Tyson Events Center

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Tyson Events Center
Tyson Events Center in 2011
Map
Former namesGateway Arena (2003-19)
Location401 Gordon Drive, Sioux City, Iowa, U.S.
Coordinates42°29′29″N 96°24′26″W / 42.49146113935062°N 96.40723400273797°W / 42.49146113935062; -96.40723400273797
OwnerCity of Sioux City
OperatorOVG360
CapacityConcerts: 10,000
Basketball: 6,813, with standing room for at least 9,500
Hockey: 6,731, with standing room for at least 9,500
Indoor football: 6,941, with standing room for at least 9,500
SurfaceMulti-surface
Construction
Broke groundApril 30, 2002[1]
OpenedDecember 17, 2003[2]
Construction cost$53 million[2]
($90.6 million in 2024 dollars[3])
ArchitectEllerbe Becket
FEH Associates
Services engineerKJWW Engineering Consultants, P.C.[4]
General contractorMortenson/Klinger[2]
Tenants
Sioux City Musketeers (USHL) (2003–present)
Sioux City Bandits (CIF/NAL) (2004–present)

Tyson Events Center is an events center located in Sioux City, Iowa. The center also includes the Fleet Farm Arena, formerly known as Gateway Arena, a multi-purpose arena. The center was announced in September 2000 and officially broke ground in April 2002. The center officially opened in December 2003. The arena has three spectator levels: one suite level and two general seating levels named the 100 level and the 200 level, respectively. Its official maximum capacity is 10,000. The center is owned by Sioux City and is operated by Spectra.

It is home to the Sioux City Musketeers of the United States Hockey League (USHL) and the Sioux City Bandits of the National Arena League (NAL). The arena also hosts many college tournaments associated with the NAIA, including the NAIA Wrestling National Tournament, NAIA Women's Volleyball National Tournament, and the Division II NAIA Women's National Basketball Tournament, which was won back-to-back in 2004 and 2005 by Sioux City's Morningside College Mustangs.

History

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In September 2000, it was announced that Sioux City would be developing an arena/event center to replace the Sioux City Municipal Auditorium.[5] Plans were later expanded in December, and the project was formally announced that same year.[6] In 2001, IBP, Inc. and its parent, Tyson Foods, purchased the naming rights for the event center.[7] Additionally the arena inside the center's naming rights were purchased by Gateway, Inc.[8] The arena officially broke ground on April 30, 2002 with construction beginning shortly after.[9] The Tyson Events Center officially opened on December 17, 2003.[10]

In 2007, Acer Inc. acquired Gateway but retained the Gateway Arena naming rights until the rights expired in June 2019.[11][12] On September 30, 2019, retail chain Fleet Farm took over as naming rights partner under an eight-year deal which would brand the arena as Fleet Farm Arena.[13] In 2018, the center, which was operated by Sioux City, went under management by Philadelphia-based venue management firm Spectra.[14] Spectra was acquired by Oak View Group in November 2021 to form OVG360 and in the process took over the arena management.[15]

Hosted events

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Wrestling

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The site has hosted World Wrestling Entertainment on numerous occasions, including a live un-televised event on September 25, 2004, followed by a televised SmackDown on May 17, 2005; and four televised Raw programs on July 10, 2006, February 5, 2007, January 12, 2009 along with an ECW taping the same night, and Raw on July 1, 2013. There was another non-televised show on August 16, 2009. It has also hosted TNA Wrestling Live on June 4, 2010. In December 2014, there was a SmackDown televised event featuring the Immortal Hulk Hogan acting as an authority figure for the night.

In 2016 there was a WWE Live event (Smackdown) non-televised event featuring AJ Styles vs Dean Ambrose for the WWE Championship, The Usos vs Ryhno and Heath Slater for the Smackdown Tag Team Championships, The Hype Bros and American Alpha vs The Ascension and the Vaudevillians, Kalisto vs Tyler Brezze, The Miz vs Apollo Crews, Natalya and Carmela vs Emma and Naomi, Kane vs Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper and Alexa Bliss vs Becky Lynch for the Smackdown Women's Championship.

Most recently on April 22, 2019, the arena hosted non-televised WWE Live: Smackdown. The event featured 7 Matches including Charlotte Flair defeating Bayley via her signature Figure 8, Roman Reigns defeating Elias, WWE Intercontinental Champion Finn Balor defeating Mustafa Ali. The main event featured WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defeating Randy Orton to retain thanks to assistance from Kevin Owens who gave Orton a Stone Cold Stunner while the referee was knocked out and Kingston finished with his signature Trouble in Paradise.

WWE was scheduled to return to the arena on December 17, 2019 for a RAW taping that would air on December 23, 2019 but was cancelled by WWE for “scheduling conflicts” but was actually due to low ticket sales.[16]

Entertainment

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Other events

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President George W. Bush spoke here during his re-election campaign in 2004.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Tullis, Nate (May 1, 2002). "Proud City Breaks Ground for Events Center". Sioux City Journal. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  2. ^ a b c Muret, Don (December 1, 2003). "Gateway Arena Anchors Sioux City Complex". SportsBusiness Journal. Retrieved November 19, 2011.
  3. ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
  4. ^ KJWW Engineering - Tyson Event Center
  5. ^ center, event (September 16, 2000). "Public forum on Monday will focus on plans for city arena". The Sioux City Journal. p. 1. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  6. ^ "Sioux City envisions major event center". The Des Moines Register. December 7, 2000. p. 12. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  7. ^ "IBP to name Sioux City event center". The Daily Nonpareil. October 17, 2001. p. 6. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  8. ^ "Gordon returns with new perspective". Lincoln Journal Star. December 31, 2003. p. 39. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  9. ^ "Proud city breaks ground for events center". The Sioux City Journal. May 1, 2002. p. 1. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  10. ^ "Tyson Events Center officially opens". The Sioux City Journal. December 21, 2003. p. 1. Retrieved August 22, 2025.
  11. ^ "Acer-Gateway Merger Complete". www.notebookreview.com. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  12. ^ "Fleet Farm obtains naming rights to Tyson Events Center". September 30, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  13. ^ Dreeszen, Dave (September 30, 2019). "Spectra, Fleet Farm unveil naming rights deal for Tyson Events Center". Sioux City Journal. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
  14. ^ "The Tyson and Orpheum are Under New Management".
  15. ^ "OVG FACILITIES & SPECTRA OFFICIALLY UNITE AS 'OVG360'".
  16. ^ "WWE Raw at Tyson Events Center Cancelled". November 9, 2019.
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