The Marshall Arena (formerly known as Arena MK, also Milton Keynes 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 spectator ...

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...

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 ...

, located beside

Stadium MK Stadium MK is a football ground in the Denbigh district of Bletchley in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. Designed by Populous and opened in 2007, it is the home ground of EFL League One side Milton Keynes Dons F.C., Milton Keynes Dons ...

. The multi-use event space is positioned over three floors and anticipates music and sporting events, conferences, exhibitions and parties.

History

The arena was to be the home of the

Milton Keynes Lions London Lions are a British professional basketball team based in Stratford, East London, England, and compete in the British Basketball League, the top tier of British basketball. The team was originally founded in 1977 as the Hemel Hempstead ...

professional

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. However, the retail developments that would have provided enabling funding were deferred due to lack of financing, leaving the Lions without a home. Following the conclusion of the 2011–12 season, the Lions could not secure a venue within Milton Keynes, resulting in a move south to the

Copper Box The Copper Box Arena is a multi-sport venue built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, located in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, England. Previously known as the Handball Arena, it was renamed because, aside from handball, it hosted moder ...

. It officially opened on 8 February 2014 when it hosted the 2014 English National Badminton Championships.

Name

In September 2018,

Marshall Amplification Marshall is a British company that designs and manufactures music amplifiers, speaker cabinets A loudspeaker enclosure or loudspeaker cabinet is an enclosure (often rectangular box-shaped) in which speaker drivers (e.g., loudspeakers and ...

announced an agreement with Arena MK to use the space for music events, rebranding it the "Marshall Arena".Welcome to the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes Citizen, 29 September 2018

Regular tournaments

Darts

The Arena has hosted the

Professional Darts Corporation The Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) is a professional darts organisation in the United Kingdom, established in 1992 when a group of leading players split from the British Darts Organisation (BDO) to form what was initially called the Wor ...

's Masters tournament since 2015.

Snooker

Marshall Arena was chosen as the venue for the 2020 Championship League

snooker Snooker (pronounced , ) is a cue sport played on a rectangular table covered with a green cloth called baize, with six pockets, one at each corner and one in the middle of each long side. First played by British Army officers stationed in ...

tournament taking place in June 2020 because of the convenience of its on-site facilities. During the UK's coronavirus lockdown, it was important that the event was able take place behind closed doors with no need for players and officials to leave the venue for the duration of their involvement once they have arrived. For similar reasons, the Arena hosted the first 13 tournaments of the 2020–21 snooker season as well as the qualifiers for the 2021

German Masters The German Masters is a professional ranking snooker tournament held at the Tempodrom in Berlin, Germany since 2011. The 2021 event was held at Milton Keynes in England because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zhao Xintong is the reigning champion, ...

. As a direct result of the venues’ ability to keep the snooker tour running during a pandemic, it was selected to be the venue of the 2021 English Open and also became the backup venue for the 2022 European Masters. The

2022 British Open The 2022 British Open (officially the 2022 Cazoo British Open) was a professional snooker tournament that took place from 26 September to 2 October 2022 at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, England. The third ranking tournament of the 2022� ...

would also be selected as the venue for the event.

References

External links

Official website
{{Indoor arenas UK Indoor arenas in England Basketball venues in England Buildings and structures in Milton Keynes Sport in Milton Keynes London Lions (basketball) Darts venues Sports venues completed in 2014 2014 establishments in England Snooker venues