page_title: State Farm Arena
section_title: Layout
hierarchical_section_title: State Farm Arena / Layout
caption_attribution_description: I took this picture of the Philips Arena before the game. It is located in downtown Atlanta and the home of the Atlanta Hawks and the WNBS’s Atlanta Dream.
context_page_description: State Farm Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. The arena serves as the home venue for the National Basketball Association's Atlanta Hawks. It also served as home to the National Hockey League's Atlanta Thrashers from 1999 to 2011, before the team moved to Winnipeg, as well as the Women's National Basketball Association's Atlanta Dream from 2008 to 2016 and 2019. It opened in 1999 at a cost of $213.5 million, replacing the Omni Coliseum. It is owned by the Atlanta Fulton County Recreation Authority and operated by the Hawks, owned by Tony Ressler along with a group of investors including Grant Hill.
context_section_description: The arena seats 19,050 for basketball and 17,624 for ice hockey. The largest crowd ever for an Atlanta Hawks basketball game at the arena was Game 6 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals on May 2, 2008 (against the Boston Celtics), where there was an announced attendance of 20,425. The arena includes 92 luxury suites, 9 party suites, and 1,866 club seats. For concerts and other entertainment events, the arena can seat 21,000.
  The arena was originally laid out in a rather unusual manner, with the club seats and luxury boxes aligned solely along one side of the playing surface, and the general admission seating along the other three sides (the arrangement was later emulated in Ford Field, UCF Arena, Soldier Field, Levi's Stadium, and other venues). This layout was a vast contrast to many of its contemporaries, which have their revenue-generating luxury boxes and club seats located in the 'belly' of the arena, thus causing the upper deck to be 2–4 stories higher. The layout at Philips was done so as to be able to bring the bulk of the seats closer to the playing surface while still making available a sufficient number of revenue-raising club seats and loges. However, the 2017–18 renovations removed the upper levels of the suite wall in favor of premium seating spread throughout the arena, turning those upper areas to standard seating. 
  On the exterior, angled steel columns supporting the roof facing downtown spell out "ATLANTA." The side facing the Georgia World Congress Center originally spelled out "CNN" (whose headquarters adjoins the arena), but that section has since been altered to accommodate a Taco Mac restaurant. The Dome/GWCC/Philips Arena/CNN Center rail station below the arena provides access to MARTA public transportation.
  Amsterdam-based technology company Philips purchased the initial naming rights to the arena in February 1999 for $185 million over 20 years. In February 2018, it was reported that Philips would not renew its naming rights agreement for the arena when it expired in June 2019, primarily due to Philips' withdrawal from the consumer electronics market in 2013. On August 29, 2018, State Farm purchased the naming rights to the arena, in a deal that will last for 20 years and cost $175 million.
  For the 2007–2008 season, State Farm Arena utilized the new "see-through" shot clock units which allow spectators seated behind the basket to see the action without having the clocks interfere with their view, joining FedExForum, Wells Fargo Center, TD Garden, United Center, Talking Stick Resort Arena and the Spectrum Center. Video advertising panels replaced the traditional scrolling panels.
caption: Then-Philips Arena on February 12, 2012.
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