Anaheim Convention Center

"Anaheim Arena" redirects here. For the newer venue known by this name early in its history, see Honda Center.

Anaheim Convention Center
Anaheim Convention Center logo
Address	800 West Katella Avenue
Location	Anaheim, California
Coordinates	33.802223°N 117.919611°W / 33.802223; -117.919611
Opened	1967
Enclosed space
Total space	1,145,000 square feet (106,400 m2)
Exhibit hall floor	815,000 square feet (75,700 m2)
Breakout/meeting	200,000 square feet (19,000 m2)
Ballroom	130,000 square feet (12,000 m2)
Website	www.anaheimconventioncenter.com

The Anaheim Convention Center is a major convention center in Anaheim, California. It is located across from the Disneyland Resort on Katella Avenue. The original components, designed by Adrian Wilson & Associates, opened in July of 1967 — including a basketball arena followed shortly by the convention hall.

The center has subsequently undergone five major expansions (1974, 1982, 1990, 1993, 1999-2000) and currently encloses 815,000 square feet (75,700 m²) of exhibit space, 200,000 square feet (19,000 m²) of pre-function space, and 130,000 square feet (12,000 m²) of meeting and ballroom space. It is the largest exhibit facility on the West Coast.

The arena of the Convention Center has a capacity of up to 9,100 people, depending on the configuration and sport played. The newest sport team to call the Convention Center Arena home are the Anaheim Bolts of the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro). The seating limit in this setting is 7,500.

Hostings

Originally, the arena was home to the Anaheim Amigos of the American Basketball Association during the first ABA season, 1967-68. The franchise relocated to the Los Angeles Sports Arena and became the Los Angeles Stars following the season. The team eventually moved to Salt Lake City and became the Utah Stars, capturing the 1970-71 ABA Championship. The Stars' subsequent fan support in Utah set the foundation for the NBA's Utah Jazz.

According to frequent news reports, the largest exposition held at the Convention Center in recent years has been the Winter NAMM Show. This music-equipment convention (trade only, not open to the general public) had 1,560 exhibitors and a record-breaking 88,100 attendees during the 2008 show. The NAMM Show has been running at the Anaheim Center since 1977, except for a 3-year break in 1998-2000 while the Convention Center underwent major renovations. Recent news reports indicate that NAMM's long-term lease with the Anaheim Convention Center authority ends in 2010, and NAMM is applying pressure to the City of Anaheim to further expand and improve the convention center.

The Anime Expo was hosted in 1996 and again from 2003 through 2006 and was one of the convention center's biggest public events.

Blizzard Entertainment holds BlizzCon at the venue. In 2005, BlizzCon used the northern two conference halls, (and the arena for a concert one evening). In 2007 and 2008, it used three conference halls. In 2009, it used four conference halls. While tickets to the 2007 event sold out in 3 days, tickets to the October 2008 event sold out "within minutes," and tickets to the August 2009 event sold out in "56 seconds". Tickets to the 2010 Blizzcon reportedly sold out within 30 seconds.

Another large convention held at the Center is the Medical Design and Manufacturing Show, held shortly after Winter NAMM.

The 1984 Summer Olympics utilized the venue when it served as the site for wrestling for the 1984 Summer Olympics.

The venue hosted the Big West Conference's men's and women's college basketball tournaments from 2001 to 2010 and hosts the 76 Classic basketball tournament.

It was briefly home to the Anaheim Arsenal of the NBA Development League, who relocated to Springfield, Massachusetts for the 2009-10 season.

During the 1992 Los Angeles Riots, the Los Angeles Clippers were forced to move Game 4 of their NBA playoff series versus the Utah Jazz to the Convention Center.

Microsoft announced that their Professional Developers Conference will be renamed to BUILD and will be held at Convention Center explaining developer story of its upcoming Operating System Windows 8.

The third annual VidCon conference was held at the Anaheim Convention Center in 2012. The new venue offered a much larger capacity than the previously used Hyatt Regency Century Plaza hotel in Los Angeles.

The 2012 VEX Robotics World Championship was also held in the convention center. Almost 600 teams were present at the competition which utilized two of the convention center's exhibit halls, as well as the convention centers Arena. In 2013 the VEX Robotics World Championship will return to the Anaheim Convention Center, occupying 3 exhibit halls as well as the arena. This year there will be over 700 teams present, representing 24 nations. Each will be competing to be crowned the World Championship within their respective divisions.

Photos

• 

  Anaheim Convention Center.

• 

  Anaheim Convention Center's arena building.

• 

  Anime Expo 2004 at the Anaheim Convention Center

External links

• Official Website
• Some City of Anaheim history, including the Convention Center
• 1966 photo of the Convention Center under construction Anaheimvisitorsguide.com
• Walking distance from the Convention Center to local hotels
• Blizzcon Official Website