Blog

The word seat comes from Middle English sete, Old English gesete/geseten and/or sǣte seat, sittan to sit. Possibly related to or cognate with Old Norse sæti. The first known use of the word seat is in the 13th century.

In the late 1960s, the city of Indianapolis studied several market areas of the city for future development and revitalization. Students from the fourth-year design studio class at Ball State University College of Architecture and Planning met with the City of Indianapolis to review and select 20–26 projects for consideration. Students Joseph Mynhier and Terry Pastorino selected downtown Indianapolis as their market and designed what would become Market Square Arena. The design envisioned by Mynhier and Pastorino was later selected and used as a promotional tool by the City of Indianapolis for construction of the stadium. The city selected four architectural firms to complete the arena design with two representatives from each of the four companies. Terry Pastorino, who had worked for the firm of Kennedy, Brown & Trueblood during the summer of 1970 on the project, later joined the firm working on the arena.The original student design included a four-story office building covering two city blocks. As constructed, the arena consisted of a unique space frame design spanning Market Street. The playing floor was elevated over Market Street by twin 1400-space parking garages on each side of Market Street. Market Street, which already was physically terminated on the west by the Indiana Statehouse, was visually terminated on the east by the arena. The final design eventually took up one city block spanning Market Street. The arena also hosted the 1980 NCAA men’s basketball Final Four, which was won by the University of Louisville. and the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now Horizon League) men’s basketball conference tournament from 1986 to 1988 and again in 1993. In 1987, Indianapolis hosted the Pan American Games, and all of its basketball games were held at Market Square. The gold-medal game pitted Brazil against the United States. The U.S. team of college players featured two All-Americans in David Robinson and Danny Manning, two Final Four MVPs in Pervis Ellison and Keith Smart, and several other future NBA players. The U.S. team led 68–54 at halftime, but Oscar Schmidt led Brazil to a stunning comeback, finishing with 46 points as Brazil won 120–115.

Michael Jordan made his first comeback from retirement at Market Square Arena on March 19, 1995; the Pacers defeated the Bulls in overtime in what was the most-watched NBA game on television in 20 years.

In January 2017, Cummins opened its Global Distribution Headquarters on the southern half of the site. A 28-story apartment building named 360 Market Square and containing a 40,000-square-foot (3,700 m) Whole Foods Market store opened in March 2018, with the Elvis memorial placed on the sidewalk adjacent to the building.Prior to the demolition, the basketball court surface was removed. It is now housed at the National Institute for Fitness and Sport in White River State Park.Market Square Arena’s original center-hung scoreboard was an American Sign & Indicator scoreboard with monochrome matrix screens, similar to those which would be installed at Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum and Joe Louis Arena. Its replacement, another American Sign & Indicator model, but with a color matrix screen on each of its four sides, was installed in time for the 1985 NBA All-Star Game held in the city and remained at the arena for the rest of its life, where it would later be complemented by front-projection video screens on each end of the arena.Billy Graham’s 1980 Indiana Crusade, featuring a young Bill Gaither as one of the musical guests, was the most attended event at the arena in its history.

Market Square Arena was an indoor arena in Indianapolis. Completed in 1974, at a cost of $23 million, it seated 16,530 for basketball and 15,993 for ice hockey. Seating capacity for concerts and other events was adjusted by the use of large curtains which sealed off the upper rows. The arena closed down in 1999 and was demolished two years later.

The site of the former arena was a parking lot for over a decade. The parking lot held a memorial to Elvis Presley, who played his final concert at MSA on June 26, 1977. The memorial was designed and built by Alan Clough.

Troy Dixon, better known as Trouble T. Roy, was killed when he accidentally fell from the exit ramp to the ground two stories below following his performance with Heavy D and the Boyz on July 15, 1990.

Andre The Giant won the WWF Heavyweight Championship, ending Hulk Hogan’s first reign. This was televised live on NBC’s The Main Event I on February 5, 1988.Market Square Arena was the primary concert venue for virtually all national and international musical acts visiting Indiana until its demolition in 2001. While many concerts moved to the Deer Creek Music Center amphitheater during summer months after that venue opened in 1989, Market Square remained the primary concert venue for large acts visiting the city of Indianapolis. Market Square hosted acts from Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Eric Clapton, Kenny Rogers, Deep Purple, Cheap Trick, Grateful Dead, KISS, and several Black Expo performances.

The Pacers moved to the new Conseco Fieldhouse, now Gainbridge Fieldhouse, for the 1999–2000 NBA season, and Market Square Arena was demolished on July 8, 2001, in a multimillion-dollar implosion performed by Controlled Demolition, Inc.. It only took 12 seconds to demolish the arena completely.On June 15, 1989, Eazy-E and N.W.A. performed as part of their “Eazy Duz It/Straight Outta Compton” Tour, The D.O.C., Kid ‘n Play, J. J. Fad, Too Short, and Kwamé.

Market Square Arena was best known as the home of the Indiana Pacers of the American Basketball Association and National Basketball Association from 1974 to 1999.On November 30, 1990 Ice Cube and Too Short bought their Straight from the Underground tour to Market Square Arena with Yo-Yo, Poor Righteous Teachers, D-Nice, and Kid Rock.The first Pacers basketball game held in the arena was a preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks; the total attendance was 16,929. The first regular-season ABA game in the arena was held on October 18, 1974, against the San Antonio Spurs; the Pacers lost in double overtime, 129–121 in front of 7,473 fans. The first Pacers victory in Market Square Arena came on October 23 with a 122–107 win over the Spirits of St. Louis. The 1974–75 season ended for the Pacers with the ABA Finals played in Market Square Arena and Freedom Hall against their archrivals, the Kentucky Colonels. The Colonels defeated the Pacers in that championship series, winning the ABA title in five games (4 wins to 1). The 1975–76 Pacers won their final home ABA game in Market Square Arena with a 109–95 victory against the Colonels. (Kentucky won the next game by one point to win the series and advance, ending the Pacers’ ABA tenure.) The Pacers continued to play at Market Square Arena after they joined the NBA in 1976; their first game at the arena as an NBA team was a 129–122 overtime loss to the Boston Celtics on October 21. Michael Jordan’s return to the Chicago Bulls after his first retirement took place at Market Square Arena in a loss to the Pacers on March 19, 1995.

On May 1, 2019, CFE changed its name to Addition Financial and, coinciding with the change, the arena’s name changed from CFE Arena to Addition Financial Arena on the same date. The arena’s naming rights deal was not affected by the sponsor’s name change.The arena is 252,000 square feet (23,000 m) and boasts a capacity of over 9,400 for basketball, and has 17 luxury suites. As of January 2022, the attendance record for the arena is 10,011 and a dog, the arena’s first and only ever sellout crowd, for a March 22, 2017 NIT Quarterfinals matchup with the Illinois Fighting Illini. The theater can be configured for concerts, family events, musical theatre, commencements, and other stage shows and sporting events. Local high schools often host graduations at the arena. One of UCF’s biggest event, Knight-Thon, is also held at the arena. The fundraiser is a dance marathon which raises money for Children’s Miracle Network. The Addition Financial Arena is owned by the university, and is managed by Oak View Group.

The arena holds different types of events every year. In 2013, the arena hosted 356 events and served 394,121 attendees. It ranked fifth in university venues in the U.S. in 2014 in terms of gross ticket sales and attendance.

Professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling held an episode of their weekly television show AEW Dynamite at the arena on October 23, 2021. AEW would return to the arena to hold three shows in a three day span, March 4, 2022 to March 6, 2022. AEW held an episode of their other weekly show AEW Rampage, a fan fest, and then their PPV AEW Revolution

The arena was originally built in 1991 with a capacity of 5,100 and was home to men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and volleyball, and was also used for events such as concerts and commencements. It has hosted the Atlantic Sun Conference men’s basketball tournament three times, in 1994, 1995, and 2002. The last basketball game played in the original facility was on March 3, 2007, when the UCF men’s team beat the East Carolina Pirates, 77–64, in Conference USA play.

In October 2008, the Addition Financial Arena was home to one of the largest Presidential Debate Watch Parties ever. On the front lawn of the arena the Presidential Debate was projected onto a large inflatable movie screen while a Lupe Fiasco concert was taking place inside the arena. The Presidential Debate, which was the final debate of the election, was then replayed for the thousands of attendees as they were leaving the concert. Lupe Fiasco actually acknowledged that the debate would be shown after the show and encouraged the attendees to stay and watch it because of the significance of the election.Addition Financial Arena (formerly known as CFE Arena and UCF Arena) is a sports and entertainment arena located in Orlando, Florida, United States, on the main campus of the University of Central Florida. It was constructed beginning in 2006 as a replacement for the original UCF arena, and as a part of Knights Plaza. The arena is home to the UCF Knights men’s and women’s basketball teams. The arena also hosted the annual Science Olympiad in 2012 and 2014.The new arena was completed in September 2007 and is the home to both the men’s and women’s basketball teams. This expansion made the Addition Financial Arena the second largest arena complex in Orlando. Beginning in 2008, the grounds around arena hosted “Light Up UCF”, a holiday celebration that features an outdoor ice skating rink. For the event, the arena is decorated with thousands of lights that are synchronized to holiday music.

UCF expressed interest numerous times in selling the naming rights to the arena. At one point, AirTran Airways was in negotiations to purchase naming rights, but no agreement was ever reached. On May 22, 2013, the UCF Board of Trustees officially announced that the school had entered into a naming rights contract with CFE Federal Credit Union, which has had a long-standing history with UCF. The deal was slated for seven years and was worth $3.95 million, or $564,285.72 per year. The new name took effect on May 23, 2013.

A new arena was built 2007, as part of a larger project to create an athletic village known as Knights Plaza. The new arena, built in the space in front of the original arena, is double the seating capacity of its predecessor, including 7,479 fixed standard seats, 500 club seats, 1,328 retractable seats, 188 disabled seats, 16 luxury suites (seating capacity 192, total capacity 256), two party suites (total capacity 60) and loge box seating for 64. According to the promoters’ guide, the new arena has a basketball capacity of 9,465, and can hold up to 10,072 for concert events. The student section has been dubbed the “Knightmare.”In 2010, the Legends Football League team Orlando Fantasy played at the arena. In 2014, it served as the home of the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League.

Unlike some luxury box levels, most club levels do not wrap entirely around the venue. Some club levels stop at a certain point, giving way to an expansion of the mezzanine, while others give way to lower-class luxury boxes (such as “party suites”). A notable exception to this is Emirates Stadium in London, which has a complete tier of club seating.

The club level is usually located towards the middle of the stage of seating sections, above the lower deck but below the upper deck. They are usually situated near the luxury boxes, whether right above, right below, or sandwiched between two levels of luxury boxes. Club-level seating is typically considered a more exclusive class of seating than elsewhere in the venue, other than the luxury boxes.Club levels normally provide fans several additional amenities than standard seating. Club-level seating is open to the elements, as opposed to the entirely enclosed luxury boxes, which gives more of an outdoor impression at roofless and open-roof stadiums and arenas. Club-level seating is normally bought on a contract basis to allow for maximum profit on the part of the venue.

The club level provides fans with special access to an indoor part of the venue exclusive to fans with special tickets. These areas are climate-controlled year-round and allow access to special restaurants, bars, merchandise stands, and lounge areas of the venue. Concession stands and vendors on the club level also often offer different menus than in other stands to give more of a special feel to the club. These areas are closed off to the rest of the venue, and they usually can only be accessed through the exclusive, private club entrances.This also means that in Ranked Arenas there’s no demotion protection—you can demote a ranked tier, going from Plat IV to Gold I after a loss, for example. Don’t worry though, you will still get rewards at the end of the season based on your highest tier reached. These rewards are separate from the rewards you get for your placement in Ranked Battle Royale.

Unlike in Ranked Battle Royale, there will not be a Ranked Arenas split halfway through the season. Instead, you can work on your Arenas rank all season. We’ll consider introducing Ranked Arenas splits in future seasons. At the end of this season, you’ll get your rewards and your rank will reset before the next season begins, where you’ll start off again in placement matches.Arenas is a heads-to-head fight between two teams, so awarding ranked Arenas Points is more cut and dry than in the 20 team Battle Royale. This means there is no entry cost and no AP for kills. Everything comes down to getting the win. In theory, yes, which is why for the most part your rank and your MMR will stay closely tied. But keeping the two scores separate comes with some major benefits, the biggest being that we can quickly adjust your MMR up or down based on your performance, without making you lose your rank just because of a few bad matches. Those quick adjustments means that matchmaking quality (the odds of you being paired against someone of similar skill) goes up. Similar to Ranked BR, we want to maintain competitive integrity in Ranked Arenas. Players that abandon a Ranked Arenas match will be hit with a temporary matchmaking ban and will be unable to queue for Ranked Arenas until the ban is over. Along with this, if you have a teammate that abandons you, you will receive loss forgiveness for that match. With loss forgiveness, you won’t lose any AP and at worst will earn 0 AP for that match.*Applicable platform account and platform subscription (sold separately) may be required. A persistent internet connection and EA account required. Age restrictions apply. Includes in-game purchases.

If you’re new to a system like this, it might not be obvious why we wouldn’t always keep these numbers the same. You might ask: Shouldn’t a Silver player always have the same MMR as other Silver players?

When you first play Ranked Arenas, you start in placement matches. Your performance over these 10 matches will determine your initial MMR and your starting rank. MMR variance is wider initially, so these first 10 matches might be stomp-or-get-stomped until your MMR settles more.