Reed Arena is a sports
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 ...
and entertainment venue located at the corner of Olsen Boulevard and Kimbrough Boulevard in
College Station, Texas
College Station is a city in Brazos County, Texas, situated in East-Central Texas in the heart of the Brazos Valley, towards the eastern edge of the region known as the Texas Triangle. It is northwest of Houston and east-northeast of Austin. ...
. This facility is used for
Texas A&M University
Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
basketball games and commencement ceremonies, concerts, trade shows, family entertainment, and Texas A&M student programs, including the on-campus
Aggie Muster
Aggie Muster is a tradition at Texas A&M University which celebrates the camaraderie of the university while remembering the lives of alumni who have died, specifically those in the past year. Muster officially began on April 21, 1903, as a day for ...
. The building replaced the
G. Rollie White Coliseum, and is named for Dr. & Mrs. Chester J. Reed, a 1947 A&M graduate whose donations made the new arena possible.
In 2005, Reed Arena served as the site of men's and women's first round
NIT games, as the men played
Clemson and the women played
Tulsa
Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...
.
In recent years, Reed Arena has gained a reputation as one of the most hostile arenas in the nation, coinciding with the men's and women's Aggie basketball teams' rise to national prominence. This is partly due to a group of students calling themselves the Reed Rowdies, which have been instrumental in helping to create an energetic fan atmosphere during basketball games similar to that of football games at
Kyle Field
Kyle Field is the American football stadium located on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas, United States. It has been the home to the Texas A&M Aggies football team in rudimentary form since 1904, and as a permanent con ...
.
Facilities
Reed Arena first opened its doors in 1998 as a member of Texas A&M Special Event Facilities. The arena was named after its primary donor
Chester J. Reed, Texas A&M Class of 1947. The building hosts many official functions for Texas A&M University. With enough indoor
seating capacity
Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
for 12,500 guests, the arena makes an ideal location for the university's graduation ceremonies, freshmen convocation, and Aggie Muster ceremonies. The main purpose behind building the arena was to house the Texas A&M's men's and women's basketball teams. However, unlike all the other athletic facilities on campus, Reed Arena operates under the Department of Finance, not the Athletic Department.
While in the planning stages, Chester Reed donated an operations endowment to help run the building during its first five years. However, due to initial over-estimating of revenue and budget shortfalls during construction, this endowment was unable to make the arena become self-sufficient.
For all of these reasons mentioned above, Reed Arena cannot just focus on basketball and other university events. As a necessary function, the Arena has developed pipelines of support from a multitude of different stakeholders and events that operate both within the local community and internationally. In its many years of operation, Reed Arena has hosted a wide variety of famous performers including
Bill Cosby
William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric ...
,
Garth Brooks
Troyal Garth Brooks (born February 7, 1962) is an American country music singer and songwriter. His integration of pop and rock elements into the country genre has earned him popularity, particularly in the United States with success on the co ...
,
The Dixie Chicks
The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and E ...
, as well as the performers of
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 ...
,
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 ...
, and
Ringling Brothers
The Ringling brothers (originally Rüngling) were seven American siblings who transformed their small touring company of performers into one of the largest circuses in the United States during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Four brothers ...
and
Barnum & 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 ...
.
The $36 million Reed Arena was designed by the
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
firm
Lockwood, Andrews, and Newman, Inc. and built in 1998 by
Dallas
Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
-based
Huber, Hunt and Nichols, Inc. The arena has seats for 12,989 fans, while an additional 2,000 people can be accommodated on the main floor for concerts.
Reed Arena is able to provide group accommodations on many different levels. Events can greatly vary in size; the Arena can accommodate an event involving thousands of patrons or a small meeting that contains only 15 participants on any given day. The arena floor contains of column-free space, large enough to accommodate 150 exhibit booths or a 1,800 seat banquet. This figure almost doubles the space any other building in the Bryan/College Station area. The second floor contains four rooms, which can be used to accommodate smaller events. The lower level of the arena also contains a multi-purpose room, a full-service commercial kitchen, and numerous types of dressing rooms.
The arena is surrounded by four parking lots, which hold a combined 1500 cars, and is also within walking distance of a 3,750 capacity parking garage and numerous other parking lots. Generally event parking costs between $5.
Cox-McFerrin Center
In February 2006, the 12th Man Foundation, a fund raising organization associated with Texas A&M Athletics, announced plans for an effort to build the Cox-McFerrin Center, a addition to Reed Arena, providing new men's and women's basketball locker rooms, practice gyms, and player lounges. On February 2, 2007, the
A&M System Board of Regents approved a revised plan, increasing the size of the facility to and a total cost of $21.5 million.
Attendance records
12 largest men's basketball crowds:
See also
*
List of NCAA Division I basketball arenas
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
References
External links
Reed ArenaReed Arena Event SearchReed Arena at 12thman.comReed RowdiesCox-McFerrin Center ground breaking announcement
{{Texas NCAA Division I college basketball venue navbox
Indoor arenas in Texas
Basketball venues in Texas
College basketball venues in the United States
Texas A&M Aggies basketball
Convention centers in Texas
Sports venues in College Station, Texas
Volleyball venues in Texas