MANCHESTER ARENA (formerly NYNEX ARENA and M.E.N. ARENA)

Manchester Arena (currently known as AO Arena for sponsorship reasons) is an indoor arena in Manchester, England, immediately north of the city centre and partly above Manchester Victoria railway station in air rights space. With a capacity of 23,000 it is the second largest indoor arena in the UK after Co-op Live and third largest in Europe. The arena opened in July 1995, sponsored by NYNEX CableComms as NYNEX Arena. In July 1998, it was renamed the Manchester Evening News Arena, or just the MEN Arena, when it was sponsored by the Manchester Evening News newspaper. In December 2011, the newspaper ended its 13 year sponsorship, and the arena was renamed Manchester Arena in January 2012. In July 2013, the arena was renamed Phones 4u Arena after the mobile phone company Phones 4u, but this deal ended in January 2015 after Phones 4u went out of business, renaming the arena back to Manchester Arena. In September 2020, the arena was rebranded as the AO Arena as part of a five year sponsorship deal by the online electricals retailer AO. The arena is one of the world's busiest indoor arenas, hosting music and sporting events such as boxing and swimming. The arena was a key part of Manchester's bids to host the Olympic Games in 1996 and 2000 and was eventually used for the 2002 Commonwealth Games. On 22 May 2017, the arena's foyer was the scene of a terrorist attack carried out by a suicide bomber, in which 22 people were killed and 1,017 injured following an Ariana Grande concert.