American Airlines Arena

The AmericanAirlines Arena (AAA) is a sports and entertainment arena located in Downtown Miami, Florida, along Biscayne Bay. It was constructed beginning in 1998 as a replacement for the Miami Arena and designed by the architecture firms Arquitectonica and 360 Architecture. The Arena is home to the Miami Heat of the National Basketball Association.

For the arena in Dallas, Texas, see American Airlines Center.
AmericanAirlines Arena
AAA
The Triple A
A3
Looking east to the main facade of AmericanAirlines Arena
AmericanAirlines Arena
Location in Miami
AmericanAirlines Arena
Location in Florida
AmericanAirlines Arena
Location in the United States
Address601 Biscayne Boulevard
LocationMiami, Florida
Coordinates25°46′53″N 80°11′17″W
Public transit Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre
Virgin MiamiCentral
Freedom Tower
Park West
Parking939 parking spaces
OwnerMiami-Dade County
OperatorBasketball Properties Ltd.
CapacityBasketball: 19,600;
16,500 (Without upper levels)
Concerts: 5,000-20,021
SurfaceMulti-surface
Construction
Broke groundFebruary 6, 1998
OpenedDecember 31, 1999
Construction cost$213 million
($327 million in 2019 dollars[1])
ArchitectArquitectonica
360 Architecture (formerly Heinlein Schrock Stearns)
Project managerParsons Brinckerhoff
Structural engineerThornton Tomasetti
Services engineerFlack+Kurtz[2]
General contractorMorse-Diesel/Odebrecht/Facchina[3]
Main contractorsJohn J. Kirlin, LLC[4]
Simpson Constructors[5]
Crown Corr Inc.[6]
Tenants
Miami Heat (NBA) (2000–present)
Miami Sol (WNBA) (2000–2002)

The AmericanAirlines Arena is directly served by the Miami Metrorail at Government Center station via free transfers to Metromover Omni Loop, providing direct service to Freedom Tower and Park West stations. The Arena is also within walking distance from the Historic Overtown/Lyric Theatre Metrorail station.

The AmericanAirlines Arena has 2,105 club seats, 80 luxury suites, and 76 private boxes. The Waterfront Theater is Florida's largest theater which is housed within the arena, that can seat between 3,000 and 5,800. The theater can be configured for concerts, family events, musical theatre and other stage shows. American Airlines which has a hub at Miami International Airport maintains the AmericanAirlines Arena Travel Center at the venue.[7]

In September 2019, it was reported that the arena will have a new name in 2020.[8][9][10]

The airline also holds the naming rights for another NBA venue, the American Airlines Center for the Dallas Mavericks and the Dallas Stars,[11] which opened in 2001.

History

The AmericanAirlines Arena opened on December 31, 1999, and its construction cost was $213 million. Architectural design team members included George Heinlein, Cristian Petschen, Reinaldo Borges, and Lance Simon. The AmericanAirlines Arena was inaugurated with a concert by Gloria Estefan. Two days later, on January 2, 2000, the Miami Heat played its first game in the new arena by defeating the Orlando Magic 111–103.

The main façade of the arena at night

As part of its sponsorship arrangement, American Airlines had a giant aircraft painted atop the arena's roof, with an American Airlines logo in the center. The design is visible from airplanes taking off and landing at Miami International Airport, where American has a hub. The arena also has luxury skyboxes called "Flagship Lounges", a trademark originally used for American's premium-class lounges at certain airports.

Local sportscasters often refer to the arena as the "triple-A". Some sports reporters on the local news stations such as WSVN have referred to the arena as "A3" (A cubed). The arena is known for its unusual scoreboard, designed by Artist Christopher Janney. Drawing on the underwater anemone forms, the scoreboard also changes colors depending on the atmosphere. For concerts in an arena configuration, end stage capacity is 12,202 for 180° shows, 15,402 for 270° shows, 18,309 for 360° shows. For center stage concerts the arena can seat 19,146.

The Miami Heat has not had to pay to use the $357-million venue, which sits on $38 million of county land; the county has paid $64 million in operating subsidies. "It was never a good deal," says former Miami-Dade Commissioner Katy Sorenson, who opposed the new arena in 1996. "There are certain politicians who just get stars in their eyes and don't really think about what the real cost is going to be."

WTVJ, the city's NBC owned-and-operated station in Miami, had their Downtown Miami Studios in the back of the arena from 2001 till 2011.

Although American Airlines underwent a significant rebrand in early 2013, the arena still uses the airline's old logo.

On September 10, 2019, it was reported that American Airlines said that it would not renew its naming rights upon expiration at the end of 2019. The new naming rights contract with a sponsor yet to be determined will be a ten-year/six-month deal lasting from January 1, 2020, to June 30, 2030 (to time with the end of the 2029-30 NBA season).[12]

Accessibility

Transportation
The arena as seen from Freedom Tower station.

Traffic congestion after events can cause delays for those who choose to drive to the arena. Visitors to the AmericanAirlines Arena are encouraged to take Metrorail, Metromover, or Metrobus, as parking can be scarce and expensive. Metromover's Freedom Tower station is located two blocks west of the arena. The nearest Metrorail stations are Government Center and Historic Overtown. The Metromover is free to ride and connects to Metrorail at Government Center station.

Parking on-site

AmericanAirlines Arena features 939 parking spaces during HEAT Games. On-site parking is reserved for Premium seat and Dewar's 12 Clubhouse ticket holders. On-site parking spaces must be pre-purchased through the Arena's Official Parking Provider, ParkJockey.[13][14]

Notable events

Basketball
The arena during game 3 of the 2006 NBA Finals
  • The American Airlines Arena along with the American Airlines Center in Dallas, hosted the 2006 NBA Finals and the 2011 NBA Finals. The Miami Heat played the Dallas Mavericks. The Heat won the championship in 2006 in Dallas and the Mavericks won in the 2011 rematch in Miami. These series were the first and second appearances in the NBA Finals for both franchises. As the airline held the naming rights to both venues, people nicknamed the matchups as the "American Airlines series".
  • The arena hosted the 2012, 2013 and 2014 NBA Finals along with the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City in 2012, and the AT&T Center in San Antonio in 2013 and 2014. In 2012, the Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games, winning the championship at home. In 2013, the Heat played the San Antonio Spurs. The Heat faced a 3–2 series deficit returning to Miami but won games 6 and 7 to defend their championship. In 2014, the Spurs defeated the Heat in five games in San Antonio and won the championship and the rematch.
  • Since 2015, the arena has hosted the annual Hoophall Miami Invitational, a NCAA Division I college basketball showcase event.

Professional wrestling

The arena hosted WCW Uncensored pay-per-view in 2000. Four major WWE pay-per-view events have been held at the arena: the Royal Rumble in 2006, Survivor Series in 2007 and 2010, and Hell in a Cell in 2013.

Other sports
  • The AmericanAirlines Arena also hosted the first UFC event in the state of Florida, UFC 42: Sudden Impact, on April 25, 2003.
  • The arena features a regulation NHL ice rink, though the arena has never hosted the sport, as the Florida Panthers have played in Sunrise at the BB&T Center since October 1998. The rink, lined with a smaller wall, instead accommodates ice shows such as Disney on Ice.[15]

Music
Shakira has performed 9 sold-out shows in AmericanAirlines Arena, the most number of appearances at the venue among all the artists. She also holds the record of having most shows in the venue within one single tour, Oral Fixation Tour in 2006, with 5 sold-out shows.
  • Arena during the 2004 NBA Playoffs
  • Front view of the AAA in July 2010
  • View from Biscayne Bay
  • View from the north at night
  • Arena at night

References
  1. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  2. "Westchester Reform Temple, Rogers Marvel Architects". www.architecturalrecord.com.
  3. "Facchina Group of Companies, LLC — Facchina Construction Company". Archived from the original on 2012-04-02. Retrieved 2011-09-10.
  4. AmericanAirlines Arena Archived 2011-09-14 at the Wayback Machine Kirlin
  5. Past Projects Archived 2012-04-02 at the Wayback Machine Simpson Constructors
  6. AmericanAirlines Arena Crown Corr
  7. "Miami And Coral Gables, FL Travel Center Archived 2009-04-06 at the Wayback Machine." American Airlines. Retrieved on April 9, 2009.
  8. Arnold, Kyle (September 11, 2019). "American Airlines giving up naming rights to Miami arena". dallasnews.com. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  9. Winderman, Ira (September 11, 2019). "American Airlines not renewing naming rights to Heat arena". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Retrieved September 11, 2019.
  10. Alvarez, Stefan (September 12, 2019). "Miami Heat: AmericanAirlines Arena to be renamed". allucanheat.com. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  11. "Stadium naming rights". ESPN. Retrieved 2019-04-14.
  12. Scheckner, Jesse (September 10, 2019). "it won't be called AmericanAirlines Arena next year". Miami today. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
  13. "The HEAT Group Teams Up With New Parking App, ParkJockey". Miami Heat.
  14. Sentenac, Hannah (2014-10-30). "Avoid Parking Hell at Miami Heat Games With ParkJockey App". Retrieved 2016-07-25.
  15. "Arena description page on Thornton Tomasetti website". Thornton Tomasetti. Retrieved 18 November 2019.
  16. Lindner, Emily (March 28, 2015). "Justin Bieber Joined Ariana Grande Onstage And She Rapped Big Sean's Part On 'As Long As You Love Me'". MTV. Viacom. Retrieved March 29, 2015.
  17. Sonawane, Vishakha (March 16, 2016). "Rihanna Performs Raunchy Moves With Drake At 'Anti' Tour Amid Dating Rumors". International Business Times. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  18. Chatterjee, Kika (June 11, 2016). "Twenty One Pilots, more dedicate songs to Christina Grimmie's memory—watch". Alternative Press. Retrieved June 13, 2016.
  19. Crandell, Ben (2016-10-25). "Review: Adele dazzles Miami crowd, Hillary Clinton". Retrieved 2016-10-26.
Events and tenants
Preceded by
Miami Arena		 Home of the Miami Heat
1999–present		 Succeeded by
current
Preceded by
none		 Home of the Miami Sol
2000–2002		 Succeeded by
none
Preceded by
Save Mart Center		 Home of the Royal Rumble
2006		 Succeeded by
AT&T Center
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