Gatorade Center (formerly HK Areena, Elysée Arena, Typhoon Arena, but commonly referred to as Turkuhalli in Finnish and Åbohallen in Swedish) is a multi-functional

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 spectator ...

in the district of Artukainen in

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

. Opened in November 1990, it can hold up to 11,820 spectators for ice hockey games. It is primarily used for

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 ...

, and is the home arena of TPS, but it is also frequently used to host concerts and other events such as the

Maata Näkyvissä Festival Maata Näkyvissä Festival (''Land Ahoy'') is the biggest Christian music event in the Nordic countries. It takes place in Turku, Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country ...

. A record attendance of 12,041 for a hockey match was registered in 1991. Gatorade Center is a member of the European Arenas Association (EAA).

History

The arena, Turku Fair and Congress Centre, and a riding school were built on the former runways of the Artukainen Airport (1935–1955), which served as the main airport of Turku until

Turku Airport Turku Airport , is located in Turku, Finland, north of the center, in ''Lentokenttä'' ( Finnish for 'airfield'; sv, Flygfältet) district in the Maaria-Paattinen ward of Turku. It serves approximately 450,000 passengers per year, being the fou ...

was built in 1955. The arena was built for the needs of hosting the

Ice Hockey World Championships The Ice Hockey World Championships are an annual international men's ice hockey tournament organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). First officially held at the 1920 Summer Olympics, it is the sport's highest profile annual ...

, during which it was the main venue of the games. There were, among others, matches of the group stage and the final stage of the tournament.

Construction

It was the first arena to be built in Finland with a capacity of more than 10,000 people. It was not until 1997 that a larger venue was opened, this being

Hartwall Arena Helsinki Halli (formerly Hartwall Arena) is a large multi-functional indoor arena located in Helsinki, Finland. It was opened in April 1997. The arena is convertible for various events. The total seated capacity during ice hockey games is 13,34 ...

in the Finnish capital

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

. The Gatorade Center was designed by architectural firm Casagrande and Haroma Oy and cost 145 million Finnmarks (24.4 million euros). The city of Turku paid 95 million Finnmarks (16 million euros) towards this.

Opening

The arena was opened, as Typhoon Arena, on November 25, 1990 by the Minister of Transport and Communications,

Ilkka Kanerva Ilkka Armas Mikael Kanerva (28 January 1948 – 14 April 2022) was a Finnish politician and a member of the Parliament of Finland. He was born in Lokalahti, now a part of Uusikaupunki in Southwest Finland. He was the Minister for Foreign Affair ...

. The first hockey match that took place on that day was played between TPS Turku and

SaiPa SAIPA ( fa, سایپا, ''SAIPA'') is an Iranian automaker headquartered in Tehran. The SAIPAC (an acronym for the French ''Société anonyme iranienne de production des automobiles Citroën'') was established in 1965 as with 75% Iranian ownersh ...

. It was renamed Elysée Arena after its main sponsor Marli in the summer of 1994 and retained this name until 2007. From the summer of 2006, the arena was called Turkuhalli, which has been used in marketing in addition to the sponsor's name since the early days of the venue. In 1996 and 1997, the arena was extended by an annex, which contained a second entrance, 28 new VIP boxes, space for a new restaurant and a new

vestibule Vestibule or Vestibulum can have the following meanings, each primarily based upon a common origin, from early 17th century French, derived from Latin ''vestibulum, -i n.'' "entrance court". Anatomy In general, vestibule is a small space or cavity ...

. The extension cost was 6 million euros. In 1998, the overall look of the arena's restaurants was redesigned by renovator Sedu Koskinen. A full renovation of the arena took place between 2016 and 2018. Oy Turkuhalli-Åbohallen Ab, founded by the City of Turku in 1989, merged with Kiinteistö Oy Turku Monitoimihalli which owns the venue, in 2010. Kiinteistö Oy Turku Monitoimihalli is also wholly owned by the city.

Events

Gatorade Center was the main venue for the

1991 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships The 1991 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 55th such event sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), and at the same time served as the 66th and last Ice Hockey European Championships. Teams representing 25 countri ...

and one of the venues in

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

and

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

. It hosted ''

Suomen euroviisukarsinta Finland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 55 times since its debut in . Finland won the contest for the first – and to date only – time in with Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah". The country's best result before then was achieved ...

'', the Finnish national final for the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

in and .

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...

performed there on 13 May 1998 as part of her

The Velvet Rope Tour The Velvet Rope Tour was the third concert tour by American recording artist Janet Jackson. Launched in support of her sixth studio album ''The Velvet Rope'' (1997), the tour visited Europe, North America, Japan, New Zealand, Africa, and Australi ...

Bon Jovi Bon Jovi is an American rock band formed in 1983 in Sayreville, New Jersey. It consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarist Phil X, and bassist Hugh McDonald. Original bassist Alec John such qu ...

started their European leg of the

Crush Tour Crush may refer to: Film * ''Crush'' (1972 film), a Hong Kong film * ''Crush'' (1992 film), a New Zealand film by Alison Maclean * ''The Crush'' (1993 film), a film by Alan Shapiro, starring Cary Elwes and Alicia Silverstone * ''Crush'' (200 ...

at the arena on 5 August 2000.

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By th ...

performed at the arena during his Euphoria Tour on 6 April 2011.

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originato ...

had two shows at the arena during his

Wrecking Ball World Tour The Wrecking Ball World Tour was a concert tour by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to promote Springsteen's seventeenth studio album, ''Wrecking Ball'', which was released on March 5, 2012. It was the first tour for the E Street Band wit ...

: 7 and 8 May 2013. In 2017, the opening and closing of Europeade, the largest European costume and folklore festival took place in the arena.

References

External links