Things to do / Travel Guide
Address:One Sports Parkway
Sacramento, California
Our Sports Superfan Says:
Without a doubt, ARCO Arena is one of the loudest venues in all of sports. With the National Basketball Association's Sacramento Kings the only top-level professional team in the city, Kings fans pack the house nightly and make sure the opponents feel the pressure. In addition to the Kings' 41 regular season games (and assorted pre and post-season games) per year, the arena is also home to the 2005 WNBA champion Sacramento Monarchs. It has also housed NCAA Tournament games, assorted National Hockey League contests, wrestling events, concerts, and assorted other events. In all, ARCO Arena, as the biggest arena in the greater Sacramento area, hosts almost 200 events annually.
When the Kings originally moved out west from Kansas City, in 1985, they played in a temporary home, also called Arco Arena. In 1988, the current arena was completed for a mere $40 million, and the Kings moved into their new digs. By way of comparison, the owners of the Kings, the Maloof Brothers of Las Vegas hotel fame, are now looking to build a new arena to replace ARCO at a cost of $600 million.
Possibly because the arena is the third smallest in the NBA, seating only 17,317 for basketball games, the Kings had sold out 354 games in a row before that streak was snapped in the first game of the 2007-08 season. In 2006, the raucous crowd set the Guinness World Record for "loudest sports roar," by reaching an amazing 130 decibels in a game against the Pistons. No wonder the Kings have won more than 62 percent of their regular season games at ARCO, including almost 70 percent since 1994-95.
Unfortunately, the arena is located towards the outskirts of the city, and therefore is only accessible by car.