Jordan Brand Identity

Lore & Background

The arena is owned by the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families, who also own the teams that play there. The first event held was WWF SummerSlam. It hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1996 and 2024, and served as a municipal emergency hub during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The arena features a statue of Michael Jordan, erected in 1994, originally outside but now inside an atrium extension added in 2017. The atrium addition opened in March 2017, and the Jordan statue was relocated to it at that time. Statues of Blackhawks players Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita also stand inside the arena, while a statue of various Blackhawks players is located across the street on the site of Chicago Stadium.

Reader's Guide

The United Center seats 19,717 for hockey, 20,917 for basketball, and up to 23,500 for concerts. It hosts over 200 events per year and has drawn over 20 million visitors since opening. The Bulls and Blackhawks own and operate the arena through a 50/50 partnership called the United Center Joint Venture. The Bulls' practice facility, The Advocate Center, is located a block east; the Blackhawks' practice facility, Fifth Third Arena, is two blocks south. The arena's acoustics were designed to amplify noise, with angled steel panels reflecting sound back into the bowl. The Blackhawks use an Allen TH323 Theatre Organ, a replica of the Chicago Stadium's Barton organ. The original construction cost $175 million.

Did You Know?

• The United Center is the largest arena in the United States in size, though not in capacity.
• The hardwood floor for Bulls games is laid over the ice used by the Blackhawks and is assembled like a puzzle.
• The arena originally had 216 luxury sky-boxes, reduced to 169 after the 2009–10 renovation.
• The first video scoreboard used by the Bulls and Blackhawks was a Sony Jumbotron installed at the arena's opening.