Helsinki Halli (formerly Hartwall Arena) is a large 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 spectato ...

located in

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 ...

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 Bo ...

. It was opened in April 1997. The arena is convertible for various events. The total seated capacity during

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

games is 13,349 (about 14,000 for basketball, for

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 variet ...

s up to 15,000) and as an amphitheatre, it is significantly reduced to between 3,000 to 5,000. The Russian-owned arena has been unused since March 2022 due to EU sanctions related to the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...

. The main sponsor, Hartwall, also ended its sponsorship and the arena's name was changed.

Construction and facilities

The initiative for building the arena came from Harry "Hjallis" Harkimo in 1994. It was built to be ready for 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 annu ...

in 1997, and was delivered by the constructor on 11 April 1997. The building is elliptical, 153 metres long and 123 metres wide. It also has a practice arena 37 metres underground, used by many hockey teams. It is connected to a multi-storey carpark, which has a total capacity of 1,421 vehicles. The arena is situated next to Pasila railway station, which is the second busiest railway station in Finland, 3.5 km north of the Helsinki Central railway station.

Other and former names

The national broadcaster Yle calls the arena "Helsingin areena" or "Helsingforsarenan" ("The Helsinki Arena" in Finnish and Swedish). The newspaper Helsingin Sanomat calls it "Helsinki-areena". It was branded as "Hartwall Areena" from its opening until 2014, and as "Hartwall Arena" thereafter until 2 March 2022. The beverage company Hartwall, also based in Helsinki, was its largest sponsor, and thus got 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 ...

. Hartwall ended its sponsorship in March 2022, to avoid association with the Russian main owners of the arena, Roman Rotenberg and Gennady Timchenko, in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Events

Entertainment

Sports

The arena is the home venue of the ice hockey team Jokerit. The arena has also been used for

World Figure Skating Championships The World Figure Skating Championships (''"Worlds"'') is an annual figure skating competition sanctioned by the International Skating Union. Medals are awarded in the categories of men's singles, women's singles, pair skating, and ice dance. ...

NHL Challenge The NHL Challenge series allows select NHL teams to travel outside North America to conduct training camp and participate in exhibition games. Although the games are played on the larger European ice surface, they are officiated by NHL referees an ...

, and

World Cup of Hockey The World Cup of Hockey is an international ice hockey tournament. Inaugurated in 1996, it is the successor to the Canada Cup, which was held every 3 to 5 years from 1976 to 1991 and was the first international hockey championship to allow nat ...

. On October 2nd 2009, the NHL opened its season in the arena with a matchup between the Chicago Blackhawks and the Florida Panthers, making it the first NHL game to be held in Finland. In May 2011, the arena served as the main venue of the 2012 IIHF World Championship. It hosted all Group A games and quarterfinals, all semifinals and the bronze and gold medal games. Group B games and quarterfinals were hosted in Ericsson Globe, Stockholm. It also co-hosted the 2013 IIHF World Championship with Ericsson Globe, but in 2013 all games after quarterfinals were played in Stockholm. The arena was one of the host venues of the 2016 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships. Its assignment included hosting the gold-medal game, in which Kasperi Kapanen scored an Overtime goal to win Gold for Finland on home ice. One of the group stages of EuroBasket 2017, was also played at the arena. The arena hosted two 2018–19 regular season NHL games between the Winnipeg Jets and

Florida Panthers The Florida Panthers are a professional ice hockey team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference, and initially played their home game ...

on Thursday, 1 November 2018 and Friday, 2 November 2018 as part of the 2018 NHL Global Series.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1997 establishments in Finland Buildings and structures in Helsinki Indoor arenas in Finland Indoor ice hockey venues in Finland Jokerit

Pasila Sports venues completed in 1997 Sports venues in Helsinki