The Vertu Motors Arena (formerly the Eagles Community Arena) is a multi-purpose built venue for events, meetings, sports and the community in the Elswick area of the city of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The arena has a capacity for up to 3,500 spectators and is home to the

Newcastle Eagles The Newcastle Eagles are a professional basketball club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. They play in Super League Basketball, the top-tier professional basketball league in Britain for men and women, and the European North Basketball Leag ...

of the

Super League Basketball Super League Basketball (SLB) is a men's professional basketball sports league, league. Established in 2024, the competition replaces the former British Basketball League (BBL) as the top-level men's basketball competition in Great Britain. Hist ...

and Women's Super League Basketball.

Background

It had been a stated aim of

owner Paul Blake 'for at least 10 years, probably longer' for the club and its foundation to own and control their own facility. The club had previously been based at the

Metro Radio Arena The Newcastle Arena (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Utilita Arena) is an indoor arena in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Owned and operated by ASM Global, the naming rights are currently held by Utilita Energy. Ha ...

and Northumbria University's

Sport Central Sport Central is a multi-purpose built sports centre and events arena that is located in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It forms part of the Northumbria University campus, in the city centre. The centre houses facilities for swimmi ...

. In partnership with

Newcastle City Council Newcastle City Council is the local authority for the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. Newcastle has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. ...

, the North East Local Enterprise Partnership,

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded partners, ...

and

Newcastle College Newcastle College is a large further education and higher education college in Newcastle upon Tyne, with more than 16,000 students enrolled each year on a variety of full time, part time, and distance learning. It is the largest further education ...

, planning permission was approved and construction work on the arena began in November 2017. The arena was officially opened in January 2019, when the Eagles hosted the

Plymouth Raiders Plymouth Raiders are a basketball team based in Plymouth, England, currently competing in Division 3 of the National Basketball League (England), National Basketball League. Founded in 1983 through a merger between two local basketball clubs, ...

in a BBL Championship match. The arena was awarded three prizes in special achievement, community value and social accessibility at the 2020 Lord Mayor's Design Awards.

International basketball matches

Boxing matches

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://newcastle-eagles.com/arena/ Basketball venues in England Boxing venues in the United Kingdom Indoor arenas in England Newcastle Eagles Sports venues in Newcastle upon Tyne