Movistar Arena

Movistar Arena
Former names	Arena Santiago (April 2006-October 2008)
Location	Av. Beaucheff 1204, O'Higgins Park Santiago, Chile
Broke ground	1956
Opened	April 15, 2006
Capacity	12,000 (stands) 16,000 (concerts)

Movistar Arena, formerly known as Arena Santiago is a multipurpose theater located in Santiago, Chile, located inside O'Higgins Park, in downtown Santiago. It was built from unfinished "Estadio Techado Parque O'Higgins" and designed to accommodate sporting events, trade, culture and leisure, with a capacity of 12,000 fixed seats, four balconies with boxes, and 3,000 people standing on the central court, 1,500 parking spaces, air-conditioning, lifts and disabled access.

The total area of the stadium is 44,000 square meters, of which 31,000 are from the arena itself, which has a dome located 45 meters high and a 4-sided electronic scoreboard so people can see from all over the results of sporting events that are taking place, and first-level dressing rooms, plus conference rooms and cafeterias, among others, which make it one of the largest multipurpose indoor arenas in South America.

History

It was designed and conceived by Mario Recordón in 1956 with the name "Metropolitan Indoor Stadium" for the coliseum to be held in the World Basketball Championship 1958. However, the money earmarked for his term was to give the remodeling of the National Stadium, with a view to achieving the World Cup 1962 to be held in Chile. The room was plunged since the total neglect, welcoming the homeless sector and being a silent witness to many criminal acts nearby.

During the term of Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle was decided to complete a good time with that "White Elephant" (then called Dome Parque O'Higgins). The work was completed by Hiller Investments, which received the grant through the Ministry of Public Works for 20 years.

The new stadium of Santiago was symbolically opened March 7 in 2006 by outgoing President Ricardo Lagos. The stadium was officially inaugurated on April 15 that year, being available for community use. Several presentations and concerts have been performed on the premises.

In 2008, the administration of the Arena Santiago signed a contract with Movistar Chile to the assignment for 16 years the name of the compound, which was renamed as Movistar Arena.

Notable events

On Valentine's Day in 2010, American singer Beyoncé performed for a sold out crowd of almost 16,000 people. Part of this concert was later included on her I Am... World Tour DVD and Blu-Ray, which were both released worldwide in November 2010.

Scandal in Davis Cup

On 7 April 2000, the site received the Chilean team of Davis Cup in his duel with Argentina. That match was a dark denouement. In the second singles match between Nicolás Massú and Mariano Zabaleta, an incident between the Argentine and a player raised the ire of the public, who began throwing fruit, coins and even the plastic chairs that had enabled (because it could not install seats) on the opposing team.

The scandal was in Chilean sport history as one of the biggest embarrassments that have lived in that country, which won the Tennis Federation of Chile be punished with $ 47,800 fine and lose the homecourt for two years, see also thwarted their World Group play-off Davis Cup after failing to challenge it against Morocco.

External links

• Movistar Arena official site (in Spanish)

Coordinates: 33°27′46″S 70°39′43″W / 33.46278°S 70.66194°W / -33.46278; -70.66194