Williams Arena is an indoor arena located in

Minneapolis Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

. It is the home arena for the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

's men's and women's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

teams. It also housed the men's hockey team until 1993, when it moved into its own building, 3M Arena at Mariucci. The building is known as "The Barn", and its student section is known as "The Barnyard". Williams Arena is located on the southwest corner of the intersection of

University Avenue A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, th ...

and 19th Ave. SE in

on the U of M's East Bank campus. It is in a neighborhood called

Stadium Village Stadium Village is an area of Minneapolis, Minnesota near the East Bank campus of the University of Minnesota. While not an official neighborhood of Minneapolis, the area is an important commercial district that serves university students with man ...

, named for the old Memorial Stadium that stood there until its demolition in 1992. The arena is adjacent to

Huntington Bank Stadium Huntington Bank Stadium (formerly known as TCF Bank Stadium) is an outdoor stadium located on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The stadium opened in 2009, after three years of construction. It is ...

, 3M Arena at Mariucci and

Ridder Arena Ridder may refer to: Places *DeRidder, Louisiana, city in US state of Louisiana *Ridder, Kazakhstan, settlement in Kazakhstan (named for Philip Ridder) Things *Ridder (title), Dutch and Belgian title equivalent to knight * Knight Ridder, newspaper ...

, where the football and hockey teams respectively play.

History

When the Gophers basketball team first organized, they played games in the on-campus

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams (philanthropist), Georg ...

. In 1896, the team moved into the campus

Armory Armory or armoury may mean: * An arsenal, a military or civilian location for the storage of arms and ammunition Places *National Guard Armory, in the United States and Canada, a training place for National Guard or other part-time or regular mili ...

, a large building with gymnasium space for the team to use, even if basketball was not its primary purpose.Hugunin, Marc and

Stew Thornley Stew Thornley (born July 23, 1955 in Minneapolis, Minnesota) is an author of books on sports history, particularly in his home state. He is an official scorer and online gamecaster for the Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American ...

. ''Minnesota Hoops: Basketball in the North Star State.'' St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 2006. The Gophers remained in the Armory for almost 30 years. Halfway through the 1924–25 season, coach Harold Taylor moved the team from the University Armory to the Kenwood Armory in

downtown Minneapolis The Central Minneapolis community is located in the central part of the city, consisting of 6 smaller official neighborhoods, and includes Downtown Minneapolis and the central business district. It also includes the many old Gristmill, flour ...

. This significantly increased the attendance: capacity at the University Armory was 2,000, but it was 6,500 at Kenwood. The team only played at Kenwood for a few seasons, however, as the University of Minnesota Field House (later known as Williams Arena) opened partway through the 1927–1928 season. The team moved in on January 31, 1928. Williams arena ent

Initially known as the Minnesota Field House (another building has that name today), Williams Arena was constructed in the 1920s and opened in 1928. The original construction of Williams Arena cost $650,000. The arena was remodeled in 1950, and renamed Williams Arena after Henry L. Williams, the football coach from 1900 to 1921. As part of the 1950 renovation, it was divided into two separate arenas within one building—a larger one for basketball and a smaller one for hockey. Both arenas were called Williams Arena until March 2, 1985, when the hockey section was renamed Mariucci Arena after longtime Gopher hockey coach

John Mariucci John Mariucci (May 8, 1916 – March 23, 1987) was an American ice hockey player, administrator and coach. Mariucci was born in Eveleth, Minnesota. He attended the University of Minnesota where he played for both the hockey and football teams. ...

. The hockey team moved into a new building across the street from Williams in 1993, also named

Mariucci Arena 3M Arena at Mariucci is the home arena for the Minnesota Golden Gophers men's ice hockey team of the University of Minnesota. The arena is located on the Minneapolis campus and seats approximately 10,000 fans (9,600 in the main bowl plus club room ...

. The old Mariucci Arena within Williams was remodeled into the Sports Pavilion, now the Maturi Pavilion, named for former University of Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi in August 2017. which houses the volleyball, wrestling, and gymnastic teams. The venue hosted the 1951 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship game and the

1964 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1964 NCAA University Division basketball tournament involved 25 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball in the United States. It began on March 9, 1964, and e ...

Mideast Regional. Williams Arena has hosted the 1st and 2nd rounds of the NCAA women's basketball tournament in 2005, 2007, and 2010. The hockey portion of Williams hosted the

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

in 1958 and 1966. The Minnesota Lynx played all of their 2017 postseason home games at Williams Arena, ultimately winning the franchise's fourth WNBA championship in the building. Williams Arena was used for the filming of scenes in the 1978 film, ''

Ice Castles ''Ice Castles'' is a 1978 American romantic drama film directed by Donald Wrye and starring Lynn-Holly Johnson and Robby Benson. It is the story of Lexie Winston, a young figure skater, and her rise and fall from super stardom. Tragedy strikes ...

''.

Design

The building has an arched roof, in the same manner as an airplane

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

. The double arch steel beams allows an open space for the bleachers and floor. There are some seats with partially obscured views due to the upper deck extending past the trusses. Over the summer of 2012, a new Daktronics videoboard and fascia displays were installed as part of a sporting facility update, replacing the older board. The new board is 11'7"x13'8" with LED rings above and below the main display. The fascia extends 360° around the arena.

Raised floor

Williams Arena features an unusual raised floor design. The court surface is raised above the ground approximately two feet so that players' benches, officials tables, etc., are actually below the court. The same goes for fans with the first row looking at players at about knee-level. Normally, other than the officials and those players actively playing, only head coaches are allowed to be on the court itself. The raised floor is one of only a few remaining examples left and contributes significantly to the historic aura of the 90-year-old arena. This served as the inspiration for the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship to host stadiums for their Final Four as of 2009 to have the floor about off the stadium floor as part of an increased capacity to a minimum of 70,000. The floor in Williams Arena recently underwent a replacement. PCL Construction began work on May 11, 2009, replacing the original playing surface from 1928 with a new floor along with new basketball goals. This was the first major upgrade to the facility since a renovation occurred in the early 1990s. Memorial Gymnasium at

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

and

Hinkle Fieldhouse Hinkle Fieldhouse (named Butler Fieldhouse from 1928 until 1966) is a basketball arena on the campus of Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana. Completed in early 1928, it was the largest basketball arena in the United States until 1950. The ...

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...

are two other existing arenas with a raised floor.

Robertson Memorial Field House Robertson Memorial Field House was a multi-purpose arena on the Bradley University campus in Peoria, Illinois. The arena, built inside two surplus World War II airplane hangars in 1949 for $400,000 ($ in present terms), had a 3-foot (1 meter) r ...

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,400 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in five colleges. Th ...

, since demolished, also used a raised floor.

Seating capacity

From 1950 until the opening of

Marriott Center The Marriott Center is a multi-purpose arena in the western United States, located on the campus of Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. It is home to the BYU Cougars men's and women's basketball teams. The seating capacity for basketball ga ...

Brigham Young University Brigham Young University (BYU, sometimes referred to colloquially as The Y) is a private research university in Provo, Utah. It was founded in 1875 by religious leader Brigham Young and is sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-d ...

in 1971, it had the largest capacity of any collegiate basketball arena in the country.

also was constructed in 1928, and held the honor of being the highest capacity arena until the remodeling of Williams Arena in 1950.

References

conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/53976/1/umaaMag-027_4.pdf

External links