United Center

• 1. Introduction

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  United Center rises on the Near West Side of Chicago, carrying the name of its corporate sponsor, United Airlines. Up to 23,500 people can fill its seats, the largest capacity of any arena in the National Basketball Association. The Chicago Bulls and Chicago Blackhawks both call it home, sometimes playing on back-to-back nights. Beneath the hardwood floor that hosts Bulls games sits a sheet of ice built for the Blackhawks, assembled like a puzzle and taken apart again. The building opened in 1994 on the site once occupied by Chicago Stadium, an older arena that had stood since 1929. What replaced that older building, and what noise, statues and sponsors filled the new one in its place?

• 2. One Roof, Two Teams

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  The Bulls and Blackhawks jointly own United Center through the United Center Joint Venture, a 50/50 partnership known as UCJV. Behind that partnership stand the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families, who also own much of the land surrounding the arena. Their building covers 960,000 square feet on a 46-acre, or 19-hectare, parcel just west of the Chicago Loop. That footprint makes United Center the largest arena in the United States by size, though not by seating capacity. Its exterior was built to resemble Chicago Stadium.

  Hockey nights fill 19,717 seats at United Center, while basketball games expand seating to 20,917. More than 200 events take a turn on that footprint each year, and the arena has drawn over 20 million visitors since it opened. Attendance for Bulls and Blackhawks games routinely runs past the listed capacity. During the 2023-24 season, the Bulls averaged 20,624 fans across 41 home games, the highest average in the NBA that year.

  The Bulls opened The Advocate Center, a practice facility a block east of the arena, in 2014. Advocate Health Care holds the naming rights to that building. The Blackhawks followed in 2017 with their own practice rink two blocks to the south. Formerly called MB Ice Arena until 2019, it now carries the name Fifth Third Arena.

• 3. Building the Roar

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  United Center's original construction carried a price tag of $175 million. Chicago Stadium had earned the nickname the madhouse on Madison for its legendary noise during hockey games. United Center's designers set out to recreate that sound, nicknamed the Roar. They estimated the new building would reach about 80 percent of Chicago Stadium's volume. To close that gap, engineers angled steel panels around the arena's top level to bounce sound back down into the bowl.

  During hockey season, the Blackhawks still play music through an Allen TH323 Theatre Organ, built as a replica of Chicago Stadium's Barton organ. Recreating that old instrument's exact notes took engineers two years.

  The finished arena stands 140 feet tall, built from concrete and steel with 3,500 tons of steel inside its frame. Financing nearly stalled amid an inflated real estate market and the recession of the early 1990s, until an international syndicate stepped in. Banks from Japan, Australia and France ultimately funded construction.

  When it opened, United Center held 216 luxury sky-boxes, more than any hockey or basketball venue at the time. A renovation after the 2009-10 season cut that number to 169 executive suites spread across three levels. The arena also opened with 3,000 club seats and a Sony Jumbotron, the first video scoreboard the Bulls and Blackhawks had ever used.

  Architects first proposed a limestone and granite exterior, but the owners chose cheaper precast concrete instead. At the owners' request, the City of Chicago also closed a stretch of Monroe Street where the new building's footprint reached into the old sidewalk. Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin criticized that closure. He argued the design deliberately cut the arena off from its surroundings, including the since-demolished Henry Horner Homes public housing nearby.

• 4. Club Levels and LED Lights

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  In 2005, a new Jumbotron replaced the boards that had echoed Chicago Stadium's old style. It added larger video screens, plus smaller ones above the four main displays. Three years later, in 2008, the Harris Club opened as a private lounge seating 236 ticket holders where several club-level suites had once stood. Its amenities included a Wii console, a pool table, three bars, a buffet and multiple televisions. The same period also brought two new bars to the 300 level, open to views of the arena bowl.

  Ahead of the 2009-10 season, crews renovated the 300-level concourse, adding 144 flat-screen televisions and new food and beverage stations. Two more bars opened there with panoramic views, followed by a further two during the 2010 off-season. Illuminated signs reading "Welcome to the Madhouse" went up on each side of the 300-level seating bowl. Several remaining club-level suites became 32 theater boxes, opera-style four-person seats sharing an upscale lounge. They were built at the opposite end of the bowl from the Harris Club.

  After the 2012-13 season, a third panoramic LED bar arrived on the 300 level. Workers took down the "Welcome to the Madhouse" signs to make room. The Bulls unveiled a redesigned court for the 2015-16 season. The bull-head logo at center court grew by 75 percent, and the basketball image once behind it disappeared. Court text switched to the Bulls' official brand font. That change applied to the endline lettering, plus the Bulls.com and @ChicagoBulls text at the north end. Red and white court lines became solid black to sharpen the team's colors. Four stars from the Chicago flag joined the south end as part of a Chicago Basketball branding push.

  By the 2024-25 season, the endlines carried sponsor FanDuel's name alongside a smaller Chicago Bulls wordmark. Calamos had replaced the Bulls.com and @ChicagoBulls text at the north end of the court.

• 5. The Modern Arena

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  In March 2017, United Center opened a new atrium addition spanning 190,000 square feet, privately funded by the arena's owners. Office space filled its second, third and fourth floors, while the first floor became a gathering place for fans before and after events. The Michael Jordan statue that once stood outside the arena moved into this new atrium.

  Two years later, in 2019, Mitsubishi Electric supplied a new Jumbotron to replace the one installed in 2005. At its unveiling, it was the largest and highest-resolution scoreboard in any arena shared by an NHL and NBA team. It was also the first scoreboard for the Bulls and Blackhawks built with no non-video sponsor boards, fully digital throughout. The display covers 8,600 square feet with 4 millimeter pixel spacing, six independently moving panels and a continuous inner ring. New audio and lighting systems arrived alongside it.

  On the 1st of February 2022, United Center and FanDuel Group announced a sportsbook lounge planned for a spot off the atrium. Builders finished the two-story space as a non-wagering venue, decorated with FanDuel branding and screens showing other live sports. It opened in 2023, though actual betting still awaits approval from the Illinois Gaming Board.

• 6. Banners and Belts

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  United Center hosted the Bulls' second run of three straight championships, staging the 1996-1997 and 1998 NBA Finals. The Bulls closed out both the 1996 and 1997 series at home in the sixth game. The 1998 title, though, was decided at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. The building later hosted the NBA All-Star Game in 2020. In 2025, the Chicago Sky of the WNBA played two home games there against the Indiana Fever, on June 7 and July 27.

  On the ice, United Center has hosted the Stanley Cup Finals three times. Twice the Blackhawks clinched the Cup away from home, at Philadelphia's Wachovia Center in 2010 and Boston's TD Garden in 2013. In 2015, they beat the Tampa Bay Lightning at home in the sixth game, the franchise's first Cup clinched in Chicago since 1938. The arena also hosted the 2017 NCAA Division I Frozen Four, the first time that tournament had come to Illinois. The NCAA announced in 2024 that the Frozen Four would return in 2028.

  The Big Ten men's basketball tournament first came to United Center in 1998, and returned in most years through 2023. University of Illinois games have also used the arena over the years. The NCAA men's basketball tournament has been played there six times, including in 2022, alongside the Champions Classic, the Roundball Classic and the Great Eight Classic. Both the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons brought the University of Wisconsin Badgers and Notre Dame Fighting Irish rivalry game to the building as well. On the ice, the Illinois State High School Hockey Championships are held there yearly for the Blackhawk Cup, joined since 2024 by the Northern Illinois Hockey League's own championship.

  Professional wrestling arrived first, in 1994. The World Wrestling Federation staged SummerSlam at the arena that year. It was the building's first major event, and its last WWF or WWE telecast there for 31 years. WCW held its final annual Spring Stampede pay-per-view at the arena in 2000. WWE did not return until a Raw house show on the 3rd of March 2018. All Elite Wrestling brought Chicago native CM Punk back to professional wrestling at the arena on the 20th of August 2021. The broadcast, titled The First Dance, ended his seven-year retirement.

  The Ultimate Fighting Championship first televised nationally from United Center on the 28th of January 2012. Rashad Evans beat Phil Davis there by unanimous decision that night. The UFC returned for its first pay-per-view event at the arena in 2018, then again for UFC 319 six years later.

  The Professional Bull Riders made their Built Ford Tough Series debut at the arena in March 2011. Crushed white stone covered the floor for the event instead of dirt.

  In September 2018, the Laver Cup's second edition brought Team Europe against Team World to United Center. Gymnastics had already visited once before, on the 13th of October 2016, when the arena hosted the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions.

• 7. Statues and Sponsors

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  Michael Jordan's statue, nicknamed The Spirit, was installed in 1994, during Jordan's first retirement from basketball. It shows Jordan soaring in his signature pose over an opposing player, with his years on the team and career statistics engraved at its base. The statue originally stood directly outside the arena's main entrance.

  In 2000, the Blackhawks marked their 75th anniversary with a new statue honoring players from different eras. It was erected on the north side, near the old Chicago Stadium site. Its base lists the name of every Blackhawks player up to that date, alongside a marble plaque honoring Chicago Stadium. In October 2020, the statue was vandalized in protest of the team's Native American imagery and temporarily removed for repairs.

  Bronze statues of Blackhawks legends Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita joined the grounds during the 2011-12 NHL season. That same year, in 2011, a bronze bust of Bulls great Scottie Pippen was dedicated inside the arena's first-floor concourse.

  United Airlines paid roughly $1.8 million a year in 2014 to keep its name on the building. That naming arrangement traces back to a corporate shakeup. On the 2nd of May 2010, United announced a merger with Continental Airlines. The combined airline kept the United name but adopted Continental's globe logo, dropping United's old tulip symbol. The rebranding was set to finish on the 1st of October 2010. Scheduling constraints, though, kept the tulip logo on display through the 2010-11 season and the 2011 playoffs. By the summer of 2011, crews finally replaced the tulip signage with the globe logo in time for the 2011-12 seasons.

  In December 2013, United secured a 20-year extension of its naming rights, triggering a fresh round of signage and LED upgrades. Anheuser-Busch also holds a sponsorship, supplying signage rights inside the arena along with its own pub. On the 12th of July 2023, PepsiCo signed a multi-year deal to become the official soft drink of United Center, the Bulls and the Blackhawks, replacing Coca-Cola.

• 8. Beyond the Scoreboard

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  Billy Joel became the first performer to headline a concert at United Center. He was quoted saying the arena's "...acoustics could use some work.." Since then, sold-out shows have included Prince, Beyoncé, Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, U2, Adele, BTS and dozens of other major acts across genres. Dave Matthews Band recorded a 1998 concert there and released it as the live album Live in Chicago 12.19.98 at the United Center. In June 2022, contemporary Christian artists Chris Tomlin, Hillsong UNITED and Pat Barrett played the arena together on the Tomlin UNITED tour.

  The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performed at United Center annually until 2016, before shutting down permanently on the 21st of May 2017. During circus weeks, the Bulls and Blackhawks traditionally left town for a two-week road trip. After Ringling's final Chicago run in November 2016, the teams let sister production Disney on Ice keep a two-week engagement in February 2017. That slot was later shortened to one week, starting in February 2018.

  On the 17th of May 2011, United Center hosted the taping of Oprah's Surprise Spectacular, part of The Farewell Season. The program aired on television on May 23 and 24, 2011. Photographs from that event still hang inside the arena's entrance at Gate 4.

  The 1996 Democratic National Convention nominated incumbents Bill Clinton and Al Gore for president and vice president at United Center. That ticket went on to win reelection the following November. The Democratic Party returned to nominate its ticket at the arena again in 2024. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the arena served a very different purpose, functioning as the city's municipal emergency hub.

  In 2024, the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families unveiled a very different kind of plan. They announced an estimated $7 billion mega-development called the 1901 Project, named for United Center's own address on West Madison Street. Almost 9,500 new housing units are planned alongside neighborhood amenities and business space, phased over what could be many years. Its first phase includes an auditorium designed as a music venue. As of 2025, planners are also exploring a new CTA Pink Line station just east of the arena. It would rebuild the long-vanished Madison station, demolished back in 1951.