Gila River Arena
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| Former names | Glendale Arena (2003–2006) Jobing.com Arena (2006–2014) |
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| Address | 9400 West Maryland Avenue |
| Location | Glendale, Arizona |
| Coordinates | 33°31′55″N 112°15′40″W / 33.53194°N 112.26111°WCoordinates: 33°31′55″N 112°15′40″W / 33.53194°N 112.26111°W |
| Owner | City of Glendale |
| Operator | AEG Facilities |
| Capacity |
Hockey: 17,125 Max: 19,000 |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | April 3, 2002 |
| Opened | December 26, 2003 |
| Construction cost | US$220 million |
| Architect | Populous (then HOK Sport) |
| Project manager | ICON Venue Group |
| Structural engineer | John A. Martin & Associates, Inc. |
| Services engineer | Syska Hennessy Group, Inc. |
| General contractor | Perini Building Company |
| Tenants | |
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Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes (NHL) (2003–present) Arizona Sting (NLL) (2003–2007) Arizona Rattlers (AFL) (2016) |
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| Venue Website | |
Hockey: 17,125
Gila River Arena (originally Glendale Arena and formerly Jobing.com Arena) is a sports and entertainment arena in Glendale, Arizona. It is located about 12.5 miles (20.1 km) northwest of downtown Phoenix.
The Arizona Coyotes of the National Hockey League (NHL) has been the primary tenant since the building opened on December 26, 2003. It sits on the north side of West Maryland Avenue across from University of Phoenix Stadium, home of the National Football League's (NFL) Arizona Cardinals. The venue anchors the City of Glendale's Westgate Entertainment District just east of Arizona Loop 101.
The now-defunct Arizona Sting also had played four National Lacrosse League (NLL) seasons at the arena until their 13–11 loss to the Rochester Knighthawks in the 2007 Champion's Cup game. Negotiations on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement originally delayed the start of the 2008 NLL season, but the Sting did not participate. They eventually ceased operations in 2009.
Completed at a construction cost of US$220 million, it seats 17,125 for hockey and lacrosse, 18,300 for basketball and about 19,000 for concert events. The arena has 3,075 club seats and 87 luxury suites (including two Luxury Tower Suites). It also features a completely integrated video, scoring and advertising system from Daktronics.
The arena's construction broke ground on April 3, 2002 and the Coyotes moved into the arena in late 2003. Martin/Martin Consulting Engineers provided structural engineering for the arena. After relocating from Winnipeg on July 1, 1996, the team had spent its first 7½ seasons at America West Arena (now the Talking Stick Resort Arena) in downtown Phoenix. The AWA was not an old arena (it had made its debut as the new home of the NBA's Phoenix Suns only four years earlier in 1992) but it was primarily designed for NBA basketball. It was quickly retrofitted for hockey. However, the arena floor was just barely large enough to fit a regulation hockey rink, and several seats had badly obstructed views. As a result, before the team's second season in Phoenix, its hockey capacity had to be cut down from over 18,000 seats to just over 16,000—the second-smallest capacity in the NHL at the time. After the Colorado Avalanche moved from McNichols Sports Arena into Pepsi Center in 1999, and the Toronto Maple Leafs moved from the Maple Leaf Gardens to Air Canada Centre later in the same season, America West Arena was the smallest NHL venue. A small section of seats on the lower level actually hung over the boards, obstructing the views for up to 3,000 spectators.
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