# The O2 Arena

The O$_2$ Arena, commonly known as The O$_2$, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the United Kingdom, behind Co-op Live and Manchester Arena, and in 2008 was the world's busiest music arena. As of 2022, it is the ninth-largest building in the world by volume with a diameter of 365 metres (399 yards) and a height of 52 metres (57 yards).
The arena was built under the Millennium Dome (renamed The O2), a large dome-shaped building built to house an exhibition celebrating the turn of the third millennium; as the structure still stands over the arena, The Dome remains a name in common usage for the venue. The arena, as well as the overall The O2 complex, is named after its primary sponsor, the telecommunications company O2, a subsidiary of Virgin Media O2.

## History

Following the closure of the Millennium Experience at the end of 2000, the Millennium Dome was leased to Meridian Delta Ltd. in December 2001, for redevelopment as an entertainment complex. This included plans for an indoor arena.
Construction of the arena started in 2003, and finished in 2007. In December 2004, after the interior of the dome had been largely cleared and before building work inside began, the dome was used as the main venue for the annual Crisis Open Christmas organised by the London-based homelessness charity Crisis.
Owing to the impossibility of using cranes inside the dome structure, the arena's roof was constructed on the ground within the dome and then lifted; the arena building's structure was then built around the roof. The arena building, which houses the arena and the arena concourse, is independent from all other buildings in the O2 and houses all the arena's facilities. The arena building itself takes up 40% of the total dome structure.
The seating arrangement throughout the whole arena can be modified, similar to the AO Arena in Manchester. The ground surface can also be changed between ice rink, basketball court, exhibition space, conference venue, private hire venue and concert venue.
The arena was designed to reduce echoing, a problem common among older arenas used for concerts.
On 18 February 2022 during Storm Eunice, large sections of the arena's fabric roof were shredded, causing the evacuation of 1,000 people, and the venue to close. It was later announced that repair works would take place and that the arena was likely to reopen on 25 February 2022, for a UB40 concert. The repairs took place as planned, with the O2 Arena reopened as scheduled.

## Events

The O2 Arena has hosted a variety of events, including but not limited to: sports events, concerts, music festivals, comedy shows, conferences, and the Olympics.
Artists such as Prince, Ariana Grande, JoJo Siwa, Blondie, Little Mix, Madonna, Olivia Rodrigo, The Killers, Linkin Park, Diljit Dosanjh, Gracie Abrams, Sabrina Carpenter, Twenty One Pilots, and Billie Eilish have headlined concerts at the venue. Beginning in July 2009, Michael Jackson was scheduled to hold a 50-show residency at the arena, titled This Is It. However, he died on 25 June, eighteen days before the first scheduled show.
During the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, the venue was referred as the North Greenwich Arena due to Olympics regulations regarding corporate sponsorship of event sites.
The arena hosted the ATP World Tour Finals between 2009 and 2020.
Since March 2013, the arena has hosted C2C: Country to Country, Europe's largest country music festival, which annually attracts over 20,000 fans. UK and Irish acts, as well as up-and-coming American acts, perform sets several times across various pop-up stages in and around the arena, with the main stage accessible only to ticket-holders. The seventh C2C was held on 8–10 March 2019.
The arena has hosted the 2013 EuroLeague Final Four between 10 and 12 May 2013.
On 15 October 2022, the O2 hosted a boxing match between Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall that was the first time two female boxers headlined at a major venue in the United Kingdom. Shields won, and the fight headlined the first all-female boxing card in the United Kingdom.
On 1 July 2023, the O2 Arena hosted WWE Money In The Bank, as well as the 30 June 2023 go-home episode of Friday Night SmackDown beforehand, which was the first time the show aired live on BT Sport (Now known as TNT Sports).
On 2 November 2024, the O2 Arena hosted the finals of the 2024 League of Legends World Championship. T1 of the League of Legends Champions Korea claimed their fifth title against Bilibili Gaming of China's League of Legends Pro League.
On 18 February 2025, the O2 hosted F1 75 Live, a special launch event for the 2025 Formula One World Championship in which all 10 teams and 20 drivers were present to unveil their season liveries and to launch Formula One's 75th anniversary season. This was the first time in the history of the Formula One World Championship where all competing teams reveal their liveries together and at the same time.
In late March 2025 the O2 will host WWE Friday Night SmackDown and WWE Monday Night Raw.

## Ticket sales records

Despite being open for only 200 days per year (the equivalent of seven months), the venue sold over 1.2 million tickets in 2007, making it the third most popular venue in the world for concerts and family shows, narrowly behind the Manchester Arena (1.25 million) and Madison Square Garden in New York City (1.23 million).
As of 2023, the O2 Arena was the third busiest music arena in the world in terms of ticket sales.
World's Busiest Arenas – 2023 :
| Venue | Ticket sales |
| Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA | 1,985,832 |
| Movistar Arena, Santiago, Chile | 1,451,098 |
| The O2 Arena, London, UK | 1,264,882 |
| WiZink Center, Madrid, Spain | 1,191,860 |
| Accor Arena, Paris, France | 1,134,237 |
| Kia Forum, Inglewood, USA | 1,100,855 |
| Dickies Arena, Fort Worth, USA | 1,015,253 |
| OVO Hydro, Glasgow, UK | 1,012,333 |
| Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany | 1,004,777 |
| 3Arena, Dublin, Ireland | 975,640 |

## Prizes and awards

* 2016 Pollstar International Venue of the Year
* 2016 Billboard Touring Awards: Top Arena
* 2016 The London Venue Awards: Best Music Venue
* 2016 The Drum UK Event Awards: Large Venue of the Year
* 2017 Pollstar International Venue of the Year