Movistar Arena is a 17,000-seat multi-purpose indoor arena in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whos ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. It is located inside

O'Higgins Park O'Higgins Park (, formerly known as Parque Cousiño), with an area of around , is Santiago, Chile's second largest public park after Metropolitan Park. It is located in the center of the capital, in the Santiago Commune. The park, named after B ...

, in downtown Santiago. Its main structure was built in 1956, but it remained unfinished and without roof, the roof was installed in 2000. Buyer Peter Hiller opened it on April 15, 2006 as Arena Santiago with a seat-capacity of 12,000.

Telefónica Telefónica, S.A. () is a Spanish multinational telecommunications company headquartered in Madrid, Spain. It is one of the largest telephone operators and mobile network providers in the world. It provides fixed and mobile telephony, broadba ...

's cell phone division

Movistar Movistar () is a major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, operating in Spain and Hispanic American countries. It is the largest provider of landline, broadband, mobile services, and pay television ( Movistar+) in Spain. Movistar ...

bought the stadium's

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 ...

, changing its name on October 6, 2008, while also expanding its capacity by 5,000 seats. It is one of the largest multi-purpose arenas in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sout ...

, with a total surface is 44,000 m². An additional 3,000 seats can be placed over the court during concerts, boosting the total capacity to 17,000 seats.

History

The original building was designed and conceived by

Mario Recordón Mario Recordón Burnier nicknamed ''The Tiger of Osorno'' (14 July 1922 – 5 June 1994) was a Chilean architect, athlete and educator. He led Chile to victory in the decathlon in the 1946 South American Athletics Championships and competed ...

in 1956 with the name "Metropolitan Indoor Stadium" to be the seat of the

World Basketball Championship The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

. However, funding was redirected to remodeling the

Estadio Nacional de Chile A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

, with a view to achieving the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place be ...

. The roofed stadium was left in total neglect. In 1998, during the term of

Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle Eduardo Alfredo Juan Bernardo Frei Ruiz–Tagle (; born 24 June 1942) is a Chilean politician and civil engineer who served as president of Chile from 1994 to 2000. He was also a Senator, fulfilling the role of President of the Senate from 2006 ...

it was decided to complete it. The work was financed by Hiller Investments, which received a grant from the Ministry of Public Works with a 20-year lease. Arena Santiago was symbolically opened on March 7, 2006 by then President

Ricardo Lagos Ricardo Froilán Lagos Escobar (; born 2 March 1938) is a Chilean lawyer, economist and social-democratic politician who served as president of Chile from 2000 to 2006. During the 1980s he was a well-known opponent of the Chilean military dic ...

, and it was inaugurated on April 15 that year by his successor,

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...

. In 2008, managers signed a contract with portable phone company

Chile for 16 years. On 13 March 2018, Pearl Jam gave a concert to 17.000 people, setting a new attendance record at the venue. On 5 November 2018,

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

performed on the arena as part of

The Heavy Entertainment Show Tour The Heavy Entertainment Show Tour was the twelfth concert tour by British recording artist Robbie Williams, to support his album ''The Heavy Entertainment Show''. The tour began in England and travelled throughout Europe in Summer 2017, extend ...

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

played their first ever arena show in Chile on 14 October 2019, as part of their

Legacy of the Beast World Tour The Legacy of the Beast World Tour was a concert tour by British heavy metal band Iron Maiden, named after the comic and mobile game released by the band in 2017. Described as a "history/hits tour", Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood has revealed ...

. The show was announced because the first concert at the Estadio Nacional on October 15 sold out all the 63,000 tickets half a year before the show.

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

played in Movistar Arena on September 27, 2019 as part of their world tour called Walk The Earth Tour. It will be used as one of the venues for the

2023 Pan American Games The 2023 Pan American Games ( es, Juegos Panamericanos de 2023, links=no), officially the XIX Pan American Games and commonly known as Santiago 2023, is a forthcoming international multi-sport event governed by the Panam Sports Organization, s ...

and will host basketball events.

Davis Cup incident

On 7 April 2000, the site served as the location of a Chile-Argentina Davis Cup rubber. During the second singles match between

Nicolás Massú Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried (; born 10 October 1979), nicknamed ''El Vampiro'' (Spanish, 'the vampire'), is a Chilean former professional tennis player. A former world No. 9 in singles, he won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 2004 ...

and

Mariano Zabaleta Mariano Zabaleta (born 28 February 1978) is a retired professional male tennis player from Argentina. He had an unusual but effective service motion. His best shot was his forehand and his favourite surface was clay. Zabaleta's career highlights ...

, the crowd became violent, throwing fruit, coins and plastic chairs at the Argentine team. As a result, the Chilean Tennis Federation was fined nearly US$50,000 and was prohibited from hosting Davis Cup games for two years.

References

External links

* (in Spanish) {{Authority control Indoor arenas in Chile Music venues in Chile Sports venues in Santiago Basketball venues in Chile 2006 establishments in Chile Sports venues completed in 2006