Freedom Hall is a multi-purpose arena in Louisville, Kentucky, on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is owned by the Kentucky State Fair Board. It is best known for its use as a basketball arena, previously serving as the home of the University of Louisville Cardinals and, from 2020 to 2024, as the home of the Bellarmine University Knights.
- Venue
- Freedom Hall
- Town
- Louisville, US
- Capacity
- 18,865
Freedom Hall is a multi-purpose arena in Louisville, Kentucky, on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center, which is owned by the Kentucky State Fair Board. It is best known for its use as a basketball arena, previously serving as the home of the University of Louisville Cardinals and, from 2020 to 2024, as the home of the Bellarmine University Knights. It has hosted Kiss, the Grateful Dead (who played there on four dates), Chicago, AC/DC, WWE events, Mötley Crüe, Elvis Presley, The Doors, Janis Joplin, Creed, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Michael Jackson, Coldplay and many more. As well as the Louisville Cardinals men's basketball team from 1956 to 2010, the arena's tenants included the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association from 1970 until the ABA-NBA merger in June 1976, and the Louisville Cardinals women's team from its inception in 1975 to 2010. The Kentucky Stickhorses of the North American Lacrosse League used Freedom Hall from 2011 until the team folded in 2013. From 2015 to 2019 it has hosted the VEX Robotics Competition World Championship Finals yearly in mid-April. The arena lost its status as Kentuckiana's main indoor sporting and concert venue when the downtown KFC Yum! Center opened in 2010. It is still used regularly, however, hosting concerts, horse shows, conventions, and basketball games. Freedom Hall was completed in 1956 in the newly opened Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center located 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Downtown Louisville. It received its name as the result of a statewide essay contest sponsored by the State Fair Board and the American Legion. Charlotte Owens, a senior at DuPont Manual High School, submitted the winning entry over 6,500 others. Designed for the nation's premier equestrian competition, the Kentucky State Fair World's Championship Horse Show, the floor length and permanent seating were designed specifically for the almost 300-foot (91 m)-long show ring (in comparison, a regulation hockey rink is 200 feet (6