St. Pete Times Forum

History:

The St. Pete Times Forum opened in 1996 as the Ice Palace. The arena was built as a new home for the Lightning to replace Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, which was then known as the Thunderdome. Upon the completion of the Ice Palace, both the Lightning and the Tampa Bay Storm, also a tenant of the Thunderdome, moved in and have made it their home since then.

The St. Pete Times Forum officially opened on October 20, 1996, as the Lightning hosted the New York Rangers. The Lightning were victorious in the game by a score of 5-2.

Control of the venue has changed hands three times since the building's opening in 1996. The lease agreement ties the arena to the ownership of the Tampa Bay Lightning. Currently Palace Sports and Entertainmnet (owned by billionaire William Davidson) operate the venue, and have held control since summer 1999 when Davidson purchased the Lightning from then-owner Art Williams.

Naming rights to the Ice Palace were sold to the St. Petersburg Times, a daily newspaper which circulates throughout the Tampa Bay area. Other entertainment events occasionally held in the Forum include concerts, NBA exhibition games, USF Basketball and NCAA Tournament games, tennis, professional wrestling, boxing, figure skating, and rodeos.

The building played host to the 1999 NHL All-Star Game, World Wrestling Federation, and first and second round games of the 2003 NCAA men's basketball tournament. The Forum also played host to 4 of the 7 games during the 2004 Stanley Cup Finals, as the Lightning defeated the Calgary Flames 4 games to 3 to win their first Stanley Cup.

In 2012, the St. Pete Times Forum will play host to the NCAA Hockey Frozen Four championship finals; this will be the first time the "Frozen Four" will be held outside the northern US since 1999, when the Arrowhead Pond of Anaheim, hosted by the University of Alaska Anchorage, held the event. The Frozen Four will be hosted by the University of Alabama in Huntsville, the nearest collegiate hockey team to Florida.