Vida Arena (branded as VIDA Arena) is a multi-purpose 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

Växjö Växjö () is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 71,282 inhabitants (2020) out of a Municipalities of Sweden, municipal population of 97,349 (2024). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial ce ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The arena opened in September 2011 and is best known as the home arena for the

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team

Växjö Lakers The Växjö Lakers Hockey Club (often referred to as the Växjö Lakers or VLH) are a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Växjö in Sweden. The club plays at the Vida Arena and plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), ...

. It seats 5,750 spectators.

Construction

The construction of Vida Arena began in September 2010 and was finished in summer 2011, in time for the

' debut season in the Elitserien (now named the SHL), the top-tier ice hockey league in Sweden. Although mainly intended to be used for

, Vida Arena is also used for other events such as

concert A concert, often known informally as a gig or show, is a live performance of music in front of an audience. The performance may be carried by a single musician, in which case it is sometimes called a recital, or by a musical ensemble such as an ...

s and

news conference A press conference, also called news conference or press briefing, is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalism, journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicia ...

s. The arena is named after the Vida Group, the company that acquired the

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 ...

for Vida Arena in September 2010, for the upcoming 14 seasons (expiring after the 2023–24 season).

Spectator capacity

As of the 2019–20 season, Vida Arena is the SHL's newest arena and has a spectator capacity of 5,750, making it the SHL's capacity-wise fourth-smallest arena. For the entire 2011–12 season, the arena had a capacity of 5,329 spectators. Plans were announced to extend the capacity to at least 6,000. Prior to the beginning of the 2012–13 season, the capacity was increased to 5,800 spectators. In October 2012, however, the capacity was slightly reduced to 5,700 due to concerns from spectators. Level 4 was mainly affected.

Inauguration

The arena was officially inaugurated on 17 September 2011, in an ice hockey game between Växjö Lakers and

Linköpings HC Linköpings may refer to: *Linköpings ASS, Linköpings Allmänna Simsällskap is a Swedish swim team *Linköpings FC, an association football club *Linköpings FF, premier men's football team *Linköpings HC, Linköpings Hockey Club See also< ...

. The arena tickets for the game were outsold within just one hour, with the Lakers'

marketing manager Marketing management is the strategic organizational discipline that focuses on the practical application of marketing orientation, techniques and methods inside enterprises and organizations and on the management of marketing resources and a ...

speculating that they could have sold out two arenas. Former Växjö Lakers crowd favorite Shjon Podein watched the game live in the arena. Linköping won the game 4–2 in front of 5,502 spectators. However, the Lakers' premier game on 13 September, on away ice against

Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where th ...

, was shown on the Vida Arena's

Jumbotron A jumbotron, sometimes referred to as jumbovision, is a video display using large-screen television technology (video wall). The original technology was developed in the early 1980s by Mitsubishi Electric and Sony, which coined JumboTron as a ...

in front of 2,400 spectators, with free entrance, as a preview of the Vida Arena experience and a test of the arena's technical features. Frölunda won the game 2–0.

Arenastaden

Vida Arena is part of the

sports complex A sports complex is a group of sports facilities. For example, there are track and field stadiums, football stadiums, baseball stadiums, swimming pools, Olympic Parks, and indoor arenas. Asia * Azadi Sport Complex * Cebu City Sports Com ...

'' Arenastaden'' ("the Arena city"), which also includes a new football stadium, a

floorball Floorball (also known by other names) is a sport played with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. It is played indoors with sticks and a hollow plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three periods. The sport of bandy also playe ...

arena, and an arena for

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

. Vida Arena is connected with Växjö Ishall, an old arena inaugurated in 1970 which, since a

renovation Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, o ...

which took place in 2006, has a capacity of 4,000 spectators.

Other events

Vida Arena hosted the first semifinal of

Melodifestivalen 2012 Melodifestivalen 2012 is a Swedish song contest that was held between 4 February and 10 March 2012. It selected the fifty-second Swedish entry to be internationally represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 (ESC 2012). As in the editions ...

on 4 February 2012. This was the third time that

hosted a

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; ) is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged almo ...

stage, after

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

(both times in Tipshallen). The venue also hosted the third heat of

Melodifestivalen 2024 2024 was the 64th edition of the Swedish music competition , which was organised by (SVT) and took place over a six-week period between 3 February and 9 March 2024, hosted by Carina Berg. The winners of the competition, Marcus & Martinus wi ...

Sans Cash

Vida Arena is the first cashless arena in Sweden.

Panorama image

References

External links

Official website for Vida Arena
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vida Arena Indoor arenas in Sweden Ice hockey venues in Sweden Sports venues completed in 2011 Växjö Lakers Sports venues in Växjö 2011 establishments in Sweden 21st-century establishments in Kronoberg County