Roberts Municipal Stadium

:"Also see: Sports in Evansville".

Infobox_Stadium
stadium_name = Roberts Municipal Stadium
nickname =


location = Evansville, Indiana
broke_ground =
opened = 1956
owner = City of Evansville
operator = SMG
surface =
construction_cost =
architect =
capacity = 12,500 (Basketball)
tenants = University of Evansville Basketball|

Roberts Municipal Stadium is a multi-use arena in Evansville, Indiana for sports, public events, and concerts. The arena was built in 1956. It seats up to 13,232 spectators and features four star locker rooms and a press room.

Basketball

The sports arena seats 12,500 for basketball. It is currently the home of the University of Evansville's Purple Aces basketball program.

Tournaments Held

From 1957 to 1976, Roberts Stadium served as the host site for the NCAA College Division (now referred to as Division II) Men's Basketball National Championship. It again hosted the "Elite 8" in 2002. In addition, it regularly hosts a variety of other sporting events, most notably the Great Lakes Valley Conference (NCAA Division II) men's and women's basketball tournaments in early March of every year. It also hosted the 1980 and 1983 Midwestern City Conference (now Horizon League) men's basketball conference tournament.

Defunct Professional Teams

From 1984 to 1986, Roberts Stadium was home to the Evansville Thunder of the Continental Basketball Association, who were coached in 1984 by legendary Utah Jazz Coach, and University of Evansville alumni Jerry Sloan.

From 2003 to 2007 Roberts was also home to the Evansville BlueCats of the National Indoor Football League from 2003-2005 and the United Indoor Football league from 2005-2007.

Defunct Professional Teams

Upgrades

The arena received a $16 million dollar upgrade in 1990. In 2007 the city of Evansville hired a professional consultant to examine whether the stadium should be renovated or replaced with a new and larger arena. [cite news | title=Arena Study | publisher=Evansville Courier & Press | url=http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/jan/24/arena-study/ | accessdate=2007-01-28]

It is co-managed with Mesker Amphitheatre, The Centre, and Victory Theatre.

References

External links

* [http://www.smgevansville.com/roberts/roberts.html Roberts Municipal Stadium Website]