The James L. Knight Center is a contemporary entertainment and convention complex located in Downtown Miami, Florida. Located within the Miami Central Business District, the venue opened in 1982. The complex is named after famed newspaper publisher, James L. Knight. Since its opening, the complex has hosted many business, entertainment and political events. Annually, it hosts

Miami Dade College Miami Dade College (Miami Dade, MDC or Dade) is a public college in Miami, Florida. Founded in 1959, it has a total of eight campuses and twenty-one outreach centers throughout Miami-Dade County. It is the largest college in the Florida College S ...

graduation ceremonies. It also hosted

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

in 1984 and 1985,

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020, ...

in 1986 and

Miss Teen USA Miss Teen USA is a beauty pageant formerly run, since 1983, by the Miss Universe Organization for girls aged 14–19. Unlike its sister pageants Miss Universe, which currently broadcasts on Fox and Miss USA, this pageant is webcast on the M ...

in 1985 and the

OTI Festival OTI Festival ( es, Festival OTI de la Canción, pt, Festival OTI da Canção), often known simply as La OTI, was an international song competition, organised annually between 1972 and 2000 by the Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI) ...

in 1989.

History

The complex originally was built to be an

exhibition hall A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...

for the downtown Miami area, to attract

business conferences Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." Having a business name does not separat ...

trade shows A trade fair, also known as trade show, trade exhibition, or trade exposition, is an exhibition organized so that companies in a specific industry can showcase and demonstrate their latest products and services, meet with industry partners and c ...

and conventions. Previous conventions were held at the

Miami Beach Convention Center The Miami Beach Convention Center (originally the Miami Beach Exhibition Hall) is a convention center located in Miami Beach, Florida. Originally opened in 1958, the venue was renovated from 2015-2018 for $620 million. The re-imagined and enhance ...

. However, the business atmosphere for Miami Beach began to decline. City officials saw this as an opportunity to claim the market for the blossoming downtown business district. The space, known as James L. Knight Convention Center, was the project of the City of Miami. During its construction, the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

sought a sports arena for its revitalized basketball program. Newspaper publisher James L. Knight donated over one million dollars towards the cost of the arena. The space became known as the University of Miami Auditorium. Along with the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the complex opened October 2, 1982, to the public. Although this venture was promising for the city government, it proved to be very costly. Although the center hosted many events, it was not able to draw large convention crowds due to its limited size. The venue began to accumulate debt for the county and city officials were unsure of how to solve the problem. Taxes were increased to handle the $5 million annual operating costs and debt for the venue. In 1983, the FIU Sunblazers men's and women's basketball team used the UM Auditorium until the completion of the Sunblazer Arena in 1986. Shortly after, the newly formed

Miami Hurricanes men's basketball The Miami Hurricanes men's basketball team is the college basketball team of the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. The team competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). The University of Miami men's basketball team was formed i ...

team occupied the auditorium and the center was revitalized. To meet demand, the city looked to expand the Knight Center to be used for large conventions, which would not only gain higher revenue for the county, but also solve the city's growing unemployment issue. Concurrently, the University of Miami were also looking to build upon the athletic success of the auditorium by adding a public meeting space and

lecture hall A lecture hall (or lecture theatre) is a large room used for instruction, typically at a college or university. Unlike a traditional classroom with a capacity normally between one and fifty, the capacity of lecture halls is usually measured i ...

. During this time, the auditorium hosted many events, including the NWA Wrestling's

Clash of the Champions ''Clash of the Champions'' is an American series of professional wrestling television specials that were produced by World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) in conjunction with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). T ...

televised event in June 1988 and two concert appearances for the band

R.E.M. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternati ...

The Knight Center became used primarily for concerts when the Hurricanes moved into

Miami Arena Miami Arena was an indoor arena located in Miami, Florida. The venue served as the home of the NBA's Miami Heat, and the NHL's Florida Panthers. From 1988 until 1999, it also was the indoor arena for the Miami Hurricanes. History Completed in ...

in 1988, and became the original home of the annual

Premios Lo Nuestro The Lo Nuestro Awards or Premios Lo Nuestro ( Spanish for "Our Thing") is a Spanish-language awards show honoring the best of Latin music, presented by Univision, a Spanish-language television network based in the United States. The awards began i ...

ceremony in the 1990s, remaining until the ceremony moved into the newly completed Waterfront Theater at

American Airlines Arena FTX Arena (known as American Airlines Arena from 1999 to 2021) is a multi-purpose arena located in Miami, Florida, along Biscayne Bay. It was constructed beginning in 1998 as a replacement for the Miami Arena and designed by the architecture f ...

in 2000. In February 1994 the game show ''Wheel of Fortune'' taped episodes at the Knight Center. 7 years later in November 2001 ''Wheel of Fortune'' would again tape at the Knight Center, however the audience size was reduced following the

September 11 Attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. On July 7, 2021, professional wrestling promotion

All Elite Wrestling All Elite Wrestling (AEW) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. It is considered the second largest wrestling promotion in the United States behind WWE. AEW is owned by Shahid Khan and his son Tony, ...

(AEW) hosted a special episode of their weekly television show ''

AEW Dynamite AEW or aew may refer to: * Airborne early warning, airborne radar system for detecting aircraft * Aerosvit Airlines, an airline based in Kyiv, Ukraine (ICAO airline designator: AEW) * AEW Capital Management, a property investment management company ...

'' called Road Rager at the arena. AEW would return to the Knight Center in October 2021 to tape another episode of ''Dynamite'' and two episodes of its other weekly television show, ''

AEW Rampage ''AEW Rampage'', also known as ''Friday Night Rampage'' or simply ''Rampage'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It airs every Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern Time ...

''.

Facilities

*Miami Convention Center **James L. Knight Center Theater (formerly the James L. Knight Center from 1982 to 2013) **Riverfront Exhibition Hall ***North Hall ***Central Hall ***South Hall **Riverwalk & Dockage *Miami Conference Center **Ashe Auditorium **Miami Lecture Hall *Hyatt Regency Hotel **Regency Ballroom **Riverwalk Cafe **Riverwalk Deli **Pure Verde

Location

The complex is located along the Miami River near

Bayfront Park Bayfront Park is a public, urban park in Downtown Miami, Florida on Biscayne Bay. The Chairman to the trust is Ary Shaeban. Located in the park is a bronze statue of Christopher Columbus sculpted by Count Vittorio di Colbertaldo of Verona, one ...

. Also in the area is Mary Brickell Village,

Gusman Center for the Performing Arts The Olympia Theater is a theater located in Miami, Florida. Designed by John Eberson in his famed atmospheric style, the theater opened in 1926. Throughout its history, the venue has served as a movie theater, concert venue and performing arts ...

and

New World School of the Arts New World School of the Arts (NWSA) is a public magnet high school and college in Downtown Miami, Florida. Its dual-enrollment programs in the visual and performing arts are organized into four strands: visual arts, dance, theatre (comprising prog ...

. The complex is serviced by the

Knight Center station Knight Center is a Metromover station in Downtown, Miami, Florida located in the Miami Tower. This station is located at the intersection of Southwest Second Street and Second Avenue, connected to the namesake James L. Knight Center by a glas ...

for the

Metromover Metromover is a free mass transit automated people mover train system operated by Miami-Dade Transit in Miami, Florida, United States. Metromover serves the Downtown Miami, Brickell, Park West and Arts & Entertainment District neighborhoods. ...

Venue Gallery

File:James L. Knight Center Theater - Front View.jpg, James L. Knight Center Theater - Front View File:James L. Knight Center Theater - Floor View.jpg, James L. Knight Center Theater - Floor View File:James L. Knight Center Theater - Lobby View.jpg, James L. Knight Center Theater Lobby File:Ashe Auditroium at The James L. Knight Center - Side View.jpg, Ashe Auditorium at the James L. Knight Center File:Ashe Auditroium at The James L. Knight Center - Back View.jpg, Ashe Auditorium at the James L. Knight Center File:Ashe Auditroium Lobby at The James L. Knight Center.jpg, Ashe Auditorium Lobby at the James L. Knight Center File:Riverwalk and Dockage View at The James L. Knight Center - View 2.jpg, Riverwalk & Dockage View at the James L. Knight Center File:Riverwalk and Dockage at The James L. Knight Center.jpg, Riverwalk & Dockage View at the James L. Knight Center File:Riverwalk and Dockage View at The James L. Knight Center - View 3.jpg, Riverwalk & Dockage at the James L. Knight Center File:Riverfront Hall at The James L. Knight Center - View 1.jpg, Riverfront Hall at James L. Knight Center - Miami Convention Center File:Riverfront Hall at The James L. Knight Center - View 2.jpg, Riverfront Hall at James L. Knight Center - Miami Convention Center File:Miami Lecture Hall at The James L. Knight Center - Back View.jpg, Miami Lecture Hall at the James L. Knight Center File:Miami Lecture Hall at The James L. Knight Center.jpg, Miami Lecture Hall at the James L. Knight Center

References

External links