Arco Arena was loud and rambunctious in its heyday. The venue was also a dump and outdated the minute it opened. Despite this, both former Sacramento Kings players and NBA rivals speak highly of the old barn. Even Kobe Bryant waxed nostalgic about it in his last game there.
“This has always been a special place, not just for me, but for the city itself. It’s sad to see this place go. There is so much history here,” Bryant explained.
The thing is, there wasn’t a lot of history in Arco Arena. Unless history is some kind of code word for losing or incompetence. With the building set to be torn down in the near future, let’s take a look at some of the things you may not remember about the NBA’s worst stadium.
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Things you may not remember about Arco Arena
It’s connected to an unfinished stadium
Located just to the north of Arco Arena is the foundation for a stadium that was never finished. In 1989, then Kings Owner Gregg Lukenbill started work on a 53,000-seat dual-use facility in an attempt to lure the Los Angeles Raiders, Oakland A’s, San Francisco Giants or any other team who was interested. The efforts did not go well and the group building the venue ran out of money.
Interestingly, a tunnel connecting Arco Arena to the unfinished stadium was completed. The only use it ever got was as a dressing room for clowns when the circus came to town.
Two Arco Arenas
The Arco Arena we all know and came to love was actually the second incarnation. The first Arco Arena hosted the Kings when they moved to Sacramento from Kansas City in 1985. It was originally being developed as a warehouse but was converted to host basketball.
It would be the team’s home for three seasons while Arco II was built. The first Arco was then converted into an office building and is still standing to this day.
Hosting really random teams/sports
If there was a crazy indoor sporting league starting up in the mid-1990s, Sacramento wanted a team in it. Arco Arena welcomed the Sacramento Attack, an Arena League Football franchise, in 1992. They were gone after one season.
In 1993, the Sacramento Knights began playing in the arena. The indoor soccer team actually won the building’s first title in 1999. They folded alongside the entire league a couple of years later.
Finally, there was the Sacramento River Rats who played there from 1994 to 1996 in the old Roller Hockey International league. You probably also forgot that ESPN2 broadcast roller hockey games back then as well.
Named after a scam
When the infamous owners of the Sacramento Kings, the Maloof Brothers, accepted a bag of cash from a hologram bracelet maker to rename the downtrodden Arco Arena, Power Balance Pavilion in 2011, things went as bad as you would expect. You can watch our video on that episode below.
The weirdest Royal Rumble
The 1993 Royal Rumble was Sacramento’s first ever pay-per-view wrestling event. The main event itself was really, really weird. Yokozuna won which was extremely unsatisfying to watch as an eight-year-old. Especially considering Randy Savage, the last entrant left, was eliminated after going for a pin. Seriously Macho Man, what the hell were you doing?
But that was just the start. The Natural Disasters, Earthquake and Typhoon, seemingly broke up during the Rumble. Bob Backlund was in the match for more than an hour–a record that would stand until 2004. Worse of all, Giant González made his debut, eliminating The Undertaker despite not even being a participant. Only Arco Arena could have hosted such a confusing event.
