Enterprise Center

Lore & Background

The arena opened in 1994 as the Kiel Center. It was known as the Savvis Center from 2000 to 2006, and Scottrade Center from 2006 to 2018. On May 21, 2018, the St. Louis Blues and representatives of Enterprise Holdings announced that the naming rights had been acquired by Enterprise and that the facility's name, since July 1, 2018, adopted its current name. The site was home to Charles H. Turpin's Booker T. Washington Theater, which was replaced by the Municipal Auditorium, a venue renamed for mayor Henry Kiel after his death in 1943. The Opera House portion of the building was not razed when the original Auditorium was but remained closed since 1992, until it reopened in 2011 as the Peabody Opera House, now known as the Stifel Theatre.

Reader's Guide

The facility's seating capacity for hockey has varied since opening. The largest crowd to attend an event at the arena was 22,612, which happened twice during the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament. The largest non-sporting event crowd was for a Bon Jovi concert in May 2011, with 20,648 in attendance. A three-phase renovation of the arena began in 2017 and was completed in 2019, with all building works being done in the hockey offseason. The building is operated by SLB Acquisition Holdings LLC, owner of the St. Louis Blues, under its chairman, Tom Stillman.

Did You Know?

• The first professional sports match played in the arena was by the St. Louis Ambush, an indoor soccer team.
• Head Ice Technician Jim Schmuke has been employed there since August 1994 and has been with the St. Louis Blues organization since 1979.
• The arena has hosted the Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament annually since 1995.

Architectural Evolution and Renovation

The venue's physical transformation began in 2017 with a comprehensive three-phase renovation project designed to modernize facilities while minimizing disruption to the hockey season. Work was strategically scheduled during offseason periods, starting with critical engineering upgrades including new lighting, sound systems, HVAC units, and an updated ice plant. This initial phase also introduced free Wi-Fi, rebuilt dressing rooms, and replaced lower-tier seating on the west end with premium theater boxes.

The second stage focused on replacing all upper-tier seats and adding similar luxury boxes to the east side, alongside a reconstructed concourse featuring new club areas and a beer garden opening directly onto 14th Street. The final phase in 2019 completed the overhaul by refreshing lower-tier seating and renovating private suites. These extensive improvements ensured the arena remained competitive, updating its infrastructure from its original 1994 configuration to meet modern spectator expectations for comfort and technology.

A Complex History of Naming Rights

Since opening as the Kiel Center in 1994, the facility has undergone four distinct name changes reflecting shifting corporate partnerships. The initial identity honored Mayor Henry Kiel before transitioning to Savvis Center in 2000; however, this deal proved problematic when the tech bubble burst, leaving the Blues organization holding nearly worthless stock shares instead of cash compensation. In 2006, Scottrade secured a long-term agreement described as one of the fastest naming rights deals ever recorded, though this arrangement ended abruptly after TD Ameritrade acquired Scottrade and declined to continue the sponsorship.

On May 21, 2018, Enterprise Holdings, a local car rental giant, finalized a fifteen-year deal that officially renamed the venue Enterprise Center on July 1 of that year. Despite these frequent corporate rebrandings, the original Kiel name persists on the adjoining parking structure and building cornerstone, while nearby transit signs now simply read "Civic Center" to avoid confusion.

Operational Scope and Event Diversity

As an eighteen-thousand-seat multi-purpose arena in downtown St. Louis, the facility serves as a bustling hub hosting approximately one hundred seventy-five events annually. While it is primarily known as the home of the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues, its calendar includes NCAA basketball and hockey tournaments, professional wrestling matches, and major concerts. The venue has demonstrated significant versatility, drawing massive crowds for non-sporting attractions; a Bon Jovi concert in 2011 attracted over twenty thousand attendees, while the Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball tournament twice drew peak crowds exceeding twenty-two thousand.

Although industry rankings once placed it among the top ten global arenas for non-team ticket sales, its standing had slipped to the upper sixties by 2017. The operational team includes long-tenured staff like Head Ice Technician Jim Schmuke, who has been with the organization since 1979, ensuring consistent quality across all event types.

Cultural Legacy and Community Integration

The arena stands on a site rich in local history, replacing the Municipal Auditorium which itself succeeded the Booker T. Washington Theater. A significant portion of its legacy involves the restoration of the adjacent Opera House, which remained closed for nearly two decades after the original auditorium's demolition due to failed renovation promises by Civic Progress Inc. In 2009, city officials voted to subsidize a seventy-nine million dollar renovation under new ownership, leading to its reopening as the Peabody Opera House in 2011 before eventually becoming the Stifel Theatre.

This cultural revival complements the arena's sporting identity, which is further enriched by traditions like rotating local singers performing the national anthem and the return of retired singer Charles Glenn during the team's historic 2019 Stanley Cup run. The facility remains deeply woven into the fabric of St. Louis life through its enduring staff and evolving community spaces.