Kaiser Permanente Arena is an indoor arena located in Santa Cruz, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It has a seating capacity of 2,505 spectators. It hosts the

Santa Cruz Warriors The Santa Cruz Warriors are an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Santa Cruz, California, and are affiliated with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors play their home games at Kaiser Permanente Arena. Prior t ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

. It was also the home of the

Santa Cruz Derby Girls Santa Cruz Roller Derby (SCRD) is a women's flat track roller derby league in Santa Cruz, California. The first female, amateur flat-track roller derby league in Santa Cruz, SCRD is a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). Th ...

of the

Women's Flat Track Derby Association The Women's Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA) is the international governing body for the sport of women's flat track roller derby, and association of leagues around the world. The organization was founded in April 2004 as the United Leagues Co ...

in 2013 and 2014. 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 ...

were bought by health care consortium

Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP), commonly known simply as Kaiser, is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser ...

(KP) despite the company—a sponsor of the Warriors' owner, the NBA's Golden State Warriors—not having facilities in Santa Cruz at the time. KP has since opened medical facilities in Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley and Watsonville.

History

A $3.5 million loan by the city of Santa Cruz was given to the Warriors to build their arena, with the 1.5-acre lot being provided by the Santa Cruz Seaside Company, owner of the

Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk The Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is an oceanfront amusement park in Santa Cruz, California. Founded in 1907, it is California's oldest surviving amusement park and one of the few seaside parks on the West Coast of the United States. Description ...

. Construction ran for 78 days between September and December 2012, halted just a few times by rain. The arena was opened on December 23, 2012, with a victory by the Warriors against the

Bakersfield Jam Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's pop ...

. By April 2014, Kaiser Permanente Arena had 39 sell-outs out of the 53 Warriors home games. In the meantime, the Warriors reached two D-League finals. The arena has a seating capacity of 2,505. The arena also serves as the home of

UC Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of California system. Located on Monterey Bay, on the edge ...

men's and women's basketball games. In November 2017, UC Santa Cruz hosted a

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

basketball tournament at Kaiser Permanente Arena. The

United States men's national basketball team The USA Basketball Men's National Team, commonly known as the United States men's national basketball team, is the basketball team representing the United States. They are the most successful team in international competition, winning medals in ...

hosted their

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

qualifying first-round games at Kaiser Permanente Arena on February 23, 2018, against

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

and on February 26, 2018, against

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

. Due to COVID restrictions on games in Santa Clara County, the Stanford men's and Stanford women's basketball teams played some games of the 2020–21 season at the arena. The arena was used by Kaiser Permanente as a vaccination hub to distribute

COVID-19 vaccines A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID19). Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an est ...

in 2021. In 2022, the Sea Dubs broke their franchise record, selling out over 100 straight games at KP Arena.

References

External links

Arena Information — Santa Cruz Warriors
via santacruz.gleague.nba.com
Kaiser Permanente Arena
via ArenaDigest.com Indoor arenas in California NBA G League venues Santa Cruz Warriors 2012 establishments in California Sports venues completed in 2012 Basketball venues in California Santa Cruz, California College basketball venues in the United States {{California-sports-venue-stub

History

See also

References

External links