accesso ShoWare Center facts for kids

accesso ShoWare Center

The Show
Arena bowl during a Thunderbirds game (c.2012)
Former names	Kent Events Center (planning/construction) Amiga Center (planning/construction) ShoWare Center (2009-17)
Address	625 W James St Kent, WA 98032-4406
Location	Greater Seattle
Owner	City of Kent
Operator	SMG
Capacity	7,141
Construction
Broke ground	September 25, 2007 (2007-09-25)
Opened	January 2, 2009 (2009-01-02)
Construction cost	$84.5 million
Architect	LMN Architects PBK Architects
Project manager	Shiels Obletz Johnsen, Inc.
Structural engineer	Magnusson Klemencic Associates
Services engineer	Wood Harbinger, Inc.
Tenants
Seattle Thunderbirds (WHL) (2009–present) Seattle Mist (LFL) (2009–19) Rat City Rollergirls (WFTDA) (2009–present) Kent Predators/Seattle Timberwolves (IFL) (2010–11) Seattle Impact (MASL) (2014–15) Tacoma Stars (MASL) (2015–present)

The accesso ShoWare Center is a multi-purpose arena in Kent, Washington, United States.

About the venue

The construction of the arena began September 2005, with the venue opening in January 2009. The principal tenants are the Seattle Thunderbirds of the Western Hockey League and the Tacoma Stars of the Major Arena Soccer League.

Naming rights to the arena were initially sold to Amiga, Inc. and the arena was to be called the "Amiga Center". However, Amiga failed to make a promised down payment, and lost the naming rights as of August 2007. In November 2008, the Kent City Council announced that the city had sold the naming rights to the Fresno-based VisionOne, Inc., an e-business software developer which in turn named the arena after ShoWare, its flagship box office operations program. In 2014, tech company Accesso purchased VisionOne, Inc.; with the venue changing its name to the accesso ShoWare Center in the fall of 2017.

The design architect is LMN Architects of Seattle, in association with PBK Architects of Vancouver, British Columbia. The arena is managed and operated by Philadelphia-based SMG.

Among other events, it has hosted the 2012 edition of the Hilton HHonors Skate America.

Facts about the venue

Miscellaneous

• The approximate square footage of the arena is 150,000 sq ft (14,000 m²)
• The "Chandelier" scoreboard has four 6' x 12' video screens.
• The venue opened on January 3, 2009 with a hockey game by (Seattle Thunderbirds vs. Everett Silvertips)
• The arena has a capacity of 5,887 seats. Retractable seating to provide additional space for concerts, basketball, shows and other events, expanding the capacity to 7,141.
• The venue typically hosts 110 to 117 events annually, including about 40 Thunderbird games.
• Country duo Florida Georgia Line draws an audience 7,129 people on December 14, 2013.
• The 2 millionth guest celebration was held on November 11, 2014.

Sports

• Brenden Silvester of the Seattle Thunderbirds scored the first goal in the history of the arena, in the 2nd period on January 3, 2009 against the Everett Silvertips in a 4-3 Seattle win.
• Greg Scott of the Seattle Thunderbirds scored the first hat trick in the arena on February 6, 2009
• The 2015-2016 hockey season reached an all time attendance record with an average of 4,792 people per game.
• Hockey single game attendance record of 6,223 set on May 12, 2017 during the WHL finals against the Regina Pats.
• Hosted first professional basketball games during the 2018 JBA season.
• In Professional Wrestling, the arena has hosted three house shows for the TNA Wrestling promotion (2009, 2011, 2012) and one taped event for Ring of Honor wrestling's weekly television program (2019).

Selected events

List of selected events held at the accesso ShoWare Center
Date	Artist	Event	Opening act(s)	Attendance	Revenue
November 19, 2016	Amy Grant Michael W. Smith	Christmas with Amy Grant & Michael W. Smith	Jordan Smith	5,986 / 5,986	$329,078
December 7, 2016	Hunter Hayes Josh Turner	Hometown Holiday	Tyler Farr Maddie & Tae Seth Ennis	3,481 / 3,498	$150,520
April 12, 2017	Banda MS	Gira Es Tuyo Mi Amor	Pancho Barraza Beatriz Solís	6,521 / 6,521	$390,210
June 18, 2017	El Fantasma	Rancheando En La Ciudad Tour	Voz de Mando Kanales	1,890 / 6,439	$121,350
July 13, 2017	Logic	Everybody's Tour	Joey Bad*** Big Lenbo	4,612 / 4,937	$204,643
October 15, 2017	Los Inquietos del Norte	Gira Locos y Entumecidos	Chuy Lizárraga Jesús Ojeda El Filly	2,796 / 6,614	$142,955
October 29, 2017	Skillet	Unleashed Tour	Britt Nicole Colton Dixon Tauren Wells	1,891 / 4,432	$55,162
March 3, 2018	G-Eazy	The Beautiful & Damned Tour	Trippie Redd Phora Anthony Russo	6,656 / 6,820	$264,543

Preceded by KeyArena

Home of the Seattle Thunderbirds 2009 - present

Succeeded by current