Resorts World Arena


The Resorts World Arena is a multipurpose indoor arena located at the National Exhibition Centre in Solihull, England. It has a capacity of 15,685 seats. The venue was built as the seventh hall of the NEC complex. After 18 months of construction, the arena opened as the "Birmingham International Arena" in December 1980 with a concert by Queen.
In 2019, Resorts World Arena had the 5th highest ticket sales of an arena venue in the United Kingdom. The Ticket Factory is the official box office for the Resorts World Arena.

History

The venue was known as Birmingham International Arena until 1 September 1983, then as NEC Arena from 5 September 1983 to 31 August 2008.
From 1 September 2008, the NEC Arena was officially renamed as the LG Arena, following a naming-rights sponsorship deal with global electronics company LG. The arena then underwent a £29 million overhaul of its facilities, paid for by loans from Birmingham City Council and regional development agency Advantage West Midlands.
Work on the LG Arena was finished mid October 2009 and the arena hosted its first concert with Tom Jones. Included in the installation were around 1,000 new seats, bringing the capacity to 16,000 to compete with venues such as The O2 Arena in London and the Manchester Arena in Manchester, which are amongst the busiest music venues in the world. Also constructed were new hospitality areas and a forum containing new bars, restaurants and other customer facilities. Prior to its first concert, the arena hosted the 2009 Horse of the Year show.
In 2011 the venue became the tenth-busiest arena in the world and 13th-busiest in 2014.
It was announced in November 2014 that as part of a sponsorship deal with the casino group, the arena would be renamed the Genting Arena from 6 January 2015. On 25 September 2018, the NEC Group announced that the Genting Arena will be renamed "Resorts World Arena" as of 3 December of this year. Genting UK will continue to sponsor the hall. The reason for the new name is to more closely align the venue with Genting's Resorts World Birmingham that is opposite the arena, which opened in October 2015.

Planned expansion

On 9 March 2020, the NEC Group announced they have submitted a planning application to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council to expand the arena's capacity from 15,685 to 21,600, if approved, this would make the arena the largest indoor arena in the United Kingdom. This development would involve the demoltion of the existing roof, with an addition of an upper tier as well as other works including enhanced hospitality facilities as well as external, internal and major refurbishment works.

Events

The Spice Girls performed 6 sold-out shows on the Spiceworld Tour during April and May 1998. Comedians such as Michael McIntyre, Ricky Gervais and Peter Kay have brought their shows to the venue.
In 2010 and 2011, the arena hosted the Birmingham audition stages of the British reality television music competition, The X Factor.
On 19 December 2010, it played host to the 2010 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, and it also hosted the 2016 and 2018 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards. On 5 November 2011, it played host to UFC 138.
Beyonce performed at the arena during two of her world tours.
Black Sabbath performed their last show of their farewell tour The End Tour on 4 February 2017.
South Korean rapper, G- Dragon also played at the arena on 23 September 2017 as part of his ACT III MOTTE tour.
Lady Gaga concluded her Joanne World Tour at the arena on 1 February 2018.
Iron Maiden performed at the arena on 7 August 2018, as part of their Legacy of the Beast World Tour.
Following the highly successful, Britney Spears adapted the residency into an international concert tour and performed at the arena on 31 August 2018, credited as the Piece of Me Tour.
The Vamps have played the arena multiple times on 8 and 9 May 2015, 25 and 26 March 2016, 19 May 2017 and 4 May 2018 amongst multi artist events such as Hello World and Free Radio Live.
In 2019, the Resorts World Arena hosted the Arena and Live Final stages of .
Little Mix showed up on November 7, 8 and 9, 2019 during LM5 The Tour.

Ticket sales

NEC Group

Parent company The NEC Group also owns and operates the Arena Birmingham and ICC Birmingham, both in central Birmingham, and the National Exhibition Centre.