Manchester Evening News MEN Arena Tickets

Details of Manchester Evening News MEN Arena and the Ticket Luck value

Manchester Evening News MEN Arena
The Manchester Evening News Arena or M.E.N. Arena is a large indoor arena in Manchester, England. The M.E.N Arena has a capacity of 3,000,21,000 and is currently sponsored by the Manchester Evening News.

It was opened in 1995, named as NYNEX arena and was sponsored by NYNEX. The Manchester Evening News Men Arena is Europe's largest indoor arena and concert venue. It was built to coincide with Manchester's two bids to host the Olympic games in 1996 and 2000.

The Manchester Evening News Men Arena was one of the first indoor venues in Europe to be built following the traditionally American arena layout of 360 degree seating. Its seating capacity is one of Europe's most flexible for an indoor venue.

The seating is split into an upper tier and a lower tier, separated by 35 hospitality suites. The Arena took its current name in 1998 after the merger of NYNEX with Mercury Communications in 1997.

Manchester Evening News Arena is often chosen by touring acts because its design and layout makes the venue ideal for an array of performances.

The Manchester Evening News arena was constructed as part of Manchester's unsuccessful bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics Games and cost 52 million British Pound.

DLA Ellerbe Beckett, Ove Group, and Austin-Smith: Lord- designed Arena opened on 15 July 1995. The M.E.N. Arena has attracted a huge number of customers since opening its doors in 1995.

On the opening night, 15,000 spectators watched Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean game. The crowd was a record for an ice event. Attendance records were set in 1997 when 17,425 people watched Manchester Storm play Sheffield Steelers. When 14,151 people watched Manchester Giants play London Leopards, it set a new British record.

The M.E.N Arena attracts over a million customers each year for concerts and family shows alone, making the venue one of the world's busiest indoor arenas. The Arena was named 'International Venue Of The Year' in 2001 by concert industry insiders in the 'Pollstar' awards.

Based on ticket sales for concerts in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, it was also named 'Busiest Arena Venue In The World'.

In the first quarter of 2008 London's O2 Arena has surpassed the Manchester venue in terms of ticket sales for concerts. The Spice Girls played 17 consecutive nights at the London venue attracting more than 250,000 concert attendees.

The Manchester Evening News Arena has been the home of three sports teams: the Manchester Storm and Manchester Phoenix ice hockey teams, and the Manchester Giants basketball team.The arena is also regularly used for one-off sports events such as boxing and football masters.

Boxers such as Ricky Hatton, Joe Calzaghe, Mike Tyson, Jeff Lacy, Kostya Tszyu and other world champions have fought in the MEN Arena. Hatton became a regular and favorite of the M.E.N. Arena until his split with Frank Warren.

Despite its success, the venue is criticized by some locals and hence seen by some as a soulless concrete bowl, with heavily overpriced merchandise, food and drink.

WWE has played host to multiple events at the Arena over the years. It first hosted WWF Mayhem in Manchester in 1998 attracting over 19,600 people. The arena also hosted WWE No Mercy in 1999 and in 2002, it hosted the SmackDown! The site hosted the mixed martial arts event UFC 70 in 2007.

The World Taekwondo Qualification Event for the Beijing Olympic Games was held at the Arena that same year. Most recently, the 2008 UEFA Champions League Final was shown in the arena on a big screen in front of 7000 spectators.