Kretinga Arena is a 822-seat

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

located in

Kretinga Kretinga (Yiddish: קרעטינגע) is a List of cities in Lithuania, city in Klaipėda County, in north-western Lithuania. It is the capital of the Kretinga District Municipality. It is located east of the popular Baltic Sea resort town of Pala ...

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. The venue is compactly located on the Kretinga stadium's

land lot In real estate, a land lot or plot of land is a tract or parcel of land owned or meant to be owned by some owner(s). A plot is essentially considered a parcel of real property in some countries or immovable property (meaning practically the sam ...

, to the right of the stadium. It is the home court to

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 ...

team

History

Plans for a new indoor arena were confirmed in 2006 as part of the Lithuania's

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

approved strategy for the expansion of Lithuanian sport objects. UAB Simper designed the building in 2013, and UAB LitCon signed up as the general contractor on 27 August 2015. The foundation stone was laid on 1 December 2015, with the project confirmed to cost €6.25 million, aiming for completion by the start of 2020. The project was criticised by the LitCon's CEO Linas Piliponis for its drawled out financing timetable, a staple of the

government budget A government budget is a projection of the government's revenues and expenditure for a particular period, often referred to as a financial or fiscal year, which may or may not correspond with the calendar year. Government revenues mostly incl ...

's funded projects in Lithuania, with the statements that the company could built the arena in a two years period if the funding for the construction could be found and approved. Over the span of the next several years, the endeavor has consistently grappled with rumors regarding the contractor's financial instability, stemming from its endured reputational damage from various other public projects that were failed to be delivered on time, budget or both as well as cancellations of some contracts. Ultimately, the situation led to the company filling for bankruptcy protection in June 2019 and being

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in July. The contract was then terminated in March 2020, with 85% of the work completed. UAB HSC Baltic won the tender to complete the construction of the building in Spring 2021, albeit with a cost increase of €2.177 million. BC Kretinga were expected to move in during the second part of the 2022–23 NKL season. Yet, negotiations on multiple identified defects ensued, leading to additional delays and subsequently pushing the restart of construction works to the year 2022. On 26 October 2023, the arena was inaugurated with the first basketball game between BC Kretinga and

BC Žalgiris-2 BC Žalgiris-2 is the reserve team of the professional 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 ob ...

of the NKL, which ended in a 77–98 loss by the hosts. Around 1,300 spectators filled up the arena, officially reported as 1,211, setting a hardly beatable record for the 822-seater venue. However, a successful

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

push by the team during the 23–24 season, lead to a further four matches with 1,000+ attendances and a new record of 1,237 spectators being set in a

Samogitia Samogitia, often known by its Lithuanian language, Lithuanian name ''Žemaitija'' (Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Žemaitėjė''; see Samogitia#Etymology and alternative names, below for alternative and historical names) is one of the five ...

n derby against

Telšiai Telšiai (; Samogitian language, Samogitian: ''Telšē'') is a city in Lithuania with about 21,499 inhabitants. It is the capital of Telšiai County and Samogitia region, and it is located on the shores of Lake Mastis. Telšiai is one of the ol ...

on 16 March 2024.

References

{{reflist Indoor arenas in Lithuania Basketball venues in Lithuania Kretinga

History

See also

References