MK Lions Arena, also known as Prestige Homes Arena due to sponsorship reasons, was a

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 ...

arena in

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

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 ...

. It was the home venue for the

Milton Keynes Lions London Lions are a British professional basketball team based in Stratford, East London, England, and compete in the Super League Basketball (SLB). The team was originally founded in 1977 as the Hemel Hempstead Lakers. Following an ownershi ...

of the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) was a men's professional basketball sports league, league in Great Britain. Since its establishment in 1987 the BBL represented the highest level of basketball competition within the United Kingdom. The orga ...

from 2010 to 2012. The venue - a former warehouse - was acquired by the Lions franchise in 2010, after being forced out of their previous homes at the

Bletchley Centre The Bletchley Leisure Centre is an indoor leisure facility in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire#Ceremonial county, Buckinghamshire, England. The new Bletchley Leisure Centre opened in 2009 replacing the original centre. The original centre opened ...

- due to a regeneration project - and the temporary set-up at Middleton Hall, in the thecentre:mk. With the team still awaiting the completion of arena:mk - a purpose-built muilti-function arena next to the stadium:mk - an immediate solution was sought and the city centre facility was converted into a new basketball centre for the 2010-11 season. As well as the main arena, which has seating for 1,400 spectators, the venue featured two practice courts under the same roof of the 30,000 square foot facility. The arena, was located in the Winterhill district, a five-minute walk from the city centre and from

Milton Keynes Central railway station Milton Keynes Central railway station serves Milton Keynes and surrounding parts of Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire (England). The station is located on the West Coast Main Line about northwest of London. The station is ser ...

. Lions' first game at the new venue was played on 28 November 2010, with the home team winning 79-73 against BBL rookies

Essex Pirates The Essex Pirates were a British Basketball League team from Southend-on-Sea, in the county of Essex. They were founded in 2009 and played their home games at the Southend Leisure & Tennis Centre. Following the loss of a major sponsor, the fran ...

with the game televised live on

SkySports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. The lease between Lions and the building owners featured an opt-out cause which was triggered in order to let the building as a retail unit. The final basketball game at the arena was played on 18 April 2012, with Lions defeating Plymouth Raiders 128-113. This proved to be the Lions last ever game in Milton Keynes as the club were forced to re-locate from the 2012-13 season to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, due to being unable to find an alternate venue in the city capable of hosting

games.

References

External links

Timelapse video showing conversion from warehouse to arena
{{coord missing, Buckinghamshire Buildings and structures in Milton Keynes Sports venues in Buckinghamshire Sport in Milton Keynes London Lions (basketball)

See also

References

External links