Amerant Bank Arena

Did You Know?

• The arena was formerly home to the Florida Pit Bulls of the American Basketball Association, the Miami Caliente of the Lingerie Football League, and the Florida Bobcats of the AFL.
• It hosts the annual Orange Bowl Basketball Classic every December.

History

In December 1995, Sunrise City Manager Pat Salerno unveiled a $167-million plan for a civic center near the Sawgrass Expressway, and Broward County approved construction in February 1996. The Panthers selected the site in June 1996, and the following month Alex Muxo assembled architects, engineers, and contractors for the first major design session. The building included seventy suites with wet bars, closed-circuit monitors, and leather upholstery, plus private lounge box seating. Over fifty subcontractors contributed 2.3 million man-hours without a single injury. Naming rights were purchased in July 1998 by National Car Rental, which Huizenga had bought in January 1997, and the venue was called the National Car Rental Center. A certificate of occupancy was issued on September 12, 1998, and the arena opened on October 3, 1998, with a Celine Dion concert. The Florida Panthers played their first home game there on October 9, 1998, defeating the Tampa Bay Lightning 4–1.

Notable events

The arena hosted the 2001 and 2015 NHL entry drafts. It was the site of the 2003 NHL All-Star Game on February 2, 2003, where the Western Conference beat the Eastern Conference 6–5 in a shootout, the first official shootout in NHL history. The 2021 NHL All-Star Game scheduled for the arena was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The arena hosted the 2023 NHL All-Star Game on February 4, 2023. It held games of the 2023 Stanley Cup Final (third and fourth games) and the 2024 Stanley Cup Final (first, second, fifth, and seventh games), with the Panthers clinching the Stanley Cup in the final game. The arena also hosted the third, fourth, and sixth games of the 2025 Stanley Cup Final, where the Panthers again clinched the Cup. Latin programming expanded from 2019 onward, including the Latin Billboard Music Awards in 2020, the Latin American Music Awards in 2021, Amor A La Musica in 2022 and 2023, and Uforia Mix Live in 2022. Marco Antonio Solís set the Latin gross revenue record in April 2022 and broke his own record on April 1, 2023; Juan Luis Guerra set a new Latin ticket sales and gross record on April 22, 2023. Boxing and mixed martial arts events included EliteXC: Heat on October 4, 2008, featuring Seth Petruzelli and Kimbo Slice; a lightweight bout between Nate Campbell and Ali Funeka on February 15, 2009; Strikeforce: Miami on January 30, 2010; and UFC on FX 3 on June 8, 2012.