Met Center

Met Center

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Former names	Metropolitan Sports Center (1967-1982)
Location	7901 Cedar Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55420
Coordinates
Owner	Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission
Operator	Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission
Capacity	16,000 (basketball) 15,000 (ice hockey)
Construction
Broke ground	October 3, 1966
Opened	October 21, 1967
Closed	April 13, 1993
Demolished	December 13, 1994
Construction cost	$5.8 million ($41.2 million in 2024 dollars)
Architect	Pattee Architects, Inc.
Structural engineer	K.M. Clark Engineering Co.
Services engineer	Brush & Morrow
General contractor	Ernest W. Ganley Co., Inc.
Tenants
Minnesota North Stars (NHL) (1967–1993) Minnesota Muskies (ABA) (1967–1968) Minnesota Pipers (ABA) (1968–1969) Minnesota Buckskins (WTT) (1974) Minnesota Fillies (WBL) (1978–1980) Minnesota Kicks (NASL) (1979–1981) Minnesota Strikers (MISL) (1984–1988) Minnesota Timberwolves (NBA) (1989–1990)

The Met Center (originally the Metropolitan Sports Center) was an indoor arena that stood in Bloomington, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis. The arena, which was completed in 1967 by Minnesota Ice, just to the north of Metropolitan Stadium, seated 15,000. It was best known as the home of the Minnesota North Stars of the NHL from 1967-1993. For its first 15 years, its official name was the Metropolitan Sports Center; the more familiar shorter name was adopted in 1982.

The Met's other tenants included the ABA's Minnesota Muskies, which played just one season before moving to Miami for the 1968-69 season. The league responded by moving the defending champion Pittsburgh Pipers to Bloomington, but the Pipers left to return to Pittsburgh after the season and Minnesota would not see another major professional basketball team until the founding of the National Basketball Association's Minnesota Timberwolves in 1989, a season which saw the Timberwolves play several games at the Met Center due to conflicts with events scheduled at the Metrodome, where the Timberwolves played at the time. The NASL's Minnesota Kicks played two indoor seasons at the Met from 1979 to 1981. The MISL's Minnesota Strikers played indoor soccer at the Met Center from 1984-1988. The Boys' High School Hockey Tournament was also held there 1969-1975.

The arena also held entertainment-related shows, including the very first performance of Sesame Street Live in September 1980.

History

The Met Center was considered to be one of the finest arenas in the NHL for many years, both for its sightlines, and its ice surface. Among NHL players, the Met was known for fast ice, the best lighting, great locker rooms and training facilities. The Met never boasted fancy amenities, and by comparison to modern arenas it had cramped concourses, no luxury suites, and very few frills. As a sports facility, it could best be described as utilitarian, a theme which repeats itself in most Minnesota sports facilities built before 1988 (such as the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome).

After the North Stars moved to Dallas, Texas in 1993 and became the Dallas Stars, the Met Center was demolished on December 13, 1994 in a series of three controlled implosions. The NHL returned to Minnesota in 2000 when the expansion Minnesota Wild began play at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota. Meanwhile, the Harlem Globetrotters, an annual visitor to the Met Center, moved on, as had a large portion of Met Center's concert business, to Target Center.

For several years after the arena was demolished, the property served as an overflow lot for the Mall of America. In 2004, an IKEA store opened on the west end of the property, and the new American Boulevard was rerouted through the east end of the property. The remainder of the site is planned long-term to become the site of Mall of America Phase II, of which the IKEA would be an anchor store.

Notable events

• 25th National Hockey League All-Star Game
• 1981 Stanley Cup Finals
• 1991 Stanley Cup Finals
• Four Grateful Dead concerts
• Michael Jackson performed three consecutive sold–out shows at Met Center, during his Bad World Tour on May 4–6, 1988.
• Elvis Presley performed a sold out show on 10/17/76

External links

• Listing at Ballparks.com

Preceded by first arena	Home of the Minnesota North Stars 1967 – 1993	Succeeded by Reunion Arena (as Dallas Stars)
Preceded by Boston Garden	Host of the NHL All-Star Game 1972	Succeeded by Madison Square Garden