Mellon Arena (Location)

Mellon Arena

LOCATION

Mellon Arena is the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Overview

Mellon Arena is an indoor sports arena, which is home to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Mellon Arena seats around 17,000 fans, includes 56 luxury suites and 1,696 club seats for fans to enjoy the game.

History

Pittsburgh Civic Arena, as it was originally known, was built back in 1961, which makes it the oldest NHL arena still in use today. The Civic Arena was originally intended to house the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. However, poor acoustics made this impossible and the group was forced to leave in 1968. The Penguins began using the stadium in 1967 and the arena began to gradually expand. The Civic Arena played host to many large events including the NHL All-Star games (1990) the Stanley Cup Finals (1991-1992) and various WWF events. In 1999, the Civic Arena changed its name to Mellon Arena after an 18-million, 10-year agreement.

Today

In recent years, the age of the building has become a problem. However, on March 13, 2007 the Penguins, the city of Pittsburgh, Allegheny County and the state of Pennsylvania announced that a new stadium will be built for the start of the 2010/2011 NHL season. It is expected that the 2009/2010 season will be the Penguins last year in Mellon Arena.