The Leicester Arena (officially known as the Mattioli Arena due to sponsorship reasons) is a multi-purpose sports arena located in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

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 ...

. The arena has a seating capacity for 3,000 spectators and its main tenants are the

Leicester Riders Leicester Riders are a British professional basketball team and the oldest club in the British Basketball League (BBL). Riders compete in the Super League Basketball (SLB). Established in 1967, the club have played in various locations around L ...

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 ...

, whilst regularly hosting

darts Darts is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small projectile point, sharp-pointed projectile, projectiles known as dart (missile), darts at a round shooting target, target known as a #Dartboard, dartboard. Point ...

and

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular Billiard table#Snooker and English billiards tables, billiards table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six Billiard table#Pockets 2, pockets: one at each corner and ...

competitions. From 2018 to 2024, the arena was known as Morningside Arena.

Background

The £4.8 million arena, which is owned by the Leicester Riders Foundation, was officially opened in January 2016. It is used as the home venue for the basketball team Leicester Riders, as well as the wheelchair basketball team the Leicester Cobras. It is also used by the students of

Leicester College Leicester College is a further education college in Leicester, England. It is one of the largest colleges in the UK, with more than 26,000 students, 1,600 staff, plus an annual budget of over £50million. It has three main campuses in the ci ...

as well as by the local community. It hosted its first game on 30 January 2016, in a quarter-final match between Leicester Riders and

Surrey Scorchers The Surrey Scorchers were an English professional basketball team based in Guildford, Surrey, that competed in the British Basketball League. The team was established in 2005 as the Guildford Heat by fans of former British Basketball League te ...

in the British Basketball League Trophy, won by the Riders 77–60. In 2018 Morningside Pharmaceuticals agreed to take the naming rights of the venue for three years, rebranding the arena as Morningside Arena. The venue hosted the

2019 Champions League of Darts The 2019 Cazoo Champions League of Darts was the 4th annual staging of the Champions League of Darts, organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. It took place from 19–20 October 2019 at the Leicester Arena, Leicester. The defending champi ...

and the 2021 British Open in

. On 9 February 2024, the arena was rebranded as Mattioli Arena following a naming agreement with the Ian & Clare Mattioli Charitable Trust.

International basketball matches

Other major sports events

References

External links

* Basketball venues in England Indoor arenas in England Sports venues in Leicester Leicester Riders Sports venues completed in 2016 2016 establishments in England {{England-sports-venue-stub