The accesso ShoWare Center is a multi-purpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

About the venue

The construction of the arena began September 2005, with the venue opening in January 2009. The principal tenants are the Seattle Thunderbirds of the

Western Hockey League The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...

and the Tacoma Stars of the Major Arena Soccer League.

Naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

to the arena were initially sold to

Amiga, Inc. Amiga, Inc. is a company that used to hold some trademarks and other assets associated with the Amiga personal computer (originally developed by Amiga Corporation). Early years In the early 1980s Jay Miner, along with other Atari, Inc. staff ...

and the arena was to be called the "Amiga Center". However, Amiga failed to make a promised down payment, and lost the naming rights as of August 2007. In November 2008, the Kent City Council announced that the city had sold the naming rights to the Fresno-based VisionOne, Inc., an e-business

software developer Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, Computer programming, programming, software documentation, documenting, software testing, testing, and Software bugs, bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applic ...

which in turn named the arena after ShoWare, its flagship

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

operations program. In 2014, tech company

Accesso Accesso Technology Group PLC (formerly Lo-Q) is a publicly listed technology company based in Berkshire, England. Accesso has 9 offices across the world, and serves 1000 venues globally, providing ticketing, point of sale, virtual queuing, distri ...

purchased VisionOne, Inc.; with the venue changing its name to the accesso ShoWare Center in the fall of 2017. The design architect is LMN Architects of Seattle, in association with PBK Architects of Vancouver, British Columbia. The arena is managed and operated by

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

-based SMG. Among other events, it has hosted the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

edition of the Hilton HHonors Skate America.

Facts about the venue

;Miscellaneous *The approximate square footage of the arena is *The "Chandelier" scoreboard has four 6' x 12' video screens. *The venue opened on January 3, 2009 with a hockey game by ( Seattle Thunderbirds vs. Everett Silvertips) *The arena has a capacity of 5,887 seats. Retractable seating to provide additional space for concerts, basketball, shows and other events, expanding the capacity to 7,141. *The venue typically hosts 110 to 117 events annually, including about 40 Thunderbird games. *Country duo Florida Georgia Line drew an audience 7,129 people on December 14, 2013. *The 2 millionth guest celebration was held on November 11, 2014. ;Sports *Brenden Silvester of the Seattle Thunderbirds scored the first goal in the history of the arena, in the 2nd period on January 3, 2009 against the Everett Silvertips in a 4-3 Seattle win. *Greg Scott of the Seattle Thunderbirds scored the first

hat trick A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...

in the arena on February 6, 2009 *The 2015-2016 hockey season reached an all time attendance record with an average of 4,792 people per game. *Hockey single game attendance record of 6,223 set on May 12, 2017 during the WHL finals against the Regina Pats. *Hosted first professional basketball games during the

2018 JBA season The 2018 JBA season was the only season of the Junior Basketball Association (JBA), an American men's professional basketball league. The JBA was designed as an alternative to the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), allowing high sch ...

. *In

Professional Wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

, the arena has hosted three house shows for the

TNA Wrestling Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the promoti ...

promotion (2009, 2011, 2012) and one taped event for

Ring of Honor Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was so ...

wrestling's weekly television program (2019). *The arena hosted a

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

preseason game between the

Seattle Kraken The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season. ...

and

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

on October 2, 2021.

Selected events

References

{{WHL Arenas Arena football venues Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States Indoor soccer venues in the United States Indoor arenas in Washington (state) Music venues in Washington (state) Sports venues in Kent, Washington Legends Football League venues Western Hockey League arenas Buildings and structures in King County, Washington Tourist attractions in King County, Washington 2009 establishments in Washington (state) Sports venues completed in 2009