The Vertu Motors Arena (formerly the Eagles Community Arena) is a multi-purpose built venue for events, meetings, sports and the community in the Elswick area of the city of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The arena has a capacity for up to 3,500 spectators and is home to the

Newcastle Eagles The Newcastle Eagles are a professional basketball team based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Playing in the top-tier British Basketball League and holding the franchise for Tyne & Wear, they are the most successful team in the League's histor ...

of the

British Basketball League The British Basketball League (BBL) is a men's professional basketball league in Great Britain and represents the highest level of play in the countries. The league is contested by 10 teams from England and Scotland. There are no clubs howeve ...

and

Women's British Basketball League The Women's British Basketball League (WBBL) is the top-level women's basketball league in Great Britain, founded on 5 June 2014 as the women's counterpart to the British Basketball League (BBL). The league's headquarters are in Leicester alongsi ...

Background

It had been a stated aim of

owner Paul Blake 'for at least 10 years, probably longer' for the club and its foundation to own and control their own facility. The club had previously been based at the

Metro Radio Arena The Utilita Arena Newcastle (formerly the Newcastle Arena, Telewest Arena and Metro Radio Arena) is a large indoor arena in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. Owned and operated by ASM Global and sponsored by Utilita Energy, it hosts m ...

and Northumbria University's

Sport Central Sport Central is a multi-purpose built sports centre and events arena that is located in the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It forms part of the Northumbria University campus, in the city centre. The centre houses facilities for swimmi ...

. In partnership with

Newcastle City Council Newcastle City Council is the local government authority for the city and metropolitan borough of Newcastle upon Tyne. The council consists of 78 councillors, three for each of the 26 wards in the city. It is currently controlled by the Labou ...

, the North East Local Enterprise Partnership,

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded par ...

and

Newcastle College Newcastle College is a large further education and higher education college in Newcastle upon Tyne, with more than 16,000 students enrolled each year on a variety of full time, part time, and distance learning. It is the largest further education ...

, planning permission was approved and construction work on the arena began in November 2017. The arena was officially opened in January 2019, when the Eagles hosted the

Plymouth Raiders The Plymouth Raiders was a professional basketball team based in Plymouth, England. The team competed in the British Basketball League, the country's premier basketball competition. The club was founded in 1983 through a merger between two lo ...

in a BBL Championship match. The arena was awarded three prizes in special achievement, community value and social accessibility at the 2020 Lord Mayor's Design Awards.

International basketball matches

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://newcastle-eagles.com/arena/ Basketball venues in England Indoor arenas in England Sports venues in the United Kingdom Multi-purpose stadiums in the United Kingdom Newcastle Eagles Sports venues in Newcastle upon Tyne