Roy Wilkins Auditorium (nicknamed The Roy) is a 5,000-seat 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 St. Paul,

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. Designed by the renowned municipal architect Clarence W. Wigington, it was built in 1932 as an arena extension to the existing ''St. Paul Auditorium'' (built 1906–1907). When the old auditorium wing was demolished in 1982, Wigington's arena wing remained. It was renamed for Roy Wilkins in 1985. It is part of the RiverCentre complex, down the hall from the Xcel Energy Center, home 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 ...

Minnesota Wild The Minnesota Wild are a professional ice hockey team based in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Wild compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Confer ...

Events

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 ...

's Golden Gophers ice hockey team used the arena as one of its home rinks from 1932 until 1950. The Minneapolis Lakers used the Auditorium when their regular home, the Minneapolis Auditorium, was not available. The Minnesota State Boys' High School Hockey Tournament was held at the Auditorium from 1945 to 1968. It was home to the Minnesota Fighting Saints ice hockey team of the

World Hockey Association The World Hockey Association () was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972–73 WHA season, 1972 to 1978–79 WHA season, 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (N ...

(WHA) in fall 1972, before the team moved to the St. Paul Civic Center. The St. Paul Slam of the International Basketball Association played at Wilkins for two seasons, 1996–97 and 1997–98. The Minnesota Ripknees also played at the auditorium for their 2007–08 season. On October 1, 2000 it hosted ECW's

pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast service that enables a viewer to pay to watch individual events via private telecast. Events can be purchased through a multichannel television platform using their electronic program ...

Anarchy Rulz. On March 26, 2025,

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It is owned and operated by Shahid Khan, Shahid and Tony Khan, with the latter serving as President (corporate title), president an ...

held a live episode of their weekly show

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

at the arena. Since 2005, Roy Wilkins Auditorium has hosted games for the Minnesota Roller Derby league, one of the founding members of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). The WFTDA held the 2015 WFTDA Championships at Roy Wilkins Auditorium November 6–8, 2015.

References

External links

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Minnesota Roller Derby

{{Authority control 1932 establishments in Minnesota Clarence W. Wigington buildings Ice hockey venues in Saint Paul, Minnesota Minnesota Fighting Saints Sports venues in Saint Paul, Minnesota World Hockey Association venues Sports venues completed in 1932 Defunct college ice hockey venues in the United States