The Family Arena 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 ...

St. Charles, Missouri Saint Charles (commonly abbreviated St. Charles) is a city in, and the county seat of, St. Charles County, Missouri, United States. The population was 65,794 at the 2010 census, making St. Charles the ninth-largest city in Missouri. Situated on t ...

, 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 to sporting events, concerts, circuses and ice shows the arena is also used for trade shows with a total of of exhibit space ( on the arena floor and on the arena concourse). Currently it is home to the St. Louis Ambush of the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a North American professional indoor soccer league. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. MASL is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. MASL players ...

. The Family Arena hosted

Boeing Integrated Defense Systems Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS) is a division (business unit) of The Boeing Company based in Arlington, Virginia. It is responsible for defense and aerospace products and services. It was formerly known as Boeing Integrated Defense Systems ...

' "Recommitment to Ethics Day" in 2005 and 2006 for

Greater St. Louis Greater St. Louis is a bi-state metropolitan area that completely surrounds and includes the independent city of St. Louis, the principal city. It includes parts of both Missouri and Illinois. The city core is on the Mississippi Riverfront on t ...

. Until

Chaifetz Arena Chaifetz Arena ( ), located on the campus of Saint Louis University, is a 10,600 seat multi-purpose arena in St. Louis, Missouri, that began construction on August 28, 2006 and opened on April 10, 2008. In February 2007, Chicago-based businessm ...

opened in 2008, Family Arena was the St. Louis stop for the

Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus (also known as the Ringling Bros. Circus, Ringling Bros., the Barnum & Bailey Circus, Barnum & Bailey, or simply Ringling) is an American traveling circus company billed as The Greatest Show on Ear ...

, Disney on Ice and

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 per ...

. The latter moved to Chaifetz that year while the circus and Disney on Ice moved to Enterprise Center to replace the

St. Louis Billikens The Saint Louis Billikens are the collegiate athletic teams that represent Saint Louis University, located in St. Louis, Missouri. The Billikens compete in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) as a member of the A ...

, who had also moved to Chaifetz.

Missouri Valley Conference women's basketball tournament

From 2008 to 2015, the Family Arena was host to the

Missouri Valley Conference The Missouri Valley Conference (also called MVC or simply "The Valley") is the third-oldest collegiate athletic conference in the United States. The conference's members are primarily located in the midwest. History The MVC was established ...

Women's Basketball Tournament.

Religious events and concerts

The Family Arena has served as an annual location for one of many world wide regional Bible conventions hosted by

Jehovah's Witnesses Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The group reports a worldwide membership of approximately 8.7 million adherents involved in ...

. The

Christian rock Christian rock is a form of rock music that features lyrics focusing on matters of Christian faith, often with an emphasis on Jesus, typically performed by self-proclaimed Christian individuals. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Ch ...

band

MercyMe MercyMe is an American contemporary Christian music band founded in Edmond, Oklahoma. The band consists of lead vocalist Bart Millard, percussionist Robby Shaffer, bassist Nathan Cochran and guitarists Michael Scheuchzer and Barry Graul. The b ...

performed at Family Arena annually from 2007 until 2013.

Professional wrestling

The Family Arena has also been host to nationally televised

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 ...

events. The arena was the site of the

ECW ECW may refer to: Professional wrestling * Extreme Championship Wrestling (originally Eastern Championship Wrestling), a professional wrestling promotion that operated from 1992 to 2001 * The Alliance (professional wrestling) (originally the WCW/E ...

Wrestlepalooza Wrestlepalooza was a professional wrestling event produced by Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). It took place in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2000. The 1998 iteration aired on pay-per-view Pay-per-view (PPV) is a type of pay television or webcast ...

2000 event on April 16, 2000. The arena also hosted

Total Nonstop Action 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 promot ...

Lockdown A lockdown is a restriction policy for people, community or a country to stay where they are, usually due to specific risks (such as COVID-19) that could possibly harm the people if they move and interact freely. The term is used for a prison ...

pay-per-view on April 15, 2007 and the 2010 edition on April 18, 2010. The arena also hosted

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 ...

’s Gateway to Honor on February 29, 2020.

High school and college commencement ceremonies

The arena has hosted commencement ceremonies for

Lindenwood University Lindenwood University is a private university in St. Charles, Missouri. Founded in 1827 by George Champlin Sibley and Mary Easton Sibley as The Lindenwood School for Girls, it is the second-oldest higher-education institution west of the Missis ...

Missouri Baptist University Missouri Baptist University (MBU) is a private Southern Baptist university in Creve Coeur, Missouri. It is one of three universities of the Missouri Baptist Convention. The main campus is located on a 68-acre site near Creve Coeur and Town and ...

and

Maryville University Maryville University of St. Louis is a private university in Town and Country, Missouri. It was originally founded on April 6, 1872 by the Society of the Sacred Heart and offers more than 90 degrees at the undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral l ...

as well as for several area high schools.

2017 NCAA Women's Frozen Four

The 2017

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

National Collegiate Women's Ice Hockey Tournament, known as the "Frozen Four," was held at the Family Arena in 2017. The quarterfinals were contested at the campuses of the seeded teams on March 11, 2017. The Frozen Four was played on March 17 and 19, 2017 at Family Arena, with

serving as the host. An agreement with the Big Ten Network resulted in the championship game being televised live for the first time since 2010. The tournament was won by with a 3–0 win over , giving the Golden Knights their second title in program history.

Professional sports

Family Arena served as the former home of the

St. Louis Swarm The St. Louis Swarm was a professional basketball team based in St. Charles, Missouri from 1999 to 2001. They were members of the International Basketball League (1999–2001), International Basketball League and won the league's only two champions ...

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 ...

team, the

Missouri River Otters The Missouri River Otters were a minor professional ice hockey team based in St. Charles, Missouri. They played in the United Hockey League from 1999 to 2006. They played their home games at the St. Charles Family Arena, which also opened in Octo ...

and

St. Charles Chill The St. Charles Chill was a minor league ice hockey team and member of the Central Hockey League that began play during the 2013–14 season on October 19, 2013 as the affiliate of the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues and the American Hoc ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

teams, the

RiverCity Rage The RiverCity Rage were a professional indoor football team. They played home games at the Family Arena in Saint Charles, Missouri, part of the metropolitan area of St. Louis, Missouri, in past seasons, played in the Scottrade Center in downtow ...

and

River City Raiders The River City Raiders (formerly known as the Missouri Monsters and the St. Louis Attack) were a professional indoor football team based in St. Charles, Missouri. They play their home games at Family Arena. As of February 2018 the River City Ra ...

indoor football teams, and the St. Louis Steamers

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

team.

References

External links

Family Arena
{{Authority control St. Charles, Missouri Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States Basketball venues in Missouri Convention centers in Missouri Indoor soccer venues in Missouri Sports in St. Charles, Missouri Buildings and structures in St. Charles County, Missouri Music venues in Missouri Tourist attractions in St. Charles County, Missouri Arena football venues 1999 establishments in Missouri Sports venues completed in 1999 Indoor arenas in Missouri Sports venues in St. Louis Sports venues in Missouri