Miami Arena was an
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
Miami, Florida
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
. The venue served as the home of the
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...
of the
National Basketball Association
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 ...
(NBA) and the
Florida Panthers of the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
(NHL).
From 1988 until 1999, it also was the indoor arena for the
Miami Hurricanes
The Miami Hurricanes, known informally as The U, UM, or The 'Canes, are the intercollegiate sports teams that represent the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The Hurricanes compete in NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Coll ...
.
History

Completed in 1988 at a cost of
$52.5 million, its opening took business away from the
Hollywood Sportatorium and eventually led to that venue's demolition. The arena was the home of the
Miami Heat
The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern C ...
from 1988 to 1999, the
Florida Panthers from 1993 to 1998, the
University of Miami
The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...
basketball teams from 1988 to 2003, the
Miami Hooters of the
Arena Football League
The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 Arena Football League season, 1987 season, making it the third longest-runnin ...
from 1993 to 1995, the
Miami Matadors of the
ECHL
The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a minor professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams across the United States and Canada. Competitively, it is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The ...
in 1998 and the
Miami Manatees of the WHA2 in 2003. The first game played by the Heat in their first home was a loss to the
Los Angeles Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. The ...
, 111–91, on November 5, 1988; the first victory came a month and a half later against the
Utah Jazz
The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. Since the 1991–92 season, the ...
, 101–80.
The arena also hosted the 1990
NBA All-Star Game
The National Basketball Association All-Star Game is the annual all-star game hosted each February by the National Basketball Association (NBA) and showcases 24 of the league's All-star, star players. Since 2022, it was held on the third Sunday of ...
, the
1991 WWF Royal Rumble, the
1994 NCAA men's basketball East Regional final, the NHL's
1996 Stanley Cup Finals between the Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche and the NBA's
1997 NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls.
By 1998, the Miami Arena, like most indoor sports arenas built in the late 1980s, was beginning to show its age, despite being only 10 years old. Its
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 ...
was one of the lowest of any NBA or NHL arena. In addition, sports teams in general began wanting newer, more updated facilities, specifically luxury suites and new concessions. In 1998, the Panthers moved into the National Car Rental Center (now
Amerant Bank Arena) in
Sunrise
Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning, at the start of the Sun path. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon.
Terminology
Although the S ...
, near Florida's largest outlet mall,
Sawgrass Mills. On January 2, 2000, the Heat moved to the new
American Airlines Arena located three blocks east of Miami Arena on the shore of Biscayne Bay.
After the year 2000, the arena became mostly inactive, as most of the concerts that were held at Miami Arena moved to the newer venues. However, the
Miami Manatees of the
WHA2 played at the Miami Arena in 2003, and the
Miami Morays
Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
indoor football from 2005 to 2006.
The arena was easily accessible via mass transit, with a
Metrorail stop at
Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre station just across the street (once known as Overtown/Arena station). Miami-Dade city buses also service the arena area downtown. Miami Arena was sometimes called the "Pink Elephant", because it was a
white elephant with pink colored walls.
In 2004, the arena was sold in a
public auction to Glenn Straub, an investor from
Palm Beach County, for half of the price the city of Miami paid for its original construction. On August 3, 2008, Straub announced in a television interview that the interior of the arena had been cleared out and that the building would be demolished by the end of the month. On September 21, 2008, the roof of the Miami Arena was imploded. While the exterior walls remained standing after the implosion, demolition continued until the falling of the west wall on October 21, 2008. A parking lot now exists where the arena used to stand.
Seating capacity
Basketball
* 1988–1993 – 15,008
* 1993–2008 – 15,200
Ice hockey/arena football
* 14,703
Concerts
* Full house: 16,627
* 3/4 house: 9,878
* 1/2 house: 7,485
* In the round: 16,694
* the space in arena is 1,560
Other
*
Banquet
A banquet (; ) is a formal large meal where a number of people consume food together. Banquets are traditionally held to enhance the prestige of a host, or reinforce social bonds among joint contributors. Modern examples of these purposes inc ...
s – 500
* Luxury suites – 26
Events
References
External links
^ "Miami Arena"Ballparks.com. Retrieved on 2009-07-21.
{{Authority control
Sports venues completed in 1988
Sports venues demolished in 2008
College basketball venues in Florida
Music venues in Florida
Ice hockey venues in Florida
Miami Hurricanes basketball venues
Sports venues in Miami
Defunct National Hockey League venues
Former NBA venues
Defunct college basketball venues in the United States
Demolished music venues in the United States
Defunct indoor arenas in Florida
Demolished sports venues in Florida
1988 establishments in Florida
2008 disestablishments in Florida
Florida Hammerheads
Buildings and structures demolished by controlled implosion
Florida Panthers
Miami Heat