The Jerusalem Arena (, ''HaArena Yerushalayim''), renamed for the National Lottery

Mifal HaPais Mifal HaPais () is Israel's government-owned lottery company. It comprises the state's near monopoly on legal gambling together with the Israel Sports Betting Board (ISBB) (). The name translates to ''The Institute of Lottery'' In 2012, Mifal HaP ...

grant as Pais Arena Jerusalem (, ''HaPais Arena Yerushalayim''), is a multi-purpose sports arena that was built in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

by the city council and National Lottery grant of Mifal HaPais. Opened in September 2014, the arena is located in the

Jerusalem Sports Quarter The Jerusalem Sports Quarter is an Israeli sports complex, sporting facilities complex located in the Malha neighborhood of southwestern Jerusalem, Israel. The complex consists of major venues as well as other supplementary sport, recreation an ...

, in the southwestern

Malha Malha is a neighborhood in southwest Jerusalem, between Pat (Jerusalem), Pat, Ramat Denya and Kiryat Hayovel in the Valley of Rephaim. Before 1948, Malha was an Arabs, Arab village known as al-Maliha (). Malha is now an upscale neighborhood fea ...

neighborhood, adjacent to

Teddy Stadium Teddy Stadium () is a sports stadium in Jerusalem. Two major Israeli football clubs currently use it as their home ground: Beitar Jerusalem and Hapoel Jerusalem. The Israel national football team also uses it for select home matches. The stadi ...

. The arena seats 11,000 for

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

games.

Features

The arena interior itself covers and, according to former Jerusalem Mayor

Nir Barkat Nir Barkat (; born 19 October 1959) is an Israeli businessman and politician, currently serving as Minister of Economy. He previously served as mayor of Jerusalem from 2008 to 2018. Biography Nir Barkat was born and raised in Jerusalem. His fat ...

, the arena is the largest indoor space in Jerusalem. The arena is able to host professional sports, world-class concerts, international conferences, and cultural events. The arena also contains a medical sports center, club rooms, offices, and two additional halls. The entire complex includes . The arena is part of a number of sports facilities in the Jerusalem Sport Quarter, which include an indoor

Olympic-size swimming pool An Olympic-size swimming pool is a swimming pool which conforms to the regulations for length, breadth, and depth made by World Aquatics (formerly FINA) for swimming at the Summer Olympics and the swimming events at the World Aquatics Champions ...

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

courts, and an

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ...

. It is also a multi-purpose site, with hotels and residences for athletes with accommodations of 240 rooms, that is able to provide facilities for exhibitions, cultural and business events. There is also an underground parking space for 1,700 cars, and a

retail power center A retail park is a type of shopping centre found on the fringes of most large towns and cities in the United Kingdom and other European countries. Retail parks form a key aspect of European retail geographies, alongside indoor shopping centres, ...

History

In 2004, Jerusalem mayor,

Ehud Olmert Ehud Olmert (; , ; born 30 September 1945) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the prime minister of Israel from 2006 to 2009. The son of a former Herut politician, Olmert was first elected to the Knesset for Likud in 1973, at th ...

, declared a new

arena would be built within a year. In December 2005, the

cornerstone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

was laid. In July 2009, the city hall publicized tenders for building the arena's infrastructure. The building project was originally scheduled to be finished in late 2014, and originally estimated at a cost 240 million NIS. Of which, 187 million NIS was to be covered by

, 20 million NIS from a grant from the Israeli National Sports Betting Council, and 33 million NIS from the Jerusalem municipality. However, the final eventual cost of the project ended being over 400 million NIS. Upon completion, the arena became the new home arena of the

Israeli Basketball Premiere League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

club

Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. Hapoel Jerusalem Basketball Club (), known for sponsorship reasons as Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem (הפועל בנק יהב ירושלים), is a professional basketball club based in the City of Jerusalem, and competes in the Israeli Basketbal ...

, as they moved into it from the smaller

Malha Arena The Malha Arena (officially called Lea and Maurice Goldberg Sports Hall)Jerusalem Foundation ...

, which was their previous home arena. The arena was officially opened on 11 September 2014. During the 20th Maccabiah Games in 2017, a temporary full-size ice hockey rink was installed. The capacity of the arena (10,000 for ice hockey) made the tournament an attraction for thousands of fans, with the final game of the open tournament, in which Canada beat the United States 7:2, attracting an attendance of 9,000 and becoming the highest attended ice hockey game in history on Israeli soil.

References

External links

{{commons category inline, Jerusalem Arena
Pais Arena Jerusalem
the official website Sports venues in Jerusalem Indoor arenas in Israel Basketball venues in Israel Sports venues completed in 2014 2014 establishments in Israel

Features

History

See also

References

External links