T-Mobile Center

Location: Kansas City, Missouri
Capacity: 19,252
Record crowd: 19,646 – Metallica, Worldwired Tour (March 6, 2019)
Home team: Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament

T-Mobile Center (formerly known as Sprint Center) is a multi-purpose arena in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. It is located at the intersection of 14th Street and Grand Boulevard on the east side of the Power & Light District. The arena’s naming rights partner is T-Mobile US, which completed a merger with Sprint Corporation in April 2020. The arena’s name was officially changed on July 9, 2020 to reflect the brand’s change. T-Mobile’s second headquarters are in nearby Overland Park, Kansas which explains their desire to partner with the arena.

T-Mobile Center was opened on October 10, 2007, with a concert by Elton John held three days later as the arena’s first event. The center is owned by the city of Kansas City, Missouri, and seats over 19,000 people, with 72 suites. T-Mobile Center has effectively replaced Kemper Arena, which was built in 1974 just a few miles away in the southern portion of the West Bottoms neighborhood. Additionally, the College Basketball Experience, which includes the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame, is connected to and directly north of T-Mobile Center.

T-Mobile Center hosted the Big 12 Men’s Basketball Tournament in 2008 and has done so every year since 2010. It also hosted the first and second rounds of the 2009 and 2013 NCAA Men’s Tournaments, as well as the regional rounds of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Tournament and the 2010 NCAA Women’s Tournament; it also hosted a 2019 NCAA Men’s Division I regional. The arena also was the home of the former Kansas City Command of the Arena Football League (AFL).

The city of Kansas City has entered into discussions with the National Hockey League (NHL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) about possible expansion or relocation of a professional hockey and/or basketball franchise for the arena; however, neither the NHL nor the NBA has yet to approve a team to play in T-Mobile Center. Notable non-sporting events to be held here are AC/DC, Ed Sheeran and Madonna.