The Bert L. and Iris S. Wolstein Center is a 13,610-seat indoor arena located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the campus of Cleveland State University (CSU). It is home to the Cleveland State Vikingsmen's and women's basketball teams and the Cleveland Charge of the NBA G League.[4] It was also the former home of the Cleveland Crunch and Cleveland Force of the NPSL and MISL. The building opened in 1991 as a replacement for Woodling Gym and was known until 2005 as the CSU Convocation Center. It is named for Bert Wolstein, a Cleveland area real estate developer, former owner of the Force, and CSU alumnus, and his wife Iris. The main arena is known as Henry J. Goodman Arena - named for a businessman and former chairman of the CSU Board of Trustees.
It seats 13,610 for basketball, and with additional floor seating can hold 15,000 for concerts and professional wrestling.[1] In addition to the arena, the Wolstein Center also has a practice gym and grand ballroom. It is the largest basketball arena in the Horizon League and the second-largest college basketball arena in Ohio by seating capacity.
In recent years, Cleveland State has downsized capacity for basketball to 8,500 for most Vikings games. The basketball floor is placed closer to the eastern baseline, and the western third of the arena is curtained off. For many games only lower-level seating is available and upper-level seating sections are covered with tarps, further reducing available seating.[5] The area behind the curtain is used for a variety of other purposes, including a "Kids Fun Zone" children's play area during games, and the curtain itself is adorned with a giant American flag and auxiliary scoreboards facing the court.[2]
The main arena is named the Goodman Arena after Henry J. Goodman, former chairman of the Cleveland State board of trustees, while the building is named after Bert and Iris Wolstein, who donated $6.5 million towards the building's construction, the largest philanthropic gift in CSU history. The building also contains a practice gym, a 23,744 square feet (2,205.9m2) grand ballroom, six-room conference center, and eight concession stands. In the arena, there is a 100-seat party loge located above the seating in the west baseline.
Cleveland Charge
On June 9, 2021, the Cleveland Cavaliers' NBA G League affiliate Canton Charge announced they would relocate from Canton to play their home games at the Wolstein Center beginning in the 2021–22 season. The team was officially renamed the Cleveland Charge in July.[4][9]
In the 2005 tournament, the 12th-seeded Milwaukee Panthers and 7th-seeded West Virginia Mountaineers won both of their respective games played at the Wolstein Center to advance to the Sweet Sixteen.
The Wolstein Center also hosted multiple professional wrestling events from numerous companies, including WWE's Monday Night Raw on January 26, 2009, and Friday Night SmackDown on December 28, 2010.
TNA Wrestling's weekly Impact program taped two weeks worth of shows on August 29, 2013.[11]
All Elite Wrestling (AEW) did a live broadcast of their flagship program AEW Dynamite at the arena on January 29, 2020, in its Cleveland debut, and returned for their Beach Break event – which encompassed Dynamite and it's companion show Rampage – on January 26, 2022. Another Dynamite/Rampage broadcast and taping took place on August 24, 2022.
The arena hosted the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions in 2016.[16]
The arena hosted Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live in 2019 and 2020.
COVID-19 vaccination center
On March 5, 2021, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine announced the Wolstein Center would host Ohio's first mass COVID-19 vaccination center, which ran from March 17 - June 7, 2021.[17]
Management
Since 2015, the Wolstein Center has been managed in partnership with Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. The Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse staff works as a consultant to assist in promoting and booking events at both venues, while in return, select Vikings men's basketball games are played at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse each season.[18]
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Wolstein_Center, and is written by contributors.
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