Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena

Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena
The Arena, Brown County Arena, The Vet
Location Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, U.S.
Coordinates 44°30′01″N 88°03′24″W / 44.50028°N 88.05667°W / 44.50028; -88.05667Coordinates: 44°30′01″N 88°03′24″W / 44.50028°N 88.05667°W / 44.50028; -88.05667
Owner Brown County
Operator PMI Entertainment Group
Capacity 5,248
Construction
Broke ground 1957
Opened November 11, 1958
Construction cost $2 million
Tenants
UW–Green Bay Phoenix (NCAA) (1968-2002)
Green Bay Gamblers (USHL) (1994–2002)
Green Bay Bobcats (1958-1981)

The Brown County Veterans Memorial Arena (more commonly known as the Brown County Arena) is a 5,248-seat multi-purpose arena in Ashwaubenon, Wisconsin, situated on the corner of Lombardi Avenue and Oneida Street, across from Lambeau Field. The arena opened on November 11, 1958.[1]

It was the city and county's main indoor venue, until the Resch Center opened in 2002.

It also was the home arena for the University of Wisconsin–Green Bay basketball teams.

Events

The monster truck Bigfoot jumping inside the arena (2015)

It hosted the 1991 Mid-Continent Conference (now Summit League) men's basketball tournament and the Midwestern Collegiate Conference (now Horizon League) men's basketball tournament in 1998.

The Arena continues to play host to concerts, ice shows, local sporting shows, high school graduations and other events, but has largely been phased out as a sports arena, because of its age and lack of seating. Most area sports teams that once used the arena now play home games in the newer Resch Center, which is right next door, though it remains in use as a secondary sports venue due to any scheduling conflicts at the Resch Center.

Brown County Arena played host to several WWF events in the 1980s and resuming again in the early 2000s, with house shows.

Pro wrestling

In the early 1990s the World Wrestling Federation would hold live events as well as WWF TV tapings in the arena. WCW would also go on to have many live events at the arena. In 1998 the WWF took a three year hiatus from the Brown County Arena. In January 2001 and in February 2002, the World Wrestling Federation returned with two house shows before leaving their older location for the brand new Resch Center.

The XWF held three live, house show type events in their first ever tour outside of the original tapings that took place at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. These events occurred in December 2001. One of the venues the XWF ran was the Brown County Arena. The other stops on the tour included Hammond Indiana and Milwaukee Wisconsin. Despite being an unknown company to nearly all who attended the XWF in Your Face House drew a large crowd with legends such as, Curt Hennig, The Road Warriors, the Nasty Boys and Rowdy Roddy Piper along with younger talent left over from the WWF's acquisition of WCW, including Vampiro, Buff Bagwell, and Norman Smiley. BCA also hosted AWA Wrestling before going out of business.

See also

References

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