Our Venue
The Arena was built to host the World Student Games & was officially opened by Her Majesty The Queen on 30th May 1991.
The building’s versatile indoor multi-purpose auditorium can easily accommodate audiences from theatre-style shows of 3,500 up to centre stage & standing productions hosting audiences of 13,600.
Since the venue opened in 1991 the Arena has averaged 122 shows a year with over 650,000 customers passing through our doors each year.
The building is home to the Sheffield Steelers ice hockey team hosting over 30 ice hockey games a season. The first ice hockey fixture at the Arena took place on September 26, 1991 with the biggest ice hockey attendance just over 10,100 ice hockey fans saw Steelers beat Nottingham in the Benson & Hedges Cup Final.
Event highlights include:- Home to Oasis's first ever Arena gig; Longest running touring show was Les Misérables that performed 35 shows; Tina Turner played her final ever Arena show here; Hosted the 2009 BBC Sports Personality, the 2007 IIFA Awards Ceremony viewed by 500 million customers across 110 countries and the 2023 MOBO Awards. In 2014 the Arena was the media centre and the finish line for The Tour de France Grand Depart in what has been declared the most successful Grand Depart in the Tour de France's history.