Swinney Recreation Center
Old Swinney | |
 | |
| Former names | Swinney Gymnasium |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 39°02′08″N 94°34′44″W / 39.03555°N 94.57876°W |
| Owner | University of Missouri-Kansas City |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1940 |
| Renovated | 2007 |
| Tenants | |
| None | |
The Swinney Recreation Center is a 2,000-seat arena in Kansas City, Missouri. Located on the campus of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, it was the home of the UMKC Kangaroos men's and women's basketball teams, before they moved to Municipal Auditorium downtown starting in the 2012-13 academic year. It is affectionately known as "Old Swinney" by students.
It was originally built in 1940 as Swinney Gymnasium by what was then the University of Kansas City. It was named in honor of Edward F. Swinney, chairman of First National Bank of Kansas City (now part of Bank of America), who had donated $250,000 toward the project.[1] It was renamed the Swinney Recreation Center after a $14.5 million renovation in 2007.
The men's team played at Swinney during its days as an NAIA member, and moved to Municipal Auditorium when it joined the NCAA. However, in 2010, UMKC announced that the men's basketball team would make a heavily renovated Swinney its primary home court,[2] but they moved back to Municipal just two years later.
References
- ^ Bomgardner, Nicole. Campus History: Swinney Gymnasium. UNews, 2010-10-04.
- ^ UMKC announcement of the move back to Swinney