Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. The arena opened in 1987.
- Venue
- Thompson-Boling Arena
- Town
- Knoxville, US
- Capacity
- 21,678
Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States. The arena opened in 1987. It is home to the Tennessee Volunteers (men) and Lady Vols (women) basketball teams. Since 2008, it has been home to the Lady Vols volleyball team. It is named after B. Ray Thompson and former university president Edward J. Boling. The basketball court is named "The Summitt" after the late Lady Vols basketball coach Pat Summitt. It replaced the Stokely Athletic Center. The mammoth octagonal building lies just northwest of the Tennessee River, and just southwest of Neyland Stadium. As an echo of its neighbor and a tribute to the brick-and-mortar pattern atop Ayres Hall, the baselines of the court are painted in the familiar orange-and-white checkerboard pattern. In terms of seating capacity, Thompson-Boling was at one time the largest facility ever built specifically for basketball in the United States with a seating capacity of 24,535 until its 2007 renovation. The current capacity is 21,678. The men's record crowd was 25,610 for a game against Kentucky on January 21, 1989, which is also the SEC record for a regular-season game. The Lady Vols' record crowd of 24,653, set at their win over archrival UConn on January 7, 2006, is also the all-time record for an NCAA regular-season women's game. The facility hosted the 1989 Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournament. It hosted games of the NCAA men's basketball tournament in 1990 (first and second rounds), 1994 (regional), and 1999 (regional), and the 1990 NCAA Women's Final Four. Since 2001, it has played host to Knoxville's Living Christmas Tree. In August 2006, ground was broken for the Pratt Pavilion, a basketball practice facility to be located adjacent to the arena. It was ready for use in early November, but not all exterior construction were finished. On November 30, 2006, plans were announced at utsports.com to add new renovati