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Amalie Arena (officially stylized as AMALIE Arena) is a multipurpose arena in Tampa, Florida, that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, arena football, concerts, and other events. It is mainly used as the home for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League.
The building opened in 1996 and was originally known as the Ice Palace. In August 2002, the building's naming rights were sold to the St. Petersburg Times, which became the Tampa Bay Times in January 2012; accordingly, the arena was known as the St. Pete Times Forum (2002–2012) and Tampa Bay Times Forum (2012–2014). In September 2014, the arena was renamed Amalie Arena when the naming rights were transferred to Amalie Oil Company.
The venue, located in Downtown Tampa's Channelside District, was a secondary location chosen after the failure of Tampa Coliseum Inc. to secure funding to construct an arena on Tampa Sports Authority land near Tampa Stadium. The city of Tampa paid $86 million and the Tampa Bay Lightning paid $53 million for the venue's construction and infrastructure. It opened in 1996 as the Ice Palace. Its first event was a performance by the Royal Hanneford Circus. The first hockey game was the Lightning hosting the New York Rangers, which the Lightning won 5–2.
The arena, built as a new home for the Lightning, was necessary because of the lack of a major league-sized arena in the Tampa Bay Area. The largest existing arenas in the region that were best shaped for hockey were Bayfront Arena in St. Petersburg, the Expo Hall at the Florida State Fairgrounds in Tampa, and the USF Sun Dome on the campus of the University of South Florida in Tampa. However, all of these were either too small for an NHL team to use long term, as their capacities were only 5,800 for Bayfront Arena and 10,425 for the Expo Hall, or would need to undergo extensive renovations to make space for hockey in the case of the Sun Dome (which after renovations would then only have an estimated capacity in the mid-7,000s for hockey, making it too small as well). Prior to the opening of the Ice Palace, the Lightning spent one season at the Expo Hall, and then moved to the Florida Suncoast Dome, which was renamed the "Thunderdome", in St. Petersburg in 1993. The Thunderdome, now Tropicana Field, is currently home to Major League Baseball's Tampa Bay Rays.
The arena is owned by Hillsborough County and leased to the Tampa Sports Authority. The authority leases the arena back to the Lightning, who operate it. The current lease agreement ties the arena to the Lightning ownership.
Naming rights to the arena were sold to the then St. Petersburg Times, the largest local newspaper in the Tampa Bay area. Other entertainment events occasionally held in the Forum include concerts, NBA exhibition games, USF basketball and NCAA men's and women's basketball tournament games, NCAA Frozen Four games, tennis, professional wrestling, boxing, figure skating, and rodeos (as well as stand-alone bull riding events; the Forum has hosted an event by the PBR's premier tour, the Built Ford Tough Series, annually since 1998).
In 2010, the Tampa Bay Times Forum was ranked as the fourth busiest arena in the United States.
A $35 million renovation was scheduled to be completed before the 2012 Republican National Convention. The renovation included a rebuilt grand plaza entrance, elimination of 2 lower-level suites in each corner (8 of current 28 suites) leaving views from the concourse area to the playing area, renovation of each suite, elimination of sections 323 and 324 on the terrace level (574 seats) for a bar and stage area that will feature a new digital theater organ, more concessions areas on the terrace level, an 11,000-square-foot (1,000 m2) outdoor deck and party area overlooking outside plaza and facing the downtown skyline, new climate controls that improve both the ice surface and spectator comfort, new lighting, all new padded seats, resurfaced and redecorated concourse, combining Icons and Medallions restaurants into one venue, and updated restrooms.
Also in 2012, the Tampa Bay Times Forum installed a new video display board. The board is billed as the largest of its kind in North America. Its two larger faces measure 28 × 50 feet (8.5 × 15.2 m), while its two smaller faces are 28 × 20 feet (8.5 × 6.1 m). In comparison, the arena's old display board measured 16 × 28 feet (4.9 × 8.5 m) on all sides.
On September 3, 2014, Lightning owner Jeff Vinik announced the renaming of the Forum to Amalie Arena after coming to an agreement with Amalie Oil Company, a motor oil company based in Tampa.
Also in late 2014, the arena debuted its 1-acre organic vegetable garden to help feed players and fans. Utilizing an outside area in the back devoted to cooling pipes and recycling bins, a deck was built along with 125 hydroponic towers.
For the 2020–21 NBA season, the Toronto Raptors played their home games in Amalie Arena due to travel restrictions imposed by the Canadian government in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.
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