Short answers, pulled from the story.
Gainbridge Fieldhouse opened on the 6th of November 1999, with the Indiana Pacers hosting the Boston Celtics. That night marked the building's first NBA game. The first concert followed four days later, on the 10th of November 1999, when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performed.
Ellerbe Becket designed Gainbridge Fieldhouse with basketball as its primary purpose, an unusual commitment among North American professional sports venues. The corners of the seating bowl reach toward the baseline, placing fans closer to the court than most arenas allow. Sportswriter Bill Simmons described it in 2022 as the only NBA arena where he had felt a genuine physical difference from any other.
Gainbridge Fieldhouse has had three names. It opened as Conseco Fieldhouse, was renamed Bankers Life Fieldhouse in December 2011 after its previous naming sponsor restructured, and became Gainbridge Fieldhouse on the 27th of September 2021.
Gainbridge Fieldhouse hosted games 3, 4, and 5 of the 2000 NBA Finals and the semifinals and final of the 2002 FIBA World Championship. It also hosted the 2009 WNBA Finals and the 2012 WNBA Finals, which the Indiana Fever won over the Minnesota Lynx. Games 3, 4, and 6 of the 2025 NBA Finals were played there as well.
Metallica holds the Gainbridge Fieldhouse concert attendance record, drawing 18,274 people on the 11th of March 2019. The previous record had belonged to Billy Joel, who drew 16,594.
The Gainbridge Fieldhouse renovation cost $360 million. The Marion County Capital Improvement Board approved the project in April 2019, and construction was completed in late 2022. As part of the agreement, the Indiana Pacers committed to remaining in Indianapolis for at least 25 more years.