no, Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 re ...
from 1980 to 1989. The project was authorized during the administration of
Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...
David C. Treen and completed in 1985, during the administration of
Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...
William Dudley "Dud" Lastrapes Jr., at a cost of $64 million. Gomez envisioned a building for both university and municipal needs. In his autobiography, Gomez describes the project and its architect, Neil Nehrbass of Lafayette, accordingly:
Several of his peers openly questioned Nehrbass' ability to handle such an immense project. They had a good basis for their anxiety since Neil had never taken on such a colossal building. He was known, rather for his non-traditional and sometimes
avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
designs. Nehrbass and I had been acquainted many years, and he recognized my passion for this project. We talked at great length about the building and the uses for it. Neil was the consummate artist. He dressed flamboyantly, chain smoked gold-tipped, pastel-colored cigarettes which he imported from England and was definitely not a sports fan. He had never attended a USL ince UL Lafayettebasketball game. But he was enthusiastic about this new project and visited the recently-opened domed facility in
Biloxi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated pop ...
,
Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mis ...
, and
Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsyl ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
to gain insight on how he would make the Lafayette structure unique.


Renovations

The arena underwent a $20 million renovation in 2016, providing seating, concession, accessibility and signage upgrades to the venue.


Sports


Arena football


Lafayette Roughnecks

The Lafayette Roughnecks of the af2 played at the Cajundome in 2001.


Lafayette Wildcatters

The Lafayette Wildcatters of the
Southern Indoor Football League The Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL) was an indoor football league based in the Southern and Eastern United States. The most recent incarnation of the league was a consolidation of an earlier league of the same name that was formed by Thom ...
played at the Cajundome from 2009 to 2010.


Basketball


Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns basketball

The Cajundome is home to the
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball program represents intercollegiate men's basketball at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The school competes in the Sun Belt Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Asso ...
and
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball program represents intercollegiate women's basketball at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The Ragin' Cajuns compete in the Sun Belt Conference in Division I of the National Collegiate At ...
programs.


Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournaments

It hosted the 1998, 1999, and 2007
Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams partici ...
men's basketball tournaments.


Boxing

On April 27, 2019,
Regis Prograis Regis Prograis ( ; born January 24, 1989) is an American professional boxer. He has held the WBC super lightweight title since November 2022, and previously the WBA super lightweight title in 2019. As of February 2021, he is ranked as the world's ...
defeated Kiryl Relikh in the sixth round by TKO to win the WBA super-lightweight championship.


Ice hockey


Louisiana IceGators

The Louisiana IceGators of the
East Coast Hockey League The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...
played host in the Cajundome from 1995 to 2005. During that time, the arena earned the nickname 'The Frozen Swamp'. In 2005, the franchise folded due to financial problems and drops in attendance after the IceGators were in the Top 4 for attendance in the ECHL. In 2009, Danny Smith, a local businessman, decided to bring back the Louisiana IceGators but this time in the
Southern Professional Hockey League The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league based in Huntersville, North Carolina, with teams located primarily in the southeastern United States as well as Illinois and Indiana in the midw ...
. A few months after Smith bought it, the franchise was sold to E.C. "Chuck" Anselmo Jr. and E.C. "Chuck" Anselmo, III. In their first season, the IceGators played at Blackham Coliseum. In their second season, the IceGators moved to the Cajundome. In early 2016, the Louisiana IceGators and the SPHL announced that the IceGators would suspend operations for the 2016–17 season citing that the arena renovations would not be completed in time for the season.


Soccer


Lafayette SwampCats

The Cajundome was home to the Lafayette SwampCats of the EISL from 1997 to 1998.


Top 10 sports crowds at the Cajundome

# 11,479 vs. Loyola Marymount (12/16/92) # 11,137 vs.
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...
(10/06/90) # 10,487 vs.
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to t ...
(11/22/85) # 09,715 vs.
Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogn ...
(02/05/94) # 09,153 vs.
New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
South Alabama (03/03/98) # 09,121 vs.
Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogn ...
(02/26/03) # 09,086 vs. Lamar (03/01/86)


Professional Wrestling

Numerous episodes of WWE television shows have been taped at the arena including
WWE Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. ET on the USA Network in the United States. The show f ...
,
WWE SmackDown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simul ...
,
WWE NXT ''WWE NXT'', also known as ''NXT'', is an American professional wrestling television program. It is produced by the American professional wrestling promotion WWE, featuring performers from the promotion's NXT brand division. The show current ...
,
WWE Heat ''WWE Heat'' (formerly known as ''Sunday Night Heat'' and also known as ''Heat'') is an American professional wrestling television program that was produced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) and aired from August 2, 1998 to May 30, 2008. Ori ...
and WWF Jakked as well as episodes of WCW television shows
WCW Thunder ''WCW Thunder'', or simply ''Thunder'', is an American professional wrestling show that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) which aired on TBS from January 8, 1998 to March 21, 2001. The popularity of WCW in 1996 and 1997 allow ...
and
WCW Worldwide ''WCW WorldWide'' was an American syndicated television show that was produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) that aired from October 8, 1975, to March 31, 2001. At the time of its cancellation, ''WorldWide'' was the longest-running, unin ...
. * WWF House Show - March 20, 1988. * WWF House Show - June 16, 1989. * Superstars of Wrestling - January 26, 1997 Superstars of Wrestling - February 2, 1997 * Superstars of Wrestling - February 9, 1997 * Thunder - June 24, 1999 * Thunder - July 1, 1999 * Thunder - May 17, 2000 * WCW WorldWide - May 27, 2000 * RAW - August 21, 2000 * Jakked - August 26, 2000 * RAW - January 22, 2001 * Jakked - January 27, 2001 * RAW - December 17, 2001 * SmackDown - October 3, 2002 * RAW - September 1, 2003 * Heat - September 7, 2003 * RAW - January 22, 2007 * Heat - January 26, 2007 * RAW - July 9, 2007 * Heat - July 13, 2007 * RAW - March 17, 2008 * Heat - March 23, 2008 * RAW - June 8, 2009 * Superstars - June 11, 2009 * RAW - February 8, 2010 * NXT - December 14, 2010 * Superstars - December 16, 2010 * SmackDown - December 17, 2010 * RAW - October 3, 2011 * RAW - November 26, 2012 * Superstars - November 30, 2012 * RAW - February 18, 2013 * Superstars - February 22, 2013 * Main Event - April 8, 2014 * SmackDown - April 11, 2014 * RAW - September 15, 2014 * Superstars - September 18, 2014 * Main Event - June 9, 2015 * SmackDown - June 11, 2015 * Main Event - January 12, 2016 * SmackDown - January 14, 2016 * RAW - June 12, 2017 * Main Event - June 14, 2017 * SmackDown - September 11, 2018 * 205 Live - September 11, 2018 * RAW - February 18, 2019 * Main Event - February 20, 2019


Convention Center

In 2002, a new convention center addition to the
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 spectato ...
was built. The new addition added 37,301 square feet (3,465 m²) of exhibit hall space to the Cajundome's 40,000 square feet (3,716 m²) of arena floor space plus 39,685 square feet (3687 m²) of meeting space including a 15,682 square foot (1457 m²) ballroom, 12,159 square feet (1130 m²) of prefunction space and a 17,590 square foot (1630 m²) outdoor mall holding up to 2,118 for outdoor events. The Cajundome Convention Center offers multiple meeting space options ranging from a small board room of 10 guests to a 4,000 guest general session. These spaces can accommodate a number of events including corporate and leisure trade shows, corporate meetings and events, theater style presentations, private or public receptions and banquets, non-profit fundraising events, school dances and graduation ceremonies and celebrations, just to name a few. Rentals include assistance from our experiences and knowledgeable staff, easy load-in and access, and free on-site parking. Artisan Catering is the exclusive caterer for the Cajundome Convention Center. Artisan's experienced and award winning culinary team is ready to plan your next event, and no matter how elaborate your vision is, can coordinate its culinary efforts with other local vendors to streamline the entire process for you. The Cajundome Convention Center is also home to the annual Lafayette Home and Garden show and the Louisiana
Future Business Leaders of America The Future Business Leaders of America, or FBLA, is an American career and technical student organization headquartered in Reston, Virginia. Established in 1940, FBLA is a non-profit organization of high school ("FBLA"), Middle Level ("FBLA M ...
State Leadership Conference.


Use as a shelter

In 2005, following the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and soon after
Hurricane Rita Hurricane Rita was the most intense tropical cyclone on record in the Gulf of Mexico and the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded. Part of the record-breaking 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, which included three of the top ten ...
, the Cajundome became one of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's evacuee shelters. Staffed by Red Cross, Salvation Army, Americorp and a host of local charities, the facility became a center of relief for thousands. The recently opened Convention Center addition was also utilized as a distribution logistics point and also housed a Special Needs Clinic. This clinic served those needing additional care not deemed urgent or emergency by local area hospitals.


See also

*
List of convention centers in the United States This is a list of convention centers in the United States by state or insular area. By state Alabama *Bald Rock Lodge (Cheaha State Park) * Bessemer Civic Center * Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex *Bryant Convention Center ( Tuscal ...
*
List of NCAA Division I basketball arenas A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby uni ...
* List of music venues


References


External links

* {{Authority control Basketball venues in Louisiana Boxing venues in Louisiana Buildings and structures in Lafayette, Louisiana College basketball venues in the United States Convention centers in Louisiana Indoor arenas in Louisiana Indoor ice hockey venues in Louisiana Indoor soccer venues in Louisiana Lafayette Roughnecks Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns basketball Music venues in Louisiana Sports venues in Lafayette, Louisiana Sports venues in Louisiana University of Louisiana at Lafayette 1985 establishments in Louisiana