2023 VenuesNow All-Star Arena
Acrisure Arena
Palm Desert, California
Acrisure Arena serves as a linchpin for expanding live music in Greater Palm Springs while also home of the AHL’s new Coachella Valley Firebirds. The $300 million arena, which opened in December, was privately funded by Oak View Group (VenuesNow’s parent company), Live Nation and the NHL Seattle Kraken, the Firebirds’ parent team.
The 11,000-capacity arena serves a robust market about two hours southeast of Los Angeles, with design features touching indoor/outdoor aspects common among Southern California venues, while speaking to the desert climate.
One distinction in the seating bowl: there is no center-hung videoboard. OVG instead opted for a Daktronics flat screen installed in the west end and a ribbon board that rings the lower bowl, which makes for easier show rigging. Another feature setting the arena apart is an outdoor artist and crew compound adjacent to the green rooms, including a kitchen and dining area that extends to lounge seating, shade/shelter, a fire pit, bocce ball and a 9-hole putt-putt course, all with a view of the San Bernardino and San Jacinto mountain ranges. Five loading bays provide easy access for trucks in a marshaling area with additional space for tour buses. A canopied outdoor concessions plaza within the ticketed space makes room for vendors serving from food “pods,” taking advantage of the desert climate.
In its first full year of operations, led by general manager and recent OVG hire John Page, the Firebirds went 46-17, advancing to the Calder Cup Finals, losing a heartbreaker in overtime of game 7. Concerts at the facility this year included John Mayer, Lizzo, Shania Twain, Bryan Adams and Santa Fe Klan.
