Vida Arena (branded as VIDA Arena) is a multi-purpose indoor

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 ...

located in

Växjö Växjö ( ) is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 70,489 inhabitants (2019) out of a municipal population of 95,995 (2021). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of Kronoberg County ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. The arena opened in September 2011 and is best known as the home arena for the

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 ...

team

Växjö Lakers Växjö Lakers Hockey Club (often referred to as the Växjö Lakers or VLH) is a Swedish ice hockey club from Växjö in Sweden. The club plays in the Swedish Hockey League (SHL; formerly Elitserien), the top-level league of Swedish ice hockey, and ...

. It seats 5,750 spectators.

Construction

The construction of Vida Arena began in September 2010 and was finished in summer 2011, in time for the

' debut season in the

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

(now named the SHL), the top-tier ice hockey league in Sweden. Although mainly intended to be used for

, Vida Arena is also used for other events such as

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

s and

news conference A press conference or news conference is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicians, corporations, non-governmental organ ...

s. The arena is named after the Vida Group, the company that acquired the

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 ...

for Vida Arena in September 2010, for the upcoming 14 seasons (expiring after the 2023–24 season).

Spectator capacity

As of the 2019–20 season, Vida Arena is the SHL's newest arena and has a spectator capacity of 5,750, making it the SHL's capacity-wise fourth-smallest arena. For the entire 2011–12 season, the arena had a capacity of 5,329 spectators. Plans were announced to extend the capacity to at least 6,000. Prior to the beginning of the 2012–13 season, the capacity was increased to 5,800 spectators. In October 2012, however, the capacity was slightly reduced to 5,700 due to concerns from spectators. Level 4 was mainly affected.

Inauguration

The arena was officially inaugurated on 17 September 2011, in an ice hockey game between Växjö Lakers and

Linköpings HC Linköpings may refer to: *Linköpings ASS, Linköpings Allmänna Simsällskap is a Swedish swim team *Linköpings FC, an association football club *Linköpings FF, premier men's football team *Linköpings HC, Linköpings Hockey Club See also ...

. The arena tickets for the game were outsold within just one hour, with the Lakers'

marketing manager Marketing management is the organizational discipline which focuses on the practical application of marketing orientation, techniques and methods inside enterprises and organizations and on the management of a firm's marketing resources and ac ...

speculating that they could have sold out two arenas. Former Växjö Lakers crowd favorite Shjon Podein watched the game live in the arena. Linköping won the game 4–2 in front of 5,502 spectators. However, the Lakers' premier game on 13 September, on away ice against

Frölunda HC Frölunda Hockey Club, previously known as the Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club based in Gothenburg. They currently play in the highest Swedish league, the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), formerly the Elitserien, where th ...

, was shown on the Vida Arena's Jumbotron in front of 2,400 spectators, with free entrance, as a preview of the Vida Arena experience and a test of the arena's technical features. Frölunda won the game 2–0.

Arenastaden

Vida Arena is part of the

sports complex A sports complex is a group of sports facilities. For example, there are track and field stadiums, football stadiums, baseball stadiums, swimming pools, and Indoor arenas. This area is a sports complex, for fitness. Olympic Park is also a kind ...

'' Arenastaden'' ("the Arena city"), which also includes a new football stadium, a

floorball Floorball is a type of floor hockey with five players and a goalkeeper in each team. Men and women play indoors with sticks and a plastic ball with holes. Matches are played in three twenty-minute periods. The sport of bandy also played a role ...

arena, and an arena for

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

. Vida Arena is connected with Växjö Ishall, an old arena inaugurated in 1970 which, since a

renovation Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...

which took place in 2006, has a capacity of 4,000 spectators.

Other events

Vida Arena hosted the first semifinal of

Melodifestivalen 2012 Melodifestivalen 2012 is a Swedish song contest that was held between 4 February and 10 March 2012. It selected the fifty-second Swedish entry to be internationally represented in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 (ESC 2012). As in the editions be ...

on 4 February 2012. This was the third time that

hosted a

Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song ...

stage, after

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

and

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

(both times in Tipshallen).

Sans Cash

Vida Arena is the first cashless arena in Sweden.

Gallery

Vida Arena skymning 6497.jpg , Vida Arena's west part of the front exterior. Vida Arena Växjö 20101004-forsta laktaren.jpg , The construction of Vida Arena started in September 2010.

Panorama image

References

External links

Official website for Vida Arena
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vida Arena Indoor arenas in Sweden Indoor ice hockey venues in Sweden Sports venues completed in 2011 Växjö Lakers Sports venues in Växjö 2011 establishments in Sweden