ARCO Arena

Lore & Background

The original ARCO Arena, where the Kings played their home games for three seasons (1985–1988) after moving from Kansas City, had a capacity of 10,333 seats. It was located at 1625 North Market, and is now a mixed-use office building. This arena was also the home for the Sacramento Attack of the Arena Football League in 1992, their only season, the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs until they folded in 2009 and the Sacramento River Rats of Roller Hockey International. ARCO Arena was located in a once isolated area on the expanding northern outskirts of the city. It was constructed at a cost of just $40 million, the lowest of any venue in the NBA. It was the smallest arena in the NBA with a seating capacity of 17,317, and had 30 luxury suites and 412 club seats. It hosted such varied events as concerts, ice shows, rodeos and monster truck rallies. At one time, nearly two million spectators from throughout Northern California visited ARCO Arena in a year. The configuration for ice shows and ice hockey actually ran perpendicular to the basketball court with the normal sideline seating being retractable to allow for an international standard ice rink. The arena was never intended to be a long-term facility – being a relic of the 1980s, it lacked a lot of amenities found later in more modern stadiums, like digital signage, spacious locker rooms, and wide concourses. NCAA cited that the arena was not adequate for college basketball (let alone the NBA), prompting plans to build a new facility. LeBron James, the NBA's all-time leading scorer, made his career regular season debut with the Cleveland Cavaliers at the arena on October 29, 2003. Despite losing the game to the Sacramento Kings, James scored 25 points. In 2006, there was a campaign to build a new $600 million facility in downtown Sacramento, which was to be funded by a quarter cent sales tax increase over 15 years; voters overwhelmingly rejected ballot measures Q and R, leading to the NBA publicly calling for a new arena to be built at another well-known Sacramento facility, Cal Expo, the site of California's state fair. The original namesake sponsor of the arena was ARCO. On March 19, 2007, the Maloof brothers announced a multi-year agreement extending the naming rights of ARCO Arena. ARCO's sponsorship agreement ran out in February 2011.

Reader's Guide

ARCO Arena hosted several state high school basketball championship games (1992, 1996, 1998–2009, 2011–2014, 2016). The arena also hosted NCAA men's basketball tournaments multiple times and was the host site for the 2007 NCAA Volleyball Championships. ARCO Arena hosted several WWE events including the 1993 Royal Rumble, Judgment Day 2001, and The Bash in 2009. ARCO Arena played host to four Ultimate Fighting Championship events: UFC 65, UFC 73, UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Benavidez 2 and UFC 177. The arena hosted World Extreme Cagefighting's first ever pay-per-view event, WEC 48, on April 24, 2010. It also hosted the WEC's two biggest events ever, WEC 34, Faber vs. Pulver 1, and WEC 41, Brown vs. Faber 2, with an average of 1,300,500 viewers on Versus each. It also hosted WEC. Other notable events include the five-day 1995 Billy Graham Greater Sacramento Crusade, which 177,000 people attended. A crowd of 47,500 people reportedly showed up on one night of the event, when Michael W. Smith was the musical guest; only 18,000 people were permitted inside and many watched on outside television screens. ARCO Arena hosted many graduation celebrations for local high schools. The arena hosted a PBR Built Ford Tough Series bull riding event every year from 2005 to 2016. ArCo Arena was also home to Monster Jam, and Arenacross. ARCO Park was an unfinished multi-purpose stadium directly north of the arena. The original plan was to have a Triple–A minor-league baseball stadium adjacent to the basketball arena. The stadium would have been capable of expansion to accommodate both a Major League Baseball team (possibly the Oakland Athletics) and a National Football League team (possibly the-then Los Angeles Raiders). However, the facility was never finished because the Sacramento Sports Association ran out of money during construction in 1989 and a team was never secured. A tunnel connecting the basketball arena to the unfinished stadium remained; the tunnel was colloquially known as the 'clown cave', as clowns from the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus used the tunnel as a dress and rehearsal space. With the closure of ARCO Arena and the subsequent redevelopment of the site into California Northstate University's Medical Center Campus, the remnants of the cancelled stadium are likely to be demolished.

Did You Know?

• The Sacramento Attack played their only season (1992) at the second ARCO Arena (opened 1988), not the original 1985 arena.
• The Sacramento Monarchs played at the second ARCO Arena (opened 1988) until they folded in 2009, not the original 1985 arena.

Origins and Architectural Constraints

Constructed in 1988 at a cost of $40 million, the lowest of any NBA venue, ARCO Arena was located in a once-isolated area on the expanding northern outskirts of Sacramento. It was the smallest arena in the NBA with a seating capacity of 17,317, 30 luxury suites, and 412 club seats. The arena was never intended to be a long-term facility—being a relic of the 1980s, it lacked digital signage, spacious locker rooms, and wide concourses. NCAA cited that the arena was not adequate for college basketball, prompting plans for a new facility. The configuration for ice shows and ice hockey ran perpendicular to the basketball court, with retractable sideline seating allowing for an international standard ice rink.

Naming Rights and Commercial Evolution

The original namesake sponsor was ARCO, a Los Angeles–based independent oil and gas company now a brand owned by Marathon Petroleum. On March 19, 2007, the Maloof brothers announced a multi-year extension of the naming rights. ARCO's sponsorship ran out in February 2011. The arena was renamed Power Balance Pavilion on March 1, 2011, for its new sponsor, Power Balance, a manufacturer of sports wristbands. On October 15, 2012, the arena assumed its final name when The Sleep Train purchased the naming rights. Sleep Train was a chain of mattress retailers based in Rocklin, California, then a subsidiary of Mattress Firm. On March 19, 2022, the Sacramento Kings hosted the final event, reverting to the original ARCO Arena name for a free farewell event.

Defining Moments and Cultural Impact

LeBron James made his NBA regular-season debut at the arena on October 29, 2003, scoring 25 points for the Cleveland Cavaliers in a loss to the Kings. The arena hosted nearly 200 spectator events each year, including concerts by Britney Spears and Linkin Park. It was home to the Sacramento Attack of the Arena Football League in 1992, the WNBA's Sacramento Monarchs until they folded in 2009, and the Sacramento River Rats of Roller Hockey International. The arena hosted WWE events including the 1993 Royal Rumble, Judgment Day 2001, and The Bash in 2009. It also hosted four UFC events: UFC 65, UFC 73, UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Benavidez 2, and UFC 177. The last Kings home game was on April 9, 2016, a 114–112 win against the Oklahoma City Thunder, with Rudy Gay scoring the final points on two free throws.

Demolition and Future Redevelopment

After the Kings left, the arena still hosted occasional events such as conferences and swap meets. Jehovah's Witnesses used the arena for an extended stay in 2019. In April 2020, state health officials announced the arena would be converted into a temporary hospital in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2021, the Sacramento Kings and the City of Sacramento announced the site had been donated to California Northstate University for a medical school and hospital. On March 19, 2022, the Kings hosted a free farewell event reverting to the ARCO Arena name. Demolition began on August 9, 2022, and was completed in October 2022. The site is still open to the public, though mostly abandoned; the parking lot remains the site of the Sacramento Antique Faire.