Nottingham Arena

History

Background

The arena is part of the National Ice Centre which was constructed on the site of the former Nottingham Ice Stadium. The ice stadium opened in 1939 and was showing its age, so, in September 1995, plans were announced to replace the Ice Stadium. Plans for the new ice rink, supported by the British Olympic Association, were unveiled in October 1996.

Construction

Several buildings were demolished to make way for the new ice centre; this included an Art Deco warehouse and "The Old Cricket Players" pub, which was initially spared but closed a few years later and replaced with apartments. The former Ice Stadium closed in March 2000, and by May 2000 was described as "nearly demolished", with four skip loads of demolition rubble being removed from the site every day.

During excavation for the new building in July 1998 a rare 1,100-year-old Saxon jug was found, which is on display at the Nottingham Castle Museum. A 19th-century graveyard was also found under the car park, from which the bodies were then exhumed.

Opening

On 1 April 2000, the National Ice Centre was officially opened by Olympic gold medalist Jayne Torvill. The second phase of the project — the family rink — was scheduled to be completed by May–June 2001, but opened early on 7 April 2001. The National Ice Centre was the first twin Olympic-sized ice rink in the United Kingdom. The final cost of the project was £43 million. The arena was inaugurated by English band, Simply Red on 29 April 2000.

By 2002, the arena was not as popular as planned. The venue posted an operating loss of £1 million in its first year. Concert promoters would often have acts skip Nottingham in favour of Sheffield and Birmingham. The Queen visited the National Ice Centre and adjoined arena on 31 July 2002.

In 2007, former radio station Trent FM purchased naming rights for four years, becoming the Trent FM Arena Nottingham. When Trent FM was bought by Global Radio, the naming rights were assigned to Capital FM, and the arena now became known as Capital FM Arena Nottingham. In 2011, the arena installed a draping system, reducing the capacity to 4,000 for intimate shows. The arena's overall capacity was also expanded from 9,000 to 10,000.

Despite the average event ticket price rising almost £5 from the year before (to £37.22), in the 2012–13 season the arena made a £200,000 "operating deficit", with a 9% drop in attendance at the arena, and a 6% fall in the number of events held.

Events

The Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team plays their home games at the Arena.

Little Mix hold the record for the largest concert at the arena, with an audience of 15,685. Westlife has performed the most at the arena, with 22 shows between 2001 and 2019. As of 2014 the arena has hosted artists and events including Beyoncé, Kylie Minogue, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Katy Perry, Elton John, Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa, The 1975, One Direction, The X Factor Tour, Strictly Come Dancing Live! and We Will Rock You: 10th Anniversary Tour, as well as conferences, galas and balls, including Nottingham Trent University’s Graduation Ball. On 17 November 2012, the arena hosted the fight between Nottingham boxer Carl Froch and Yusaf Mack, with Froch retaining his IBF super-middleweight world title.

The Arena was the site of the 2023 IIHF World Championship Division I Group A ice hockey tournament. Nottingham saw Great Britain win all 5 round-robin games to be promoted back into the top division.

References

References

1. (27 April 2001). "National Ice Centre, Nottingham".
2. (11 May 2000). "National Ice Centre".
3. "Disney on Ice celebrates 100 Years of Magic at the Motorpoint Arena Nottingham".
4. Brunton, John. (29 March 2000). "Centre Stage: Torvill to open ice complex". Nottingham Evening Post.
5. Brunton, John. (15 May 2000). "It's gone but not forgotten". Nottingham Evening Post.
6. Catlow, Claire. (2 May 2018). "How Nottingham's £43m ice stadium took shape – 20 years ago".
7. Brunton, John. (28 March 2000). "PROMOTERS HOPE TO ATTRACT A GALAXY OF TOP STAR NAMES TO PULL IN THE CROWDS AT THE CITY'S NEW ICE STADIUM". Nottingham Evening Post.
8. "About the NIC".
9. Brunton, John. (30 March 2000). "The heat is on at centre". Nottingham Evening Post.
10. (26 March 2010). "Nottingham's Arena turns ten years old". Local World.
11. "Venue Information: Capital FM Arena Nottingham". The Gig Cartel.
12. Sillis, Ben. (11 April 2008). "Trent FM arena sponsorship deal". [[Haymarket Media Group]].
13. (24 December 2010). "Arena to get new name as part of radio station launch". [[Local World]].
14. "National Ice Centre & Capital FM Arena Nottingham Annual Review 2012/13".
15. "The History of the Nottingham Panthers".
16. "Current Boxscore".
17. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140728080531/http://www.nottinghampost.com/Unbelievable-home-crowd-witness-Carl-Froch/story-17362249-detail/story.html "Unbelievable" home crowd witness Carl Froch masterclass at Nottingham's Capital Arena], 19 November 2012