The Marriott Center is a multi-purpose

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 ...

in the

western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Western States, the Far West, the Western territories, and the West) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. As American settlement i ...

, located on the campus of

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU) is a Private education, private research university in Provo, Utah, United States. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is the flagship university of the Church Educational System sponsore ...

(BYU) in

Provo, Utah Provo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Utah County, Utah, United States. It is south of Salt Lake City along the Wasatch Front, and lies between the cities of Orem, Utah, Orem to the north and Springville, Utah, Springville to the south ...

. It is home to the

BYU Cougars The BYU Cougars are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah. BYU fields 21 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) varsity athletic teams. They are a member of the Big 12 C ...

men's and women's basketball teams. The seating capacity for basketball games at the Marriott Center is officially 17,978. It is the largest basketball arena in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. It consists of 16 full-member universities (3 private universities and 13 public universities) in the states of Arizona, Colorado, Florida ...

and is among the largest on-campus basketball arenas in the nation. In addition to basketball, the Marriott Center is used for weekly campus devotionals and forums. The

elevation The elevation of a geographic location (geography), ''location'' is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational equipotenti ...

of the court is approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an mean, average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal Body of water, bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical ...

History

The Marriott Center was named in honor of benefactor and hotel tycoon J. Willard Marriott, founder of the

Marriott Corporation The Marriott Corporation was a Hospitality industry, hospitality company that operated from 1927 until 1993. It was founded by J. Willard Marriott and Frank J. Kimball as Hot Shoppes, Inc. In 1957, it opened its first hotel in Arlington Count ...

. When the arena opened in 1971, it passed the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

Williams Arena Williams Arena is an indoor arena located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the home arena for the University of Minnesota's men's and women's basketball teams. It also housed the men's hockey team until 1993, when it moved into its own building ...

as the largest college basketball arena in the nation. It was also the largest venue in the nation built for basketball, larger than any

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(or ABA) arena at that time. It lost both distinctions when the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

opened

Rupp Arena Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center is an arena located in downtown Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Since its opening in 1976, it has been the centerpiece of Central Bank Center (formerly Lexington Center), a convention and shopping facility ...

in 1976 but remained as the largest basketball-specific facility on a U.S. college campus until 1987, when the

University of Tennessee The University of Tennessee, Knoxville (or The University of Tennessee; UT; UT Knoxville; or colloquially UTK or Tennessee) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Knoxville, Tennessee, United St ...

opened Thompson–Boling Arena. Marriott Center 1971

Prior to 1971, the Cougars played basketball games at the

Smith Fieldhouse The George Albert Smith Fieldhouse is a 5,000 seat multi-purpose arena in Provo, Utah. Built in 1951, it is the home of the Brigham Young University Cougars volleyball teams and most home gymnastics meets. It was named for George Albert Smith, th ...

, which remains the primary venue for volleyball and gymnastics. The court was replaced in 2003 with a permanent floor. The Marriott Center has hosted the West Regionals of the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

four times (

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

), and the

Western Athletic Conference The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) is an NCAA Division I conference. The WAC covers a broad expanse of the Western United States with member institutions located in Arizona, California, Texas, Utah and Washington (state), Washington. Due to ...

men's basketball tournament in 1988. On February 7, 1993, Cody Judy threatened Howard W. Hunter, president of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...

(LDS Church), with a supposed bomb in front of a crowd of 15,000–17,000 onlookers in the Marriott Center.Daily Universe covers fireside threat on Pres. Hunter
, by Alicia Barney, BYU ''Daily Universe'', 8 December 2005 A devotional gathering featuring Gordon B. Hinckley, the LDS Church's

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

, on October 17, 1995, drew the largest crowd to ever attend an activity at the arena: 25,875 people. In 1999, the Marriott Center set an NCAA record for highest attendance for a men's volleyball match: 14,156 volleyball enthusiasts watched BYU defeat Long Beach State on February 19, shattering the previous record of 10,225 (held by Hawaii).Honolulu Star-Bulletin Sports: UH falls to BYU
/ref>

Renovations

In April 2012, BYU announced renovations to the Marriott Center. The lower bench seating on the north side was replaced with prime chair seating. A new sound system was installed, and the men's and women's locker rooms were renovated. The changes in the lower seating lowered the Marriott Center’s capacity from 22,700 to 20,951. The remaining lower bench seating was replaced after the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

season, lowering

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

to around 19,000. The new renovation also installed new video boards in the arena and added the Marriott Center Annex building, where practice sessions take place for both BYU's men's and women's basketball teams. The Marriott Center Annex was placed between the Marriott Center and the BYU Broadcasting Building. Seating was updated again in 2022, lowering the capacity to 17,978. The Marriott Center has the largest seating capacity of any basketball arena in the

. As of October 2021, it had the eighth largest seating capacity of on-campus basketball arenas in the United States.

References

External links

Brigham Young University Athletics
– Marriott Center {{Subject bar, auto=y, d=y BYU Cougars basketball venues College basketball venues in the United States Sports venues in Utah Brigham Young University buildings Sports venues completed in 1971 1971 establishments in Utah Indoor arenas in Utah

History

Renovations

See also

References

External links