Cardiff International Arena (formerly known as Cardiff International Arena & Convention Centre and later, for sponsorship reasons, Motorpoint Arena Cardiff) is an indoor

exhibition centre A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typical ...

and events arena located in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...

, Wales, and was opened on 10 September 1993 by singer

Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalist ...

. It is Cardiff's largest purpose-built exhibition facility and its former name was due to a sponsorship agreement from 2011 to 2022. The upstairs of the building is known as the World Trade Centre. The arena contains a number of function areas, the largest being the main arena which has hosted many national and international events, such as concerts, sports and comedy performances.

History

The arena was opened on 10 September 1993, by

, in front of 5,500 fans. The concert was later televised on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's Flagship (broadcasting), flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News ...

on 30 July 1994. On 1 March 2011, the Cardiff International Arena was renamed Motorpoint Arena Cardiff, for sponsorship reasons, after the car sales company entered into an agreement regarding the naming rights to the Arena for five years in what was called "a seven-figure investment". Other names who have performed in the arena are among

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporari ...

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, JLS,

Jason Derulo Jason Joel Desrouleaux (born September 21, 1989), known professionally as Jason Derulo (; formerly stylized as Derülo), is an American singer and songwriter.

and

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. The arena is owned by the US media giant

Live Nation UK Live Nation UK is the United Kingdom subsidiary of Live Nation Entertainment. They are best known for promoting concerts, operating venues and running festivals. As Clear Channel UK, Live Nation UK acquired the Mean Fiddler organisation and own ...

. In March 2015, the venue's 3000th event was marked by a show headlined by singer

Katherine Jenkins Katherine Maria Jenkins (born 29 June 1980) is a Welsh singer. She is a mezzo-soprano and performs operatic arias, popular songs, musical theatre, and hymns.Lee Evans has brought four tours XL Tour, Big, Roadrunner and Monsters to the arena, Evans played his last show before retiring from stand-up at the arena from 24 to 30 November 2014.

Music

The venue has hosted a number of concerts since it opened, with artists such as Sigrid,

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, Dio,

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, Gabrielle,

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, John Newman,

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, The Prodigy,

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, Panic! at the Disco,

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and local favourites

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and the

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taking to the stage.

Sport

In 1999, the Cardiff International Arena hosted the (

Nine-ball Nine-ball (sometimes written 9-ball) is a discipline of the cue sport pool. The game's origins are traceable to the 1920s in the United States. It is played on a rectangular billiard table with at each of the four corners and in the middle of ...

) World Professional Pool Championship. The official WPA World Nine-ball Championship was hosted at the Cardiff International Arena between 2000 and 2003. Since 2007, the arena has been one of the Premier League Darts venues, including the semi-finals and finals night of the 2008 Premier League Darts on 26 May 2008. The

PDC PDC may refer to: In science and technology Chemistry, biology and medicine * Phosducin, a human protein and gene in the retina * Pyridinium dichromate (Cornforth reagent), a chromium-based oxidant * Pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, an enzyme ...

Champions League of Darts The Champions League of Darts, also known as the Paddy Power Champions League of Darts for sponsorship purposes, was an annual non-ranking darts tournament organised by the Professional Darts Corporation. Featuring just the top eight players in th ...

was held in the arena in 2016 and 2017. Between 2016 and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

the arena hosted the

. In February 2015, the Welsh Open

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in Ind ...

championship was transferred from the Newport Centre (where it had taken place since 2005) to the arena. In

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

the event transferred to back to Newport at the Celtic Manor Resort.

Professional wrestling

In 2019, WWE's

NXT UK ''NXT UK'' is a professional wrestling television programme that was produced exclusively in the United Kingdom by the American promotion WWE. It aired on BT Sport and 5Action (previously known as Paramount Network). In the United States, the s ...

brand announced the venue would host the second ever TakeOver event for the brand, NXT UK TakeOver: Cardiff. This took place on 31 August 2019 and was the first TakeOver to take place in Wales.

Images of the Cardiff International Arena

Image:CIA Cardiff Wales 001.jpg, The main entrance to the Cardiff International Arena in 2007 File:Motorpoint Arena, Cardiff-4849075 d06dc4df.jpg, Southern end of the Motorpoint Arena, renamed back to the Cardiff International Arena File:Motorpoint Arena Cardiff (2017).JPG, The western end of the arena File:Inside Cardiff International Arena (2022).jpg, Inside the Cardiff International Arena in October 2022

References

External links

*
Cardiff International Arena
{{Authority control Sports venues in Cardiff Indoor arenas in Wales Music venues in Cardiff Darts venues Event venues established in 1993 Snooker venues Exhibition and conference centres in Wales