Broke ground March 7, 1996 Opened 3 September 1998 | Capacity 15,951 Phone +1 864-241-3800 | |
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Location 650 North Academy Street
Greenville, South Carolina 29601 Owner Greenville Arena District Operator Greenville Arena District Construction cost $63 million
($92.6 million in 2017 dollars) Architect Odell Associates
AMI Associates Address 650 N Academy St, Greenville, SC 29601, USA Teams Greenville Swamp Rabbits, Clemson Tigers women's basketball Profiles | ||
The Bon Secours Wellness Arena (formerly the Bi-Lo Center) is an arena located in downtown Greenville, South Carolina that is used for concerts, football, and hockey. The arena is currently used by the Greenville Swamp Rabbits of the ECHL. Due to the length of the official name, the arena is popularly known as "The Well".
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History
The Bon Secours Wellness Arena was built in 1998 at a cost of US$63 million, under its former name of Bi-Lo Center, to replace Greenville's outdated and under-repaired Greenville Memorial Auditorium, which was imploded on September 20, 1997 on a site located across the street from the new arena. The arena naming rights were purchased by Dutch grocer Ahold, then-owner of BI-LO, which had been founded in nearby Mauldin and was still based there at the time. When it was built, it passed Columbia's Carolina Coliseum as the largest arena in the state of South Carolina, a distinction it held until 2002, when the Colonial Center was built in Columbia.
Its second sporting event took place on September 26, 1998 between the Boston Bruins and the Florida Panthers.
As a concert venue, the Bon Secours Wellness Arena can seat between 11,000 and 15,951 spectators, depending on the positioning of the stage. The arena features 30 luxury suites and 840 club seats.
The arena floor measures 113 feet (34 m) wide by 229 feet (70 m) long. There are 7,472 seats in the upper bowl and 4,809 permanent seats and 1,290 retractable seats in the lower bowl.
The Bon Secours Wellness Arena hosted the Southern Conference men's basketball tournament in 2000 and 2001, as well as first and second-round games during the 2002 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. However, the NCAA then implemented a policy to not hold tournament games in either South Carolina or Mississippi, following a recommendation from the NAACP that was intended to call attention to the Confederate flag on display next to a monument on the grounds of the South Carolina State House. As a result, the Bon Secours Wellness Arena has not hosted an NCAA Tournament game since 2002. College basketball made its return to Greenville in 2005, when the SEC Women's Basketball Tournament was played at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena, due to an emergency situation. Philips Arena in Atlanta was the scheduled site for the tournament, but it backed out in the summer of 2004 because of logistics, following plans for the 54th NHL All-Star Game which was to be held just six weeks before the 2005 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament. Once the plans were announced, the SEC had moved that tournament to Greenville, again garnering considerable protest from the NAACP. Even with the 2004–05 NHL lockout, the SEC kept the tournament in Greenville, which is 140 miles (230 km) northeast of Atlanta.
The arena has also served as the home for the Greenville Groove (2001–2003), one of the original members of the NBA Development League, as well as the Carolina Rhinos football team (2000–2002), one of the inaugural members of AF2, the Arena Football League's minor league. It has also hosted both versions of Greenville's team in the ECHL: the first, the Grrrowl (1998–2006), hosted the 2002 Kelly Cup finals, and the second, the Greenville Road Warriors/Swamp Rabbits.
The PBR's Built Ford Tough Series made a tour stop at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena in 2005; this event was noted for being the first career BFTS win for 2008 PBR World Champion Guilherme Marchi.
Currently, the Bon Secours Wellness Arena also regularly hosts a wide variety of events such as Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, professional wrestling, monster truck rallies, motocross racing, professional ice skating, such as the Champions on Ice, ice dancing shows and competitions, dog shows, and concerts spanning many different musical genres.
Normally, the South Carolina High School League Upper State basketball finals would be held in the arena, but it was moved to Littlejohn Coliseum at Clemson University because of the 2008 Bassmaster Classic weigh-in ceremonies.
The arena hosted Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's pay-per-view Against All Odds on February 10, 2008. On April 21, 2008 it hosted the King of the Ring edition of WWE Raw. On December 8, 2014 it hosted the 2014 WWE Slammy Awards. One notable event in WWE was on December 18, 2000 on Raw is War when "The Texas Rattlesnake" Stone Cold Steve Austin, which the event took place on his 36th birthday, fought against William Regal in a non-title match. Austin gave Regal the Stunner, then proceeded to hit him with his title belt. At that moment, the referee called out the bell; causing Austin to lose the match by disqualification. Austin then stunned the referee before taunting Regal as he walks out of the ring.
On February 14, 2010, Johnstown Chiefs, of the ECHL, announced that the team would be moving to Greenville, SC, from Johnstown, PA for the 2010-2011 season, and had signed a five-year deal to play at the Bi-Lo Center. This ended a five-year hockey drought in Greenville, after the Grrowl of the ECHL folded. Greenville has a rich minor league hockey history, with the Grrowl having won the Kelley Cup in 2002.
On January 20, 2012, Jason Aldean set an attendance record for the venue with his My Kinda Party Tour, with 15,194 in attendance.
On September 18, 2013, the Bi-Lo Center was officially renamed the Bon Secours Wellness Arena after the Bon Secours Health System, owner of St. Francis Health System in Greenville, had bought the naming rights.
On October 10, 2014, BSWA held an NBA preseason game between the Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets in the arena.
Due to the significant renovation planned for Clemson University's Littlejohn Coliseum, the Clemson Tigers men's and women's basketball teams played their home games for the 2015–2016 season at BSWA.
In 2015, as a result of the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina State Capitol, Bon Secours Wellness Arena is now eligible to host NCAA postseason events. For basketball, the earliest this could occur would be 2019, since NCAA Tournament dates have already been determined through 2018.
On October 5, 2016, Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood announced they would be performing at the arena as part of The Garth Brooks World Tour with Trisha Yearwood. There originally is one concert scheduled on November 19, 2016, but previous tour stops have added more shows based on demand.
From March 1 through 5, 2017, the arena will host the 2017 SEC Women's Basketball Tournament.
On March 17 and 19, 2017, the arena will host first and second-round games for the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament, its first NCAA postseason basketball event since 2002. These games were originally scheduled to take place at the Greensboro Coliseum Complex in Greensboro, North Carolina; however, in September 2016 the NCAA announced it will move all championships tournament games scheduled to take place in North Carolina during the 2016-17 academic year, due to North Carolina's controversial House Bill 2.