Quicken Loans Arena (also referred to as
"The Q") is a multipurpose
arenaAn arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
in
downtownDowntown Cleveland is the central business district of the City of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. Reinvestment in the area in the mid-1990s spurred a rebirth that continues to this day, with over $2 billion in capital projects slated to involve the downtown area over the next few years...
Cleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border...
, United States. Until August 2005, it was known as
Gund Arena, named for
Gordon GundGordon Gund is the former principal owner of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, a co-owner of the San Jose Sharks NHL team, and remains the CEO of Gund Investment Corporation and a minority owner of the Cavaliers....
, a former owner of the Cavaliers, after he paid for the
naming rightsNaming rights are the right to name a piece of property, either tangible property or an event, usually granted in exchange for financial considerations. Institutions like schools, places of worship and hospitals have a tradition of granting donors the right to name facilities in exchange for...
. It is home to the
Cleveland CavaliersThe Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They began playing in the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team and won their first Eastern Conference Championship in 2007.-1970–1980: Expansion and early hope:The Cavaliers first...
of the
NBAThe National Basketball Association is a professional basketball league, composed of thirty teams in North America . It is an active member of USA Basketball , which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body for basketball in the United States...
and the
Lake Erie MonstersThe Lake Erie Monsters are an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They began play in the 2007–08 AHL season at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The team is the minor league affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL.-History:...
of the
AHLThe American Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League . 28 of the 30 NHL teams have exclusive affiliation agreements with one of the AHL's 29 active clubs...
. It was previously home of the now-defunct
Cleveland LumberjacksThe Cleveland Lumberjacks were an International Hockey League team based in Cleveland, Ohio.-Facts:The Cleveland Lumberjacks were an International Hockey League team based in Cleveland, Ohio.-Facts:...
of the IHL, the
Cleveland BaronsThe Cleveland Barons were a professional hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Cleveland, Ohio, USA at the Gund Arena between 2001 and 2006....
of the AHL, the Cleveland Gladiators of the
AFLThe Arena Football League was founded in 1987 as an indoor American football by Jim Foster. It was played indoors on a smaller field than American football, resulting in a faster-paced and higher-scoring game...
, and the
Cleveland RockersThis article is about the defunct WNBA team; for the American Basketball Association team, see Cleveland Rockers .The Cleveland Rockers were a Women's National Basketball Association team that played from 1997 until 2003. The Rockers were one of the original eight franchises of the WNBA, which...
of the
WNBAThe Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of thirteen teams. The league was founded in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the NBA...
.
Quicken Loans Arena (also referred to as
"The Q") is a multipurpose
arenaAn arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
in
downtownDowntown Cleveland is the central business district of the City of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio. Reinvestment in the area in the mid-1990s spurred a rebirth that continues to this day, with over $2 billion in capital projects slated to involve the downtown area over the next few years...
Cleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border...
, United States. Until August 2005, it was known as
Gund Arena, named for
Gordon GundGordon Gund is the former principal owner of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, a co-owner of the San Jose Sharks NHL team, and remains the CEO of Gund Investment Corporation and a minority owner of the Cavaliers....
, a former owner of the Cavaliers, after he paid for the
naming rightsNaming rights are the right to name a piece of property, either tangible property or an event, usually granted in exchange for financial considerations. Institutions like schools, places of worship and hospitals have a tradition of granting donors the right to name facilities in exchange for...
. It is home to the
Cleveland CavaliersThe Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They began playing in the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team and won their first Eastern Conference Championship in 2007.-1970–1980: Expansion and early hope:The Cavaliers first...
of the
NBAThe National Basketball Association is a professional basketball league, composed of thirty teams in North America . It is an active member of USA Basketball , which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body for basketball in the United States...
and the
Lake Erie MonstersThe Lake Erie Monsters are an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They began play in the 2007–08 AHL season at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The team is the minor league affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL.-History:...
of the
AHLThe American Hockey League is a professional ice hockey league in North America that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League . 28 of the 30 NHL teams have exclusive affiliation agreements with one of the AHL's 29 active clubs...
. It was previously home of the now-defunct
Cleveland LumberjacksThe Cleveland Lumberjacks were an International Hockey League team based in Cleveland, Ohio.-Facts:The Cleveland Lumberjacks were an International Hockey League team based in Cleveland, Ohio.-Facts:...
of the IHL, the
Cleveland BaronsThe Cleveland Barons were a professional hockey team in the American Hockey League. They played in Cleveland, Ohio, USA at the Gund Arena between 2001 and 2006....
of the AHL, the Cleveland Gladiators of the
AFLThe Arena Football League was founded in 1987 as an indoor American football by Jim Foster. It was played indoors on a smaller field than American football, resulting in a faster-paced and higher-scoring game...
, and the
Cleveland RockersThis article is about the defunct WNBA team; for the American Basketball Association team, see Cleveland Rockers .The Cleveland Rockers were a Women's National Basketball Association team that played from 1997 until 2003. The Rockers were one of the original eight franchises of the WNBA, which...
of the
WNBAThe Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of thirteen teams. The league was founded in 1996 as the women's counterpart to the NBA...
. The arena was opened with a concert by
Billy JoelBilly Joel is an American rock musician, singer-songwriter, and classical composer. Since releasing his first hit song, "Piano Man", in 1973, Joel has become the sixth best-selling recording artist in the United States, according to the RIAA....
on October 17, 1994; the Cavaliers played the first game in the arena a few weeks later. It is owned by the Gateway Economic Development Corporation, which leases it to the Cavaliers.
On May 16, 2006, the then-inactive
Utah GrizzliesThe Utah Grizzlies are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play out of West Valley City, Utah, United States, with their home games at the E Center.- Franchise history :...
franchise of the AHL announced that it would move to the Quicken Loans Arena. On January 25, 2007, the team name was announced as the
Lake Erie MonstersThe Lake Erie Monsters are an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. They began play in the 2007–08 AHL season at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The team is the minor league affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL.-History:...
. It began play in the 2007-2008 season.
On October 16, 2007, the Las Vegas Gladiators of the Arena Football League announced that they would move to Quicken Loans Arena.
The arena replaced the
Coliseum at RichfieldThe Coliseum at Richfield was an arena located in Richfield Township in Summit County, Ohio, roughly halfway between Cleveland and Akron...
, which was located south of Cleveland near
AkronAkron is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. In 2008, its population was estimated to be 207,510. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the Cuyahoga River between Cleveland to the north and Canton to the south, approximately 60 miles west of...
. Part of the
Gateway ProjectThe Gateway Sports and Entertainment Complex, located in Cleveland, Ohio, consists of Progressive Field , which houses the Cleveland Indians MLB baseball team, and Quicken Loans Arena , home to the Cleveland Cavaliers NBA basketball team...
to revitalize downtown Cleveland, the arena and neighboring Progressive Field were paid for with a
sin taxA sin tax is a kind of sumptuary tax: a tax specifically levied on certain generally socially proscribed goods, usually alcohol and tobacco.-Summary:...
on
alcoholIn chemistry, an alcohol is any organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group. An important group of acohols is formed by the simple acyclic alcohols, the general formula for which is C
nH
2n+1OH...
and
tobaccoTobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as an organic pesticide, and in the form of nicotine tartrate it is used in some medicines. In consumption it most commonly appears in the forms of smoking, chewing, snuffing, or...
. In 2005, Cavaliers majority owner Dan Gilbert (owner of
Quicken LoansQuicken Loans Inc. consists of the QuickenLoans.com online lending site, the Rock Financial brand in southeast Michigan, One Reverse Mortgage, based in San Diego, California, and Title Source, a mortgage settlement service provider...
) renovated the arena, installing new seats, state of the art
scoreboardA scoreboard is a large board for publicly displaying the score in a game or match. Most levels of sport from high school and above use at least one scoreboard for keeping score, measuring time, and displaying statistics. Scoreboards in the past used a mechanical clock and numeral cards to...
s, video systems, sound systems, arena graphics, signage, security, locker rooms, and suite upgrades, all of which were in place for the start of the Cavaliers
2005-2006 seasonThe 2005–06 NBA season was the 60th season of the National Basketball Association. It began on November 1, 2005 and ran through April 19, 2006...
, except for the seats, which were replaced a few sections at a time.
"The Q" seats 20,562 for basketball, including 2,000 in the club seats, and 92 luxury suites. In addition to its professional sports tenants, "The Q" has been home to the
Mid-American ConferenceThe Mid-American Conference is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from New York to Illinois. Nine of the twelve full member schools are in Ohio and Michigan, with single members located...
's men's basketball tournament since 2000 and the MAC women's basketball tournament since 2001. "MAC Madness", as it is known, has become a strong draw for the arena. The men's semifinal and championship games routinely draw 10,000-15,000 attendees.
Additionally, the arena was the site of
WWFWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is a publicly-traded, privately-controlled integrated media and sports entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
SummerSlam 1996SummerSlam was the ninth annual SummerSlam professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation . It took place on August 18 1996 at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.-Event:...
, the 2000 US Figure Skating Championships, WWF No Mercy 1999,
WWF InvasionInvasion was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by the World Wrestling Federation . It took place on July 22, 2001 at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio....
,
Survivor Series 2004Survivor Series was the eighteenth annual Survivor Series professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment...
, several episodes of
RawWWE Raw is a professional wrestling television program for World Wrestling Entertainment that currently airs on the USA Network in the United States. The show's name, which is sometimes stylized as RAW, is also used to refer to the Raw brand, in which WWE employees are assigned to work and perform...
,
Friday Night SmackDown!, and
ECW on Sci Fi. It also hosted
WWE Unforgiven (2008)Unforgiven was an annual professional wrestling pay-per-view event produced by World Wrestling Entertainment, which had been held in September since the 1999 edition. It originally started out as a In Your House pay-per-view event in April and featured the infamous Inferno match between The...
. Major national events held at the facility include the
1997 NBA All-Star GameThe 1997 NBA All-Star Game was the 47th edition of the All-Star Game. The game was played on February 9, 1997, at Gund Arena in Cleveland. The winner of the MVP Award was Glen Rice of the Charlotte Hornets who played 25 minutes and scored 26 points and was booed loudly when he received the award as...
, the
2007 NCAA Women's Final FourThe 2007 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament began on March 17, 2007 and concluded on April 3 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. The Final Four consisted of Tennessee, LSU, Rutgers, and North Carolina, with Tennessee defeating Rutgers 59-46 for their seventh National Title...
, and the United States Figure Skating Championships 2009. It hosted games 3 and 4 of the
2007 NBA FinalsThe 2007 NBA Finals was the championship series of the 2006-07 National Basketball Association season, and was the conclusion of the 2007 NBA Playoffs. The best-of-seven series was played between the Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs and the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland...
.
On October 29, 2008,
LeBron JamesLeBron Raymone James is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association . Nicknamed "King James," he was a three-time "Mr. Basketball" of Ohio in high school, and was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA superstar...
gathered almost 20,000 people at the arena for a viewing of Democratic presidential nominee
Barack ObamaBarack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office, as well as the first president born in Hawaii...
's 30-minute
American Stories, American Solutions television advertisement. It was shown on a large screen above the stage, where
Jay-ZShawn Corey Carter , better known by his stage name, Jay-Z is an American hip hop artist and businessman. He is one of the most financially successful hip hop artists and entrepreneurs in America, having a net worth of over $150 million, shipping over 30 million copies of his albums in the United...
later held a free concert.
In October 2009, the
Cleveland CavaliersThe Cleveland Cavaliers are a professional basketball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They began playing in the National Basketball Association in 1970 as an expansion team and won their first Eastern Conference Championship in 2007.-1970–1980: Expansion and early hope:The Cavaliers first...
announced that Award-winning and
Iron Chefis a Japanese television cooking show produced by FujiTV. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, was a stylized cooking competition featuring accomplished guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle built around a specific theme ingredient....
Michael SymonMichael Symon is a James Beard Foundation Award-winning chef, an Iron Chef, restaurateur, and author....
will contribute menu items to be prepared by
foodserviceThe foodservice industry encompasses those places, institutions, and companies responsible for any meal prepared outside the home...
firm
AramarkAramark Limited, known commonly as Aramark, is an American food, facilities, and clothing provider, supplying businesses, courts, educational institutions, health care providers, and armed forces. It is headquartered in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Aramark is the 19th largest employer on...
at the Q. Two existing restaurants will be renamed after Symon's bar-bistros,
Bar Symon and
The B-Spot, as well as making some of his signature dishes available as suite
cateringCatering is the business of providing foodservice at a remote site.-Mobile catering:A mobile caterer serves food directly from a vehicle or cart that is designed for the purpose. Mobile catering is common at outdoor events , workplaces, and downtown business districts.-Event catering:Event ranges...
offerings.
External links