American Airlines Arena

The FTX Arena was formerly known as the American Airlines Arena is a multi-purpose arena located in Miami, Florida along the Biscayne Bay.  The construction began in 1998 as a replacement for the Miami Arena (It was an indoor arena that was located in Miami, Florida) and was designed by the architecture firms Arquitectonica (An international architecture, landscape architecture, interior design, and urban planning design firm headquartered in Miami, Florida) and 360 Architecture (It was an American architectural practice acquired by HOK in 2015).

Significance

1) The FTX Arena has about 32,105 club seats, 80 luxury suites, and 76 private boxes.

2) Florida’s largest theater that is the Waterfront Theater is also housed within the arena and has the seating capacity of 3,000 to 5,800 seats.

3) The Theater can be used for concerts, family events, musical theater and other stage performances.

4) American Airlines has a hub at Miami International Airport that maintains the AFTX Arena Travel center at the venue.

5) In September 2019, it was reported that the name of the arena would have a new name in 2020. In March 2021, FTX, a crypto currency exchange, acquired the naming rights to the arena for $ 135 million.

6) The NBA approved the deal in April. The FTX Arena was fully adopted in June 2021.

History

The arena opened as the American Airlines Arena on December 31, 1999 and its construction cost was $213 million. As a stadium sponsor, they painted the giant aircraft on the stadium’s roof. The arena is also provided with luxurious skyboxes known as Flagship Lounges”.

The opening of the arena took place with a concert by Gloria Estefan. On January 2nd, 2000, the Miami Heat defeated the Orlando Magic by 111-103 in a National Basketball Association event held after two days of the venue's inauguration, i.e., on December 31st, 1999.

American Airlines Arena is also referred to as the "Triple-A" by some sports casting news channels, and some sports reporters refer to FTX Arena as “A^3” (A cubed). FTX Arena stadium is famous for its unusual scoreboard, designed by Christopher Jenny.

The arena's capacity can exceed up to 19,146 spectators depending on the type of stage concert. With a construction cost of over 357 million dollars, the Arquitectonica or the Heinlein Schrock Stearns (as they were known formerly) built the stadium to hold over 19,600 spectators for a basketball match. In addition, the center stage location can hold more than 20,000 audiences for a 360° show.

The American Airlines Arena has hosted the National Basketball Association finals in 2006, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014. The arena sits on 38 million dollars of county land. The Miami-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorenson, who also opposed the arena in 1996, said that the arena's construction was not a good deal for the county.

The arena even hosted the World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (“WCW”) sixth and final uncensored pay-per-view in 2000. The Royal Rumble in 2006, Survivor Series in 2007 and 2010 and Hell in a Cell in 2013 were the four major World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. (“WWE”) pay-per-view events that were held in the arena.

Stakeholders

• Owner – Miami-Dade County
• Operator – Basketball Properties Ltd.
• Project Manager- Parsons Brinckerhoff
• Structural Engineer – Thornton Tomasetti
• General Contractor – Morse-Diesel / Odebrecht / Facchina
• Main Contractors –  

1. John J. Kirlin, LLC
2. Simpson Constructors
3. Crown Corr Inc.

• Tenants – 

1. Miami Heat (“NBA”) – 2000 to Present                 
2. Miami Sol (“WNBA”) – 2000 to 2002

Accessibility

The Transportation to the arena is easy and not much time consuming as the visitors are encouraged to take Metrorail, Metro mover or Metrobus, as the parking can be a little expensive. The Metro mover’s Freedom Tower Station is just two blocks away that is west of the arena. The nearest Metrorail stations are Government Center and Historic Overtown. Moreover, the Metromover is free to ride and connects to Metrorail at Government center station.

Parking

The arena features 939 parking spaces, with those spaces that are reserved for the premium seat and the ParkJockey (An American parking revenue and access control startup) manages the on-site parking of the arenas.

Other than sport

• The arena hosted the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (“UFC”) event in the state of Florida.
• The arena also has an ice-rink as per the rules and regulations of the National Hockey League (“NHL”) although the arena has not hosted the sport. Moreover, the rink is lined with small walls and it accommodates ice shows such as the “Disney on Ice”. 
• On 1^st February 2020, the Waterfront Theatre at the arena hosted the 2020 National Football League (“NFL”) Honors that was further broadcasted on Fox (An American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and is headquartered at New York)
• Britney Spears, Lady Gaga, Madonna, Jennifer Lopez, Miley Cyrus, One Direction, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, Janet Jackson, Chris Brown, and Kate Perry have performed sold-out concerts in the arena.
• The 2004 MTV Video Music Awards and the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards were held at the FTX Arena.
• "U2" band performed at the arena during their award-winning "Vertigo Tour" in 2005.
• Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll a Columbian singer and song writer has performed 9 sold-out shows in FTX Arena and has the most number of Appearances at the venue among all the artists. Moreover she is the record holder of having most shows in the arena within one single tour that is the Oral Fixation Tour in 2006 with 5 sold-out shows.
• The Argentine rock band "Soda Stereo" and Australian worship band "Hill song United" have also performed in total sold-out concerts in the arena in 2007 and 2011, respectively.
• Celine Dion performed here during her "Taking Chances Tour" on January 23rd, 2009, which was witnessed by the record number of spectators as the largest crowd in the arena's history.
• Lady Gaga had performed for The Monster Ball Tour at the arena to a crowd of 14,695.
• Maroon 5 performed a show in the stadium as part of the Maroon V Tour in September 2016.
• Celine Dion performed at the arena as a part of her Courage World Tour on January 17 and 18 in 2020.
• Dua Lipa performed at the arena for her Future Nostalgia Tour on 9^th February 2022.
• Justin Bieber returned to the arena for his Justice World Tour on 13 April 2022 after performing his shows in 2010, 2013 and 2016.