Mizzou Arena is 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 on the campus of the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou or MU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri, United States. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Univers ...

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in Missouri, United States. It was founded in 1821 as the county seat of Boone County, Missouri, Boone County and had a population of 126,254 as recorded in the 2020 United States census, making it the List of cities in Misso ...

. Home to the school's men's and women's

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 ...

teams, the facility opened in November 2004 and replaced the Hearnes Center (which still hosts all other indoor events) as the school's flagship indoor sports facility. The arena also serves as the Columbia-Jefferson City market's venue for well-known 'arena' acts such as

Rascal Flatts Rascal Flatts is an American Country music, country music band formed in 1999 in Nashville, Tennessee. The band consists of Gary LeVox (lead vocals), Jay DeMarcus (bass guitar, background vocals), and Joe Don Rooney (lead guitar, background voc ...

Luke Bryan Thomas Luther "Luke" Bryan (born July 17, 1976) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and television personality. Bryan is a five-time "Entertainer of the Year", being awarded by both the Academy of Country Music Awards and the Count ...

and the

Eagles Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...

. The arched-roof building seats 15,061, and is located just south of Hearnes and Memorial Stadium. The arena is host to

Missouri State High School Activities Association The Missouri State High School Activities Association (MSHSAA) is the governing body for high school activities throughout the state of Missouri. Approximately 580 high schools are members of MSHSAA. The MSHSAA conducts championship-level activ ...

championships for boys and girls basketball, as well as wrestling. The arena was originally known as Paige Sports Arena.

About the arena

Mizzou Arena also includes offices for the Men's and Women's basketball programs, the Athletic Administration and Mizzou Arena's Building Operations. For the basketball programs the arena also offers locker rooms, a 24-hour practice gym, weight and training facilities including a hydrotherapy pool, video classrooms with audio and video editing capabilities, and an academic study center. Missouri basketball coach from 1967 to 1999, Norm Stewart, is the namesake of the arena's playing court.

History

After protracted negotiations, a third of the venue's $75 million cost was donated by Walmart heiress

Nancy Walton Laurie Nancy Walton Laurie (born May 15, 1951) is an American billionaire, as an heir to the Walmart fortune. Early life Walton was born on May 15, 1951. She is the younger daughter of Bud Walton, the brother and business partner of Walmart founder Sam ...

and her husband Bill. It was initially named Paige Sports Arena after their daughter (who attended the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

rather than Mizzou, to much alumni and student criticism regarding the name), but the Lauries gave up their

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

due to a term paper scandal involving that daughter shortly after the arena's dedication. The name of the arena's playing surface, Norm Stewart Court (in honor of Mizzou's longtime men's coach), was carried over from the basketball team's previous home at the Hearnes Center with the arena's opening in 2004. In September 2014, the university announced renovations to the arena including new

scoreboard A scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score (sport), score in a game. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards i ...

infrastructure, improvements to the facility's entryway and upgrades to the team's locker room coming from a $1.5 million donation. In June 2017, a former Mizzou athletics staffer was arrested on two felony charges after he allegedly drove a

Volkswagen Passat The Volkswagen Passat is a nameplate of D-segment, large family cars (D-segment) manufactured and marketed by the German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen since 1973 and also marketed variously as the Dasher, Santana, Quantum, Magotan, Corsar ...

through Mizzou Arena and onto Norm Stewart Court early that morning, causing an estimated $100,000 in damages. Prior to the 2023-2024 basketball season, the gold seats inside the arena were removed and replaced with black seats.

References

External links

Mizzou Arena Concerts at MUTigers.com

Tiger Scholarship Fund
{{Authority control Missouri Tigers basketball venues Sports venues completed in 2004 2004 establishments in Missouri University and college buildings completed in 2004

About the arena

History

See also

References

External links