Spokane Chiefs
Arena Name: Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
Capacity: 10,366
Built: 1995
Address: 720 W. Mallon Ave, Spokane, WA, 99201
Telephone: (509) 535-7825
Ice Surface Size: Regulation
Franchise Date: 1985-86
WHL Championships: 2, in 1990-91 & 2007-08
Memorial Cup Championships: 2, in 1990-91 & 2007-08
Colours: Red, White & Blue
Official Web Site: SpokaneChiefs.com
Venue Web Site: SpokaneArena.com
Former Arenas: Spokane Coliseum
Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
What's the Arena Like?
Yet to Visit for a Game
I was not in the right state of mind visiting Spokane for the only time in the summer of 2015. While driving across the United States en route to a wedding in Vancouver, my wife and I spent a day in Yellowstone National Park, and our rental car got a stone chip on the winding mountain roads through the park. By the next day, the chip had turned into a massive crack, and as we were already nervous at putting 10,000 km on someone else's car and had no cell reception in the United States, we decided to deal with it in the next major city we hit on the road, which happened to be Spokane.
I drove dutifully into Spokane with my mind entirely on other things and headed to the Arena on a beautiful summer day, snapped a picture without even realizing that the old Spokane Coliseum had been next door, and then went straight into the arena office, where a friendly team employee let me use a phone to call the rental company's 800 number. We wound up having the car checked out at a local garage and then were sent on our way, and an hour out of Spokane I realized I'd barely even looked at the arena.
So apologies, fellow arena nerds, for I have nothing at all to say about the Spokane Arena. I'm very much looking forward to making a second visit for a Chiefs game. And at least my Spokane story has a happy ending - we got the cracked windshield fixed in the end, and the rental company forgot to charge us for it.
Inside Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena
Future Developments
In 2012, voters approved a budget measure which would add 750 permanent seats to Spokane Arena. The back story is that the arena is expandable up to 15,000 seats, but with the arena rarely selling out, it seems unnecessary to expand it. However, there was talk back in 2012 that the NCAA would enforce a minimum 12,000-seat capacity to any arena hosting a March Madness subregional. Obviously any arena's basketball capacity is higher than that for hockey, but apparently the Arena would still be 750 seats short of meeting that minimum if the NCAA ever chose to enforce it.
Despite the fact that voters approved the funding for it a decade ago, construction has never started, and indeed the NCAA has never walked away from Spokane.
Despite the fact that voters approved the funding for it a decade ago, construction has never started, and indeed the NCAA has never walked away from Spokane.
Franchise History
The Spokane Chiefs were founded in 1982 as the Kelowna Wings, but only survived three seasons in the Okanagan and moved to the Spokane Coliseum in 1985. The team moved a few hundred feet south in 1995 into the new Spokane Arena.
Retired Numbers
9 Tyler Johnson
14 Ray Whitney
14 Ray Whitney
Feedback
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and I'll update the guide.
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Last Revised: October 21, 2022