Civic Arena (Pittsburgh)
Pittsburgh Penguins (NHL, 1967-2010 ) Pittsburgh Xplosion (CBA, 2005-2008) Pittsburgh Rens ( ABL, 1961-1963 ) Pittsburgh Hornets ( AHL, 1961-1967 ) Pittsburgh Pipers / Condors (ABA, 1967-1973 ) Pittsburgh Triangles ( World Team Tennis, 1974-1976 ) Pittsburgh Spirit ( MISL, 1978-1980, 1981-1986 ) Pittsburgh Gladiators ( AFL, 1987-1990) Pittsburgh Bulls ( MILL, 1990-1993) Pittsburgh Phantoms (RHI, 1994) Pittsburgh Stingers ( CISL, 1994-1995) Pittsburgh Piranhas (CBA, 1994-1995) Pittsburgh CrosseFire ( NLL, 2000)
The Mellon Arena ( 1961-1999 Civic Arena) was an indoor arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Arena, nicknamed Igloo was until 1967 to 2010 the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League, and was previously home of the Pittsburgh Hornets in the AHL. In addition, here the Pittsburgh Condors played among others the Pittsburgh Pipers in the ABA and the Pittsburgh Spirit. The Arena had 17,537 seats for hockey, and there were 56 luxury suites and 1,696 club seats.
The Mellon Arena was in the last season of their use by the Penguins is the oldest and third smallest stadium in the NHL. It was built in 1961 for $ 22 million. Originally the stadium was not planned for sporting events, but for the local Civic Light Opera, which occurred up to that point in Pitt Stadium. The building was created with a retractable dome (diameter: 126 meters) built, which consisted of eight stainless panels, six of which could be operated within two and a half minutes while the remaining two static.
The Civic Light Opera left the arena in 1968, when it became clear that the acoustics were too bad. The Pittsburgh Hornets moved in 1961 and 1967 were replaced by the Pittsburgh Penguins. The stadium was in 1975 and 1993 gradually extended with additional ranks on each side, luxury suites and club seats, bringing the capacity of 12,000 spectators rose to over 17,000. By attaching a new scoreboard in 1995, the roof could not be fully opened and closed.
The arena was the venue for the 1995 action movie "Sudden Death" with Jean -Claude van Damme.
Finally, the owner of the Penguins complained that the old arena is too expensive and not enough produce of spectators to keep the team profitable. The aim was to build a new arena to prevent a departure from the Pittsburgh Penguins. The beginning of 2008 an agreement was reached with the administration of the funding. Immediately adjacent to the arena was built on the area of a former hospital, the Consol Energy Center, which was ready for the season 2010 /2011.
Despite local efforts to maintain the arena as a building with monument status, she was torn between October 2011 and June 2012. From the steel beams of the roof structure established a forge in Pittsburgh souvenirs, of which about 40,000 units were sold in favor of charitable purposes.