Chaifetz Arena ( ), located on the campus of

Saint Louis University Saint Louis University (SLU) is a private Jesuit research university with campuses in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, and Madrid, Spain. Founded in 1818 by Louis William Valentine DuBourg, it is the oldest university west of the Mississip ...

, is a 10,600 seat 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 ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, that began construction on August 28, 2006 and opened on April 10, 2008. In February 2007,

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

-based businessman Richard Chaifetz, CEO of ComPsych Corporation and 1975 graduate of SLU, made a $12 million donation to the university, which named the arena in his honor. Since the 2008–09 season, it has been the home of the

men's and women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

teams. Additionally, the attached Chaifetz Pavilion includes a two-court basketball and volleyball practice facility that also serves as an 800-seat venue that is the home for the university's

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

teams. The arena, known as "the Jewel of Midtown," includes a three-story athletic office. Chaifetz Arena has been called by former VCU coach Shaka Smart as the toughest venue to play in the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) Division I. The A-10's member schools are located in states mostly on the United States Eastern ...

Men's basketball record at Chaifetz Arena

Events

The first event held at the venue was a

Harlem Globetrotters The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, and comedy in their style of play. Created in 1926 by Tommy Brookins in Chicago, Illinois, the team adopted the name ''Harlem'' because of i ...

game against the

Washington Generals The Washington Generals are an United States, American basketball team who play Exhibition game, exhibition games against the Harlem Globetrotters. The team has also played under several different Pseudonym, aliases in their history as the Globetr ...

, played on April 11, 2008.

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow (born Barry Alan Pincus; June 17, 1943) is an American singer and songwriter with a career that spans seven decades. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", " Somewhere Down the Road", " Mandy", "I Write the Songs", " Can ...

performed the inaugural concert at Chaifetz Arena on April 25, 2008. The first student concert was held on April 26, 2008 featuring artists

Tyler Hilton Tyler James Hilton (born November 22, 1983) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. Hilton began his professional career in music in 2000. '' Rolling Stone magazine'' compared him to his contemporary, Howie Day, while others have compared H ...

Chingy Howard Earl Bailey Jr. (born March 9, 1980), known professionally as Chingy, is an American rapper. Chingy grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and began rapping in his late teens. He toured as an opening act with Nelly in the summer of 2002 and then ...

The Starting Line The Starting Line is an American pop punk band based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that formed in 1999. History Early years (1999–2001) In 1999, the band that would become The Starting Line was initiated in Churchville, Pennsylvania via an e ...

Jo Dee Messina Jo Dee Marie Messina (born August 25, 1970) is an American country music artist. She has charted six number-one singles on the ''Billboard'' country music charts. She has been honored by the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country ...

, and Augustana. Saint Louis University held its first

commencement ceremony Graduation is the awarding of a diploma to a student by an educational institution. It may also refer to the ceremony that is associated with it. The date of the graduation ceremony is often called graduation day. The graduation ceremony is al ...

on campus in 60 years at the arena on May 17, 2008.

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the Fo ...

personality and native St. Louisan

Joe Buck Joseph Francis Buck (born April 25, 1969) is an American sportscaster. The son of sportscaster Jack Buck, he worked for Fox Sports from its 1994 inception through 2022, including roles as lead play-by-play announcer for the network's Nation ...

delivered the Commencement Address. The first political rally at the Arena was on October 2, 2008, for Republican vice presidential candidate

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...

. She appeared to supporters after the 2008 Vice Presidential debate held at

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

FIRST Robotics Competition FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) is an international high school robotics competition. Each year, teams of high school students, coaches, and mentors work during a six-week period to build robots capable of competing in that year's game that weig ...

has held its St. Louis FRC Regional at Chaifetz Arena for several years.

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

s Live! made its Chaifetz Arena debut in 2009, having previously been held at the

Enterprise Center The Enterprise Center is an 18,096-seat arena located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Its primary tenant is the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League, but it is also used for other functions, such as NCAA basketball, NC ...

(

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

) and

Family Arena The Family Arena is a multi-purpose arena in St. Charles, Missouri, built in 1999. The arena seats 9,643 for hockey, 9,755 for football, 10,467 for basketball, 6,339 for half-house concerts and up to 11,522 for end-stage concerts. In addition t ...

(

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

). Chaifetz Arena also became the St. Louis stop for

Champions on Ice Champions on Ice was a touring ice show in the United States. The show featured a large cast of both professional and Olympic-eligible figure skaters along with novelty acts such as skating acrobats. The shows were focused primarily on solo perf ...

and

Cirque du Soleil Cirque du Soleil (, ; "Circus of the Sun" or "Sun Circus") is a Canadian entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 Ju ...

, also in 2009. The arena hosted the Monster Truck Spectacular Fall Nationals on October 17, 2009. The

USA Gymnastics United States of America Gymnastics (USA Gymnastics or USAG) is the national governing body for gymnastics in the United States. Established in 1963 as the U.S. Gymnastics Federation (USGF), USA Gymnastics is responsible for selecting and traini ...

Championships occurred June 7–10, 2012 at the Chaifetz Arena. TNA

No Surrender No Surrender may refer to: Politics * "No Surrender!", a British Unionist slogan originating from Siege of Derry now used in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England *No Surrender (to the IRA), a political chant since used by England football fans ...

took place at the arena on September 12, 2013 March 6, 2016

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

performed to the largest sold-out crowd in the building's history with 10,247 sold tickets. The 2016 Men's U.S. Olympic Trials and P&G Gymnastics Championships were held at Chaifetz Arena June 23–26, 2016. The 2018 SEC Gymnastics championships were held at the arena.

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

held its first show there on July 21, 2018.

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for War ...

North American LCS spring finals was held on April 13, 2019 at the Chaifetz Arena. Professional wrestling promotion

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, w ...

held an episode of their weekly television show ''

AEW Rampage ''AEW Rampage'', also known as ''Friday Night Rampage'' or simply ''Rampage'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It airs every Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern Time ( ...

'' at the arena on November 5, 2021.

References

External links

Official websiteArchived Construction Camera
{{Authority control 2008 establishments in Missouri Basketball venues in St. Louis College basketball venues in the United States College gymnastics venues in the United States Gymnastics venues in the United States Saint Louis Billikens basketball venues Sports venues completed in 2008 Sports venues in Missouri Sports venues in St. Louis Indoor arenas in Missouri