The CHI Health Center Omaha is an arena and convention center in the central United States, located in the North Downtown neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska. Operated by the Metropolitan Entertainment & Convention Authority (MECA), the facility has an 18,975-seat arena, a exhibition hall, and of meeting space.
The complex opened on September 20, 2003 as Qwest Center Omaha, and adopted the name of CenturyLink Center Omaha on July 15, 2011, as part of a buyout of Qwest by CenturyLink (formerly CenturyTel). In July 2018, CHI Health bought the naming rights to the arena under a 20-year agreement worth $23.6 million, and the arena was renamed CHI Health Center Omaha effective September 1, that year.
Just west of the Missouri River, the elevation at street level is approximately above sea level.
The arena hosts basketball and hockey games, professional wrestling events, concerts, and the annual shareholders' meeting of Omaha-based conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, usually held on the first Saturday of May.
The arena's primary tenant is the Creighton University men's basketball team. Through the 2014–15 NCAA ice hockey season, the Omaha Mavericks men's ice hockey team, representing the University of Nebraska Omaha, was also a primary tenant, but the Mavericks moved to the new Baxter Arena effective with the 2015–16 season.
History
In 2000, Omaha voters approved a $216 million bond issue to build a new convention center and arena; the remainder of the $291 million project was provided by private organizations and individuals. The facility design was led by architectural firm DLR Group. Naming rights to the arena were purchased by Qwest.
Qwest Center Omaha opened in September 2003 with an initial seating capacity of 17,000 for concerts, 15,500 for basketball, and 14,700 for hockey. In 2006, a $5.7-million expansion of the arena increased capacity by approximately 1,500 seats.
The Qwest Center displaced the 1954 Omaha Civic Auditorium as the city's premier indoor arena. The venerable Ak-Sar-Ben Coliseum closed in 2002 and was demolished in 2005.
Notable events
The arena has hosted games in the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament four times: first- and second-round games in 2008, 2012, and 2015; and Midwest Regional games (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight) in 2018. The arena was planned to host the 2020 tournament's first- and second-round games, but the tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The arena also hosted the 2010 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships, and was home to the WWE Judgment Day 2008 pay-per-view, as well as other events from WWE. The arena has also five championship boxing cards, all involving Omaha native Terence Crawford as he wanted to defend his titles in front of a home crowd. His first bout at the arena, against Yuriorkis Gamboa for the WBO lightweight belt in 2014, was the first championship fight in Nebraska since the Joe Frazier-Ron Stander bout in 1971.
The arena hosts the Nebraska School Activities Association state wrestling championships each February. The tournament moved to what was then Qwest Center Omaha in 2006 after 30 years at Lincoln's Bob Devaney Sports Center.
Summer Olympics Swimming Trials
The center hosted the nationally televised USA Swimming Summer Olympics trials in 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2021. The center does not have permanent swimming facilities and a team of 200 workers with oversight by Myrtha Pools (which specializes in the construction and dismantling of large-scale temporary pools) constructed them in two weeks. The Omaha Fire Department pumped in of water from hydrants around the center.
The 2008 event averaged more than 12,000 spectators each night.
A storm damaged a portion of the roof known as The Hat on June 27, 2008. There was no structural damage, but the damage caused water to pour into parts of the Qwest Center, flowed down two sets of arena steps and onto the deck of the competition pool for the USA Swimming Summer Olympic Trials. The schedule for the trials went on as planned.
The pools were dismantled after the event and moved to other cities for permanent installation with the 2008 pool going to the Poseidon Swimming facility in Richmond, Virginia, the 2012 pool going to Charles River Aquatics in Boston, Massachusetts, the 2016 pool going to the Hulbert Aquatic Facility in West Fargo, North Dakota (West Fargo bought the pool via a local group of swim enthusiasts called UP Aquatics for $900,000). and the 2021 pool going to a group in Minneapolis, Minnesota that plans to convert an abandoned book bindery in the city's Near North neighborhood into an Olympic-caliber aquatic center.