John Paul Jones Arena Nominated For Sports Business Award

Story Links

CHARLOTTESVILLEVirginia’s John Paul Jones Arena is one of four sports facilities nominated for an inaugural Sports Business Award sponsored by the SportsBusiness Journal (SBJ) and SportsBusiness Daily (SBD). There are 11 categories of awards, including sports facilities.

In addition to John Paul Jones Arena, the other facilities nominated in the sports facilities category are AT&T Park (San Francisco, Calif.), the University of Phoenix Stadium (Glendale, Ariz.) and the Prudential Center (Newark, N.J.).

“We are excited and pleasantly surprised to be nominated for this award,” said Virginia Executive Associate Director of Athletics Jon Oliver. “This nomination is a result of the hard work of a lot of people at the University of Virginia and the generosity and support of many individuals who made this arena a reality. We are very proud of the John Paul Jones Arena and are working hard on the presentation materials that have been requested as a result of this nomination in order to accurately portray the many attributes of this facility.”

John Paul Jones Arena, which opened in the summer of 2006, provides a beautiful and functional home for Virginia’s men’s and women’s basketball programs. It also benefits all of the Virginia athletics department’s student-athletes with its dining hall and academic center.

The arena seats 14,593 for basketball and features coaches’ office complexes, locker rooms, a training room, a strength and conditioning area and an equipment room. The men’s and women’s basketball programs each have one and a half practice courts available at all times for team and individual work.

Basketball fans benefit from a state-of-the-art audio-visual system, a spacious lobby with two large video displays, a center-hung scoreboard with four video screens, conveniently located concession stands and a team shop.

In addition to collegiate basketball, the arena provides residents of Central Virginia a venue in which to watch a variety of other entertainment options. John Paul Jones Arena was named the Best New Major Concert Venue in the nation for 2006.

The arena is visually attractive on the inside with a classic architectural look outside that fits comfortably into the University Grounds.

Paul Tudor Jones II, a 1976 graduate of UVa and the major benefactor of the arena project, named the arena for his father John Paul Jones, a 1948 graduate of Virginia’s Law School.

More than 400 entries were submitted to the SBJ/SBD editorial committee for consideration before the final nominees were selected in the 11 categories. The other categories include pro sports league, sports agency, sports innovation/technology, sports event marketing firm, sports executive, pro sports team, athletic director, sports media, sports sponsor and sports online.

The award recipients will be announced during an awards ceremony at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York City on May 29.