T-Mobile Center


T-Mobile Center is a multi-purpose arena in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. It is located at the intersection of 14th Street and Grand Boulevard on the east side of the Power & Light District. The arena's naming rights partner is T-Mobile US, which completed a merger with Sprint Corporation in April 2020. The arena‘s name was officially changed on July 9, 2020 to reflect the brand’s change. T-Mobile’s second headquarters are in nearby Overland Park, Kansas.
T-Mobile Center opened on October 10, 2007, and a concert by Elton John held three days later was the arena's first event. The center is owned by the city of Kansas City, Missouri. The arena seats over 19,000 people and has 72 suites. T-Mobile Center has effectively replaced Kemper Arena, which was built in 1974 just a few miles away in the southern portion of the West Bottoms neighborhood. Additionally, the College Basketball Experience, which includes the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, is connected to and directly north of T-Mobile Center.
T-Mobile Center hosted the Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament in 2008 and has done so every year since 2010. It also hosted the first and second rounds of the 2009 and 2013 NCAA Men's Tournaments, as well as the regional rounds of the 2017 NCAA Men's Tournament and the 2010 NCAA Women's Tournament; it also hosted a 2019 NCAA Men's Division I regional. The arena also was the home of the former Kansas City Command of the Arena Football League.
The city of Kansas City has entered into discussions with the National Hockey League and the National Basketball Association about possible expansion or relocation of a professional hockey and/or basketball franchise for the arena; however, neither the NHL nor the NBA have yet to approve a team to play in T-Mobile Center.

Details

for the arena on June 24, 2005, and construction completed on October 11, 2007. The final design, by the Downtown Arena Design Team, was selected in August 2005. The construction manager responsible for the entire project was M.A. Mortenson Company, based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The complete exterior glass facade system, all metal panels for the adjacent buildings and all accessory metal cladding was custom designed, detailed and supplied by Overgaard Ltd. Hong Kong to Architectural Wall Systems, the Des Moines, Iowa based glazing contractor who installed the building envelope. In total there are approximately 13,000 m² of double insulated glass and 5,000 m² painted aluminum curtain wall panels. In addition there are roughly 200 tons of system profiles and accessories. All of the 2,404 individual glass units on the main building were produced sequentially and completely assembled prior to shipping. The 5 million lbs of rebar used in construction was detailed, fabricated and supplied by The Carter-Waters Corporation of Kansas City. The arena also features a work of public art, The Moons, by artist Chris Doyle, commissioned by the Kansas City Municipal Arts Commission.
The Big 12 Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was held at T-Mobile Center in 2008, marking the tournament's return to Kansas City after three years in Dallas and Oklahoma City. After returning to Oklahoma City in 2009, the T-Mobile Center again hosted the tournament in 2010 and 2011. It is scheduled to be the tournament host site through 2020. Because of Kansas City's proximity to the University of Kansas in neighboring Lawrence, Jayhawk fans who fill the arena for Big 12 Tournament games refer to the arena as "Allen Fieldhouse East" in reference to Kansas' home arena in Lawrence, Allen Fieldhouse. However, due to Iowa State's recent Big 12 Tournament success – winning four tournament championships in a six-year span – and their fanbase's huge migration to the annual event, the T-Mobile Center is referred to by Iowa State fans as "Hilton South", after Iowa State's home venue, Hilton Coliseum.
The arena also houses the College Basketball Experience and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, which is at 1301 Grand Boulevard and connected to T-Mobile Center.
The arena's exterior is made of glass, and the interior has a 360-degree LED video screen. This facility allows Kansas City to draw most concerts touring the United States.
T-Mobile Center opened on time and on budget on October 10, 2007 at 10:10 am. A tour lasted from 10:10 am – 10:10 pm for those who wanted to see it to grab a ticket at the box office. The tour consisted of the College Basketball Experience, two open concession stands: "Taco Taco" and "Oak Street Pizza"; a free drink from UMB Bank and other free items: a UMB Bank cup, a UMB Bank frisbee, and a UMB Bank ice scraper. UMB Bank is the only ATM in the new arena because it is a T-Mobile Center Founding Partner along with Farmland, The University of Kansas Hospital, QuikTrip, and Olevia. There are other T-Mobile Center Founding Partners: H&R Block, Toyota, American Century Investments, YRC Worldwide, and Time Warner Cable of Kansas City.

Photos of the arena

Arena users

Notable concerts

The Kansas City Brigade played at the T-Mobile Center for one season before the original AFL folded after the 2008 postseason. However, the revamped AFL brought arena football back to the T-Mobile Center in 2011, with the team playing as the Kansas City Command.
William "Boots" Del Biaggio, III, made an offer to purchase the Nashville Predators of the NHL with the intention of bringing the team to the T-Mobile Center. However, Del Biaggio has since joined a group of Nashville investors in an effort to keep the Predators in Nashville. In June 2008, Kansas City's hopes to land the Predators took another blow as Del Biaggio ran into legal trouble over a multitude of unpaid loans, culminating in him filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, effectively ending any chance of Del Biaggio moving the Predators to Missouri. On January 10, 2007, it was reported the Los Angeles Clippers have taken an interest in moving to the arena.
New York Islanders owner Charles Wang announced the Islanders will play a preseason game September 22, 2009 at the T-Mobile Center against the Los Angeles Kings. Local media reported anonymous team sources stated the game was a test of the Kansas City market. In 2007, Kansas City and the T-Mobile Center also attempted to attract relocation of the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the Penguins reached a deal with the City of Pittsburgh to build a new arena, the CONSOL Energy Center, and stay in Western Pennsylvania. The T-Mobile Center had also been looked at as a possible relocation spot for the NBA's New Orleans Hornets and the Sacramento Kings before both teams settled their local issues. As recently as 2015, Kansas City was considered as a potential site for potential National Hockey League expansion, but the consensus among those who had the resources to buy an expansion franchise for the arena was that the NHL's asking price was too high.
Despite losing out on pro teams, the NBA and NHL have held preseason games at T-Mobile Center. The most recent NHL preseason game, between the St. Louis Blues and Minnesota Wild, took place on September 28, 2017; the most recent NBA preseason game, between the Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers, took place on October 13, 2017.

Other sporting events

is northwest of Downtown Kansas City in Platte County.
The arena's vicinity is served by four interstate highways:
and four US routes: