Toyota Center

Toyota Center is an indoor arena located in downtown Houston, Texas. It is named after the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The arena is home to the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association, the principal users of the building, and the former home of the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League.

Rockets owner Leslie Alexander first began to request a new arena in 1995, and attempted to release the Rockets from their lease at The Summit, which ran until 2003. However, he was denied by arena owner Chuck Watson, then-owner of the Aeros, who also wanted control of a new arena. The two sides agreed to equal control over an arena in a deal signed in 1997, but the proposal was rejected by city voters in a 1999 referendum. It was not until the city and the Rockets signed an amended agreement in 2001, excluding the Aeros, that the proposal was accepted.

Construction began in July 2001, and the new arena was officially opened in October 2003. The total costs were $235 million, with the city of Houston paying the majority, and the Rockets paying for enhancements. Toyota paid $100 million for the naming rights.

Toyota Center (disambiguation)

Toyota Center is the name of several arenas in the United States:

See also

Toyota Center (Kennewick)

The Toyota Center is a multi-purpose arena in the northwest United States, located in Kennewick, Washington.

The arena opened 28 years ago in 1988 as the Tri-Cities Coliseum; the name was changed in 2004 to the Three Rivers Coliseum to match the Three Rivers Convention Center, which was built next door in the same year. In October 2005, a deal was reached between the city of Kennewick and Toyota, which agreed to pay $2 million over ten years for naming rights. The city uses the funds for needed improvements and upgrades to the facility. A smaller facility next door, built by the city in 1998, was named "Toyota Arena."

Sports

The Toyota Center is home to the Western Hockey League's Tri-City Americans hockey team and the Tri-Cities Fever of the Indoor Football League. The center was formerly the home of the Tri-City Chinook of the Continental Basketball Association. During the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle, the venue was used for ice hockey, since the Kingdome was in use by the Mariners. It has also hosted the state championships for high school volleyball, held in November.