Madrid Arena is an indoor arena located in the city of Madrid, in the fairgrounds in the Casa de Campo, just minutes from the city centre. Built from the old Rocódromo, the pavilion was designed by Spanish architects Estudio Cano Lasso who designed this versatile building in 2001 to host sporting events, commercial, cultural and leisure activities. The pavilion was sponsored by the company Telefónica for what was also known as Telefónica Arena.
Construction
The arena was built in 2002 as part of the facilities planned for the Madrid 2012 Olympic bid. It was expected to house basketball competitions. The first phase was about in 2002, expanded the following year. It is distributed on three floors. Its central court has three retractable bleachers, allowing the surface to change depending on the type of event. The pavilion features a Satellite Pavilion, with an area of 2,100 m²and it was the location of the Mutua Madrileña Masters Madrid men's tennis tournament until Caja Mágica was opened. It has a maximum seating capacity of 12,000 seats. It is owned by the City Council of Madrid and is managed by Madrid Destino, municipal company which replaced the disappeared Madridec. It has a maximum capacity of 10,248 spectators for basketball and 12,000 for boxing and 30,000 m². Its dome is 11,000 m² and is supported by a three-dimensional structure supported on 181 piles. It has a skylight that can be opened, letting in natural light. The facade is composed of a double curve of glass, very light and variable transparency. CB Estudiantes played its matches in the Madrid Arena from 2005 to 2010. It has signed a five-year contract with an option for another five. It hosted also all the games of the second round of the Eurobasket 2007.
Madrid Arena tragedy
On November 1, 2012 a human stampede in a Halloween party resulted in five girls being crushed to death. The party's organizers were allowed to sell 9,000 tickets, but far more people entered. In the enquiry, judicial agents gathered more than 19,000 tickets. A few days later it was announced that the Madrid Arena was not going to host the Handball World Championship as expected, due to its safety problems. In 2015 the Spanish writerSaúl Cepeda Lezcano, who worked for the main parties blamed for the tragedy, published the novelAforo Completo. The book uncovers many illegal activities in nightlife and clubbing activities that had led to a similar disaster.
