St. Pete Times Forum

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<tr><td>Broke ground</td><td>1995</td></tr>

St. Pete Times Forum <tr><td colspan="2" style="text-align: center;">Image:Stptflogo.jpg </td></tr>
Location	401 Channelside Drive Tampa, Florida 33602
Opened	October 20, 1996
Owner	William Davidson <tr><td>Operator</td><td>Palace Sports and Entertainment</td></tr><tr><td>Construction cost</td><td>$139 million</td></tr><tr><td>Architect</td><td>Ellerbe Becket</td></tr><tr><th style="background: #efefef;" colspan="2">Former names</th></tr><tr><td colspan="2">Ice Palace</td></tr>
Tenants
Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL) (1996-present) Tampa Bay Storm (AFL) (1996-present)
Seats
Hockey: 19,758 Basketball: 20,500 Concert: 21,500

The St. Pete Times Forum is an arena in Tampa, Florida that is used for hockey games, basketball games, arena football games, and concerts.

The St. Pete Times Forum is currently home to the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning and the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League.

[edit] History

The St. Pete Times Forum opened in 1996 as the Ice Palace. The arena was built as a new home for the Lightning to replace Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, which was then known as the Thunderdome. Upon the completion of the Ice Palace, both the Lightning and the Tampa Bay Storm, also a tenant of the Thunderdome, moved in and have made it their home since then.

Image:Dsc00701.jpg

The venue, located in Downtown Tampa's Channel District was a secondary location chosen after the failure of Tampa Coliseum Inc. to secure funding to construct an arena on Tampa Sports Authority land near Tampa Stadium.

The St. Pete Times Forum officially opened on October 20, 1996, as the Lightning hosted the New York Rangers. The Lightning were victorious in the game by a score of 5-2.

Control of the venue has changed hands three times since the building's opening in 1996. The lease agreement ties the arena to the ownership of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Currently Palace Sports and Entertainment (owned by billionaire William Davidson) operate the venue, and have held control since summer 1999 when Davidson purchased the Lightning from then-owner Art Williams.

Naming rights to the Ice Palace were sold to the St. Petersburg Times, a daily newspaper which circulates throughout the Tampa Bay area. Other entertainment events occasionally held in the Forum include concerts, NBA exhibition games, USF Basketball and NCAA Tournament games, tennis, professional wrestling, boxing, figure skating, and rodeos.

Image:St Pete Times Forum At Sunset.jpg

The building played host to the 1999 NHL All-Star Game, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) Survivor Series 2000, and first and second round games of the 2003 NCAA men's basketball tournament. The Forum also played host to 4 of the 7 games during the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, as the Lightning defeated the Calgary Flames 4 games to 3 to win their first Stanley Cup.

In 2012, the St. Pete Times Forum will play host to the NCAA Hockey Frozen Four championship finals; this will be the first time the "Frozen Four" will be held outside the northern US since 1999, when the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage, held the event. The Frozen Four will be hosted by the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the nearest collegiate hockey team to Florida.

Among the events scheduled to be played at the St. Pete Times Forum in the future are:

2007 ACC Men's Basketball Tournament
First and second round games of the 2008 NCAA men's basketball tournament
2008 NCAA Women's Basketball Final Four
2009 Southeastern Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
2012 NCAA Hockey Frozen Four

[edit] External links

St. Pete Times Forum - official site.

Preceded by: ThunderDome 1993–1996	Home of the Tampa Bay Lightning 1996–present	Succeeded by: current

Coordinates: 27°56′34″N, 82°27′7″W

Eastern Conference		Western Conference
Current arenas in the National Hockey League
Air Canada Centre \| BankAtlantic Center \| Bell Centre \| Continental Airlines Arena \| HSBC Arena \| Madison Square Garden \| Mellon Arena \| Nassau Coliseum \| Philips Arena \| RBC Center \| St. Pete Times Forum \| Scotiabank Place \| TD Banknorth Garden \| Verizon Center \| Wachovia Center		American Airlines Center \| Gaylord Entertainment Center \| GM Place \| HP Pavilion \| Honda Center \| Jobing.com Arena \| Joe Louis Arena \| Nationwide Arena \| Pengrowth Saddledome \| Pepsi Center \| Rexall Place \| Scottrade Center \| Staples Center \| United Center \| Xcel Energy Center

American Conference		National Conference
Current arenas in the Arena Football League
Allstate Arena \| EnergySolutions Arena \| Gaylord Entertainment Center \| HP Pavilion \| Pepsi Center \| Staples Center \| Thomas & Mack Center \| US Airways Center \| Van Andel Arena		American Airlines Center \| Frank Erwin Center \| Kemper Arena \| Nassau Coliseum \| Nationwide Arena \| Philips Arena \| St. Pete Times Forum \| The Arena in Orlando \| Wachovia Center¹ \| Wachovia Spectrum²
¹The Philadelphia Soul play Sunday home games only at the Wachovia Center. ²The Philadelphia Soul play Saturday home games only at the Wachovia Spectrum.