United Center
United Center is an indoor arena on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is home to the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League. It is named for its corporate sponsor United Airlines. With a capacity of nearly 21,000, the United Center is the largest arena by capacity in the NBA, and second largest arena by capacity in the NHL. It also has a seating capacity of 23,500 for concerts.
Opened in 1994, the United Center replaced the West Side's Chicago Stadium, which was opened in 1929 and located across Madison Street from the center. It is owned by the Reinsdorf and Wirtz families, owners of the teams that use the arena, and which also own much of the surrounding land. The first event held at the arena was WWF SummerSlam, and it hosts hundreds of sporting events, and concerts a year. The center also hosted the Democratic National Convention in 1996 and 2024. The arena served as the municipal emergency hub in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020.
The arena is home to a statue of basketball great Michael Jordan, posed mid-air in his iconic "flying" jump, erected in 1994. Originally outside, it now stands inside an atrium extension and event space which was added to the Center in 2017. The Jordan statue has since been joined by statues of Blackhawks ice hockey players Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita, while a statue of various Blackhawks players is located across the street on the site of Chicago Stadium.
History
Both the Chicago Blackhawks and the Chicago Bulls play their home games at the arena with some of them on back-to-back nights. In the 2023–24 NBA season, the Bulls drew an average attendance of 20,624 in 41 home games, the highest in the NBA. The hardwood floor for the Bulls games is laid over the ice that the Blackhawks play on. The flooring is assembled like a puzzle and taken apart when the Blackhawks have a game.The Bulls and Blackhawks own and operate the United Center through the United Center Joint Venture, a 50/50 partnership. It covers on a 46-acre parcel, west of the Chicago Loop. The arena is the largest in the United States in size, though not in capacity. Its exterior bears a striking resemblance to that of Chicago Stadium. It seats 19,717 for ice hockey, 20,917 for basketball and up to 23,500 for concerts. The United Center hosts over 200 events per year and has drawn over 20 million visitors since its opening. Attendance routinely exceeds seating capacity for Bulls and Blackhawks games.
The Bulls opened their practice facility, The Advocate Center, located a block east of the United Center, in 2014. Advocate Health Care owns the naming rights to the facility.
The Blackhawks opened their practice facility, Fifth Third Arena, located two blocks to the south of the United Center, in 2017.
Design and construction
The original construction of the arena cost $175 million.The United Center's acoustics were designed to amplify noise to replicate "The Roar" – the din that made Chicago Stadium famous, especially during ice hockey games. The designers originally estimated that the United Center would be 80% as loud as the Chicago Stadium had been. To amplify noise, they placed angled steel panels around the top level in order to reflect noise back into the arena's bowl.
During ice hockey season, the Blackhawks use an Allen TH323 Theatre Organ that is a replica of the Chicago Stadium's famous Barton organ. Recreating the old organ's notes took two years.
The building is tall, and is of concrete and steel construction, with 3,500 tons of steel being utilized in its construction. While the Blackhawks and Bulls had long planned another arena, an inflated real estate market and the early 1990s recession delayed the project until financing was secured from an international syndicate, with funding by banks from Japan, Australia and France. The arena originally had 216 luxury sky-boxes, the most of any professional ice hockey or basketball venue at the time of its opening. But after the 2009–10 renovation, this had been decreased to 169 executive suites spread across its three levels of suites. It also was originally constructed with 3,000 club seats. The arena also installed a Sony Jumbotron, making it officially the first video scoreboard used by the Bulls and Blackhawks.
Architects originally proposed utilizing limestone and granite for its exterior, however the owners instead decided to have a less expensive precast concrete exterior.
Per the team owners' request, the City of Chicago closed a section of Monroe Street west of the stadium, as the venue's footprint extends into where the road's sidewalk had previously been located. When the venue opened, Chicago Tribune architecture critic Blair Kamin criticized this street closure and other aspects as the venue's design as isolating the venue from its surrounding neighborhood. He argued that the venue's design had intentionally closed the arena off from its surroundings, which at the time included the Henry Horner Homes public housing.
Renovations
Late 2000s club additions and 300 level renovation
In 2005, a new Jumbotron was installed, which featured larger video screens, the removal of the Chicago Stadium-like boards, and additional smaller screens above the four main screens. In 2008, the United Center saw the debut of the Harris Club, private premium seating area that filled space previous occupied by several club-level suites. The Harris Club was an open lounge premium seating area with a capacity of 236 ticketholders fitted with amenities such including a Wii, a pool table, three bars, a buffet, and multiple televisions. Another change was the addition of two bars on the 300 level with open views to the arena bowl.In time for the 2009–10 season of its sports tenants, the United Center's 300 level saw its concourse renovated with the addition of 144 flat screen televisions, new food and beverage stations above select seating sections and two new bars that open up to panoramic views of the arena. During the 2010 off-season, two additional bars with panoramic views of the arena were added along with the other two that had been added the previous year. Another notable addition were illuminated signs on each side of the arena's 300 level seating bowl reading "Welcome to the Madhouse". The United Center also renovated several of its club-level suites into 32 "theater boxes", which were opera-style boxes seating four-people seating areas with access to an upscale restaurant-style lounge area shared with the other theater boxes. The theater boxes were built on the opposite end of the seating bowl as the Harris Club.
2010s changes
After the 2012–13 season, a third panoramic LED bar was installed around the 300 level, which required the removal of the "Welcome to the Madhouse" signs.A new court floor design was added for the Bulls' 2015–16 season and includes multiple changes. The iconic bull head logo at center court has increased in size by 75% and the image of a basketball that was previously behind the logo has been removed. The "CHICAGO BULLS" text on the endlines has been changed to the font used in the official Bulls logo to make the court design more consistent with the Bulls brand, and the same font has been applied to the "Bulls.com" and the "@ChicagoBulls" text on the north apron of the court. The lines on the court have been changed from red and white to all black to emphasize the bold colors of the Bulls brand. The four stars from the City of Chicago flag have been added to the south apron of the court to highlight the team's civic pride and incorporate the "Chicago Basketball" branding campaign. As of the 2024-2025 Bulls season, the current court features sponsor FanDuel in on the endlines with a smaller text of "CHICAGO BULLS", and Calamos replacing "Bulls.com" and the "@ChicagoBulls" text on the north apron of the court.
In March 2017, the United Center opened a new 190,000 square foot privately funded "atrium" addition. The addition featured office space on its second, third, and fourth floors and a gathering place on its first floor which is open to fans and visitors before, during, and after events. The statue of Michael Jordan which formerly sat outside the arena was relocated to the atrium.
In 2019, a new Jumbotron manufactured by Mitsubishi Electric was added to the United Center to replace the 2005 Jumbotron. At its unveiling, it was the largest and highest-resolution scoreboard in any dual-purpose NHL/NBA arena. This scoreboard would be the first used by the Bulls and the Blackhawks to be fully digital, with no non-video sponsor boards. The scoreboard has a display with 4 mm pixel spacing, six independent moving panels, and a continuous inner ring display. New audio and lighting systems were installed alongside the scoreboard upgrade.
Sportsbook Lounge
On February 1, 2022, the United Center and FanDuel Group announced a partnership to develop a sportsbook lounge located off the United Center atrium. The two-story venue was built out as a non-wagering space complete with FanDuel branding with screens featuring other live sports events. With the lounge opened in 2023, betting is still contingent on approval from the Illinois Gaming Board.Neighborhood development 1901 Project
The Reinsdorf and Wirtz families who own the United Center and much of the surrounding land have considered development schemes for the area. In 2024, they announced plans for a potential $7 billion "mega-development." Named the "1901 Project" for the United Center's address number on West Madison Street, the plan includes almost 9,500 new housing units and related neighborhood amenities and business spaces. Like most mega-developments, the project would be phased and could take many years to realize. The first phase includes an auditorium planned as a music venue.In 2025 it was announced that a new CTA Pink Line station is being explored to be built as part of the Project 1901 development. It would be located directly east of the United Center and rebuild the former Madison station that was demolished in 1951.