KeyArena

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KeyArena at Seattle Center is located north of downtown Seattle, USA on the grounds of Seattle Center (the site of 1962's Century 21 Exposition, a World's Fair). The arena's primary tenants are the Seattle SuperSonics of the National Basketball Association. It hosted the 1974 NBA All-Star Game.

Opened in 1962 as the Seattle Center Coliseum, renovation and reconstruction began on June 16, 1994 before the building reopened on October 26, 1995. During the renovation, the building's exterior was kept intact and the interior was gutted, dropping the playing surface 22 feet to allow more seating. After the renovation, the Coliseum was renamed KeyArena, as Key Bank purchased the naming rights. The first regular season game that the Seattle SuperSonics played in KeyArena at Seattle Center took place on November 4, 1995, against the Los Angeles Lakers.

In addition to being the home of the Sonics, it is also home to the Seattle Storm of the Women's National Basketball Association and the Seattle Thunderbirds, a junior hockey team in the Western Hockey League. It is also used for non-athletic entertainment purposes, such as ice shows, circuses, and concerts.

Reconstruction cost the city of Seattle $74.5 million, and the Seattle SuperSonics approximately $20 million. KeyArena is the first publicly financed arena fully supported by earned income from the building. Its seating capacity for basketball games is 17,072, ice hockey games and ice shows 15,177, end-stage concerts, 16,641 and center-stage concerts and boxing 17,459. Risers hold 7,440 on the upper level and up to 7,741 on the lower level, with luxury suites adding another 1,160 seats.

Plans unveiled in late 2004 propose expanding KeyArena to nearly twice its current size to accommodate new restaurants, shops, and a practice court (the cost is to be approximately $180 million). Because the building and property are owned by the city of Seattle, the plan must have the full backing of the city government before the proposal can be brought before the Washington state legislature. Currently, the subject of such expansion is under hot debate.

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