With the Nashville Predators arena we have the Bridgestone Arena which was formerly known as the Nashville Arena, Gaylord Entertainment Center, and Sommet Center. It was first constructed in 1994-1996 and has been a host to the Nashville Predators ever since.
Table of Contents
Arena Guide by Ice Hockey Tripper
History
The building of this arena got off to a bad start, and had to be delayed due to a column collapsing which was used to help support the structure during construction. This did cause injuries to others but luckily nobody lost their life. It is certainly better to have a loss of time while working than a loss of life.
So of course the arena is used to host Predators’ games but besides that, they also host basketball and other concerts as well. Unlike a majority of arenas however, it can also be converted into a smaller music theater which has been known to host theater and family shows. As for the attendance record specifically, the high attendance was recorded in March of 2019 with a music concert headed by Mumford and Sons which set the record with 19,047 fans in the audience that evening. A few other notable events include the hosting of the Country Music Awards which is held there annually and only makes sense since it is the city of Nashville. There is also the CMT Music Awards which is quite similar in nature, but consists of awards voted upon by the fans rather than actual music judges. Similar to the saying “When in Rome”, the same could be said about “When in Nashville”. On top of these music events and the Predators games, the arena still has time to host games for the March Madness tournament year after year. We expect the history of this arena to only grow with time.