Spectrum Center

Lore & Background

The arena opened in October 2005 as Charlotte Bobcats Arena. The name was changed to Time Warner Cable Arena when the naming rights were purchased in 2008. When Charter Communications purchased Time Warner Cable in 2016, the name was again changed to reflect the Spectrum trade name. The arena was originally intended to host the original Hornets franchise in the early 2000s. The Hornets' arena, Charlotte Coliseum, was considered outdated despite being only 13 years old, primarily owing to the arena only containing eight luxury suites, whereas the Palace of Auburn Hills, which opened the same year as the Coliseum, had 180. In 2001, a non-binding public referendum for an arts package, which included money to build the new uptown arena, was placed on the ballot for voters; it failed with 43% for building the arena and 57% opposed. City leaders then devised a way to build a new arena that did not require voter support, but let it be known that they wouldn't consider building it unless then-Hornets' owner George Shinn sold the team. As it turned out, the NBA approved the Hornets' application to move to New Orleans. However, the league promised that the city would get a new team—which became the Bobcats—as part of the deal. The total cost of the arena to Charlotte and Mecklenburg County was not known, but estimated at $260 million. The construction was approved by the city council, which did not opt to present another referendum to the public. The arena opened as the Charlotte Bobcats Arena on October 21, 2005, costing $265 million. Architects hoped the building would bring the city together, as its location and large outdoor plaza, among other features, would suggest. The building's concourses and open design, plus artwork throughout also suggests the concept of community and socializing. One major feature of the arena was its original center-hung scoreboard, which was not only the largest scoreboard in any NBA arena when it debuted, but also featured a one-of-a-kind light-up 360 degree 3D mural of the Charlotte skyline. In early 2006, the arena became the subject of controversy when the Bobcats charged a $15,000 fee to Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools for graduation ceremonies held at the building. The fee was eventually waived following media attention from a local newspaper. Many high schools in the area moved graduations to Bojangles Coliseum. As part of the deal

In Their Own Story

November, 1974. The Spectrum smells like wet wool and floor wax. You're in the lower bowl, row K, and the ice is a pale blue-white under the lights that hum at a frequency you feel in your molars. The Flyers are up by one, two minutes left, and the guy next to you — a broad-shouldered dock worker from South Philly who you've never met but will now know by name for the rest of the season — has both hands on the railing, knuckles white, jaw working. The puck is in the offensive zone. A cross-check. The sound of the stick on the body is a wet, flat *thwack* that carries through the entire building. The dock worker roars. You roar. The concrete floor under your shoes trembles. The goalie makes a save, the crowd exhales as one organism, and then the puck goes in and the Spectrum detonates. Not cheers. A detonation. A single, sustained, bone-deep sound that you will spend the next fifty years trying to explain to people who have never been inside a hockey building when the net moves. The dock worker grabs your arm. You grab his. You are, for the next twenty minutes, the same person.

Reader's Guide

The Spectrum Center has hosted notable NCAA basketball games including NCAA tournament games in 2008, 2011, 2015, 2018, and 2024; the arena hosted the first ever 16–1 upset in the NCAA Tournament since the 64-team field was adopted (UMBC Retrievers upset Virginia Cavaliers 74–54 on March 16, 2018). It has hosted the ACC men's basketball tournament in 2008, 2019, 2025, 2026, and 2028; the Southern Conference men's basketball tournament in 2010; and the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) men's and women's basketball tournaments from 2006–2020. The Charlotte 49ers basketball teams have played a few games at Spectrum Center since its opening. On January 27, 2018, the arena hosted its first UFC event for UFC on Fox: Jacaré vs. Brunson 2. The promotion returned on May 13, 2023, for UFC on ABC: Rozenstruik vs. Almeida. In 2012, the Spectrum Center hosted the Democratic National Convention. In 2016, the arena hosted the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions. It was scheduled to host the 2017 NBA All-Star Game, but was removed as host on July 21, 2016, due to the league's opposition against North Carolina's Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act. The league said consideration for Charlotte to host in 2019 would remain if changes were made; on May 24, 2017, Charlotte and the arena were officially announced as hosts of the 2019 NBA All-Star Game. The arena was originally scheduled to host the 2020 Republican National Convention, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic the event was scaled back with Day 1 events taking place at the Charlotte Convention Center and the remainder of the convention being held virtually. The Spectrum Center has had two other permanent tenants besides the Hornets: the Charlotte Checkers of the ECHL (vacated Bojangles' Coliseum to play in the new arena in fall 2005; when the ECHL Checkers gave way to an American Hockey League team with the same name, they remained at the arena; on December 16, 2014, it was announced the Checkers would move back to Bojangles' Coliseum starting with the 2015–16 AHL season; overall, both incarnations of the Checkers played 10 seasons at the arena) and the Charlotte Sting of the WNBA (the source article mentions 'The WN' but does not provide further details).

Did You Know?

• The arena opened in October 2005 as Charlotte Bobcats Arena, not in 1973.
• The arena is located in Charlotte, North Carolina, not Philadelphia.
• The arena's only current tenant is the Charlotte Hornets of the NBA; it has never been home to the Philadelphia Flyers.
• The arena was not demolished in 2003; it remains in operation and is undergoing renovations.