- Address: 501 Broadway, Nashville
- Country: United States
- Capacity: 17,000
- Opened: 18 December 1996
- Main use: Ice hockey
- Tenants: Nashville Predators (ice hockey)
Extra stadium info – Bridgestone Arena
The construction costs of the venue, which opened as the Nashville Arena, were $144 million. The arena was also known as the Gaylord Entertainment Center and the Sommet Center before it became the Bridgestone Arena. Various world famous artists performed at the venue. In 2010, Nashville was heavily impacted by a major flooding event. The Bridgestone Arena escaped heavy damage, but standing flood water seeped into the arena. No events were affected. In 2022, a ruptured water main spilled water into the Bridgestone Arena. Two Predators games were postponed as a result. An intercollegiate ice hockey game which should take place at the Bridgestone Arena was moved to another venue in Nashville as a result as well.
The Nashville Predators
The Nashville Predators ice hockey club, the first ice hockey club from Tennessee with 100,000 followers on its main social media page, use the Bridgestone Arena for home matches. In 1998, they played their first home games in the National Hockey League at the Bridgestone Arena. The Predators drew an average home attendance of 16,000 in their first-ever NHL season. The National Hockey League became the most popular ice hockey league in the world.
The Stanley Cup
The Nashville Predators reached the finals of the Stanley Cup in 2017 for the first time in their history. That year, the finals consisted of six matches. The Pittsburgh Penguins from Pennsylvania won four of those six matches. They won the Stanley Cup four times before they faced the Nashville Predators in the finals. On 3 June 2017, the Bridgestone Arena hosted its first championship series game for the Predators. The Nashville Predators won the game against the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1. 17,000 fans showed up for the match.
