The St. Paul Civic Center was an indoor arena located in Saint Paul, Minnesota . The arena opened in 1973 and was closed and demolished in 1998. It once sat near the Ordway Music Theater and the Roy Wilkins Auditorium . The Xcel Energy Center was built on the former site of the arena.
19-543: The arena opened on January 1, 1973, and had seating capacity of approximately 16,000 for hockey. The arena could be expanded up to 17,800 for concerts and other non-sporting events. The Civic Center was the home of both iterations of the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the WHA —the first from 1973 to 1976 and the second from 1976 to 1977. The boys' state high school hockey and basketball tournaments were also held at
38-489: A ballroom. They are also designed large to help the sound of orchestras carry well throughout the whole room. A special case is the annual Vienna Opera Ball , where, just for one night, the auditorium of the Vienna State Opera is turned into a large ballroom. On the eve of the event, the rows of seats are removed from the stalls , and a new floor, level with the stage , is built. Sometimes ballrooms have stages in
57-409: A detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including "details of the means of egress, seating capacity, [and] arrangement of the seating...." Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the total size of the venue, and its purpose. For sports venues, the "decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors. Chief among these are
76-410: A large room such as the main drawing room , long gallery , or hall may double as a ballroom, but, a good ballroom should have the right type of flooring , such as hardwood flooring or stone flooring (usually marble or stone). . For most styles of modern dance, a wooden sprung floor offers the best surface. In later times the term ballroom has been used to describe nightclubs where customers dance,
95-463: A table derived from the seating capacity of the space. The International Fire Code, portions of which have been adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, "For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms, the occupant load shall not be less than the number of seats based on one person for each 18 inches (457 mm) of seating length". It also requires that every public venue submit
114-494: A theatre or other performing space, the "seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed". Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used and the royalties to be given. The seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity. Seating capacity
133-528: Is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas . When entities such as the National Football League 's Super Bowl Committee decide on a venue for a particular event, seating capacity, which reflects the possible number of tickets that can be sold for the event, is an important consideration. Seating capacity differs from total capacity (sometimes called public capacity ), which describes
152-645: The Top Rank Suites in the United Kingdom for example were also often referred to as ballrooms. The phrase "having a ball" has grown to encompass many events where person(s) are having fun, not just dancing. Ballrooms are generally quite large, and may have ceilings higher than other rooms in the same building. The large amount of space for dancing , as well as the highly formal tone of events have given rise to ballroom dancing . The largest balls are now nearly always held in public buildings, and many hotels have
171-529: The Civic Center as well as three NCAA Frozen Four national ice hockey championships. The arena was also the home of Verne Gagne 's American Wrestling Association (AWA). The arena was unique in North America in that the hockey dasher boards were made of clear acrylic glass from the shelf all the way down to the ice. This was because the arena's seating configuration was round, and the closest seats between
190-515: The Dark " at the arena, one day before Springsteen's 1984 Born in the U.S.A. Tour formally opened at the arena. The song "I Bought a Headache" from The Replacements ' album Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash is about regretting purchasing an $ 8.50 ticket to a rock concert that is so loud it makes his head hurt. Billy Joel recorded and released a live version of his song, "Streetlife Serenader". The song
209-600: The blue lines were not flush against the boards. Previously not an issue when dasher board advertising was rare, the clear boards made for better sightlines for most spectators seated between the blue lines, since the seating angles in the Civic Center were shallow. When the Minnesota Moose of the International Hockey League played their two seasons, they were replaced with standard white opaque boards to allow advertising. The new boards were disadvantageous to
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#1732858126318228-436: The front of the room where the host or a special guest can speak. That stage can also be used for instrumentalists and musical performers. This list only includes ballrooms with permanent wood floors. The size of the floor only includes the largest contiguous area without obstructions. The websites and materials about some places add up multiple spaces, rooms, and balconies, and floors. However, this list ranks ballrooms based on
247-459: The maximum total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law. Ballroom A ballroom or ballhall is a large room inside a building , the primary purpose of which is holding large formal parties called balls . Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions and palaces , especially historic mansions and palaces, contain one or more ballrooms. In other large houses,
266-503: The previous seating arrangements, and with the Moose's quick departure to Winnipeg , showed the arena was outdated for the state's most popular sport only 21 years after opening, much less National Hockey League standards. On June 28, 1984, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band , actress Courteney Cox and 200 extras filmed the Brian De Palma -directed music video for " Dancing in
285-471: The primary sports program and the size of the market area". In motion picture venues, the "limit of seating capacity is determined by the maximal viewing distance for a given size of screen", with image quality for closer viewers declining as the screen is expanded to accommodate more distant viewers. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide and how they are able to provide it. In contracting to permit performers to use
304-399: The seats shall be securely fastened to the floor" but provides exceptions if the total number of seats is fewer than 100, if there is a substantial amount of space available between seats or if the seats are at tables. It also delineates the number of available exits for interior balconies and galleries based on the seating capacity, and sets forth the number of required wheelchair spaces in
323-438: The total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Where seating capacity is a legal requirement, however, as it is in movie theatres and on aircraft , the law reflects the fact that the number of people allowed in should not exceed the number who can be seated. Use of the term "public capacity" indicates that a venue is allowed to hold more people than it can actually seat. Again,
342-547: The world, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway , has a permanent seating capacity for more than 235,000 people and infield seating that raises capacity to an approximate 400,000. Safety is a primary concern in determining the seating capacity of a venue: "Seating capacity, seating layouts and densities are largely dictated by legal requirements for the safe evacuation of the occupants in the event of fire". The International Building Code specifies, "In places of assembly,
361-438: Was recorded from a 1980 concert held at the arena. Seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space , in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law . Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The largest sporting venue in
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