Kemper Arena is a 19,500-seat indoor arena located in Kansas City, Missouri. It has hosted NCAA Final Four basketball games, professional basketball and hockey teams, professional wrestling events, the 1976 Republican National Convention, concerts, and is the ongoing host of the American Royal livestock show.It is named for R. Crosby Kemper Sr., a member of the powerful Kemper financial clan and who donated $3.2 million from his estate for the arena. In 2016, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in recognition of its revolutionary design by Helmut Jahn.The arena's name will change to Mosaic Arena, as part of an agreement to repurpose it into a regional amateur sports facility. The new name will be official when it reopens as the new facility.HistoryHelmut Jahn's first major project rises from the stockyardsKemper Arena was built in 18 months in 1973–74 on the site of the former Kansas City Stockyards just west of downtown in the West Bottoms to replace the 8,000-seat Municipal Auditorium to play host to the city's professional basketball and hockey teams.The arena was the first major project of German architect Helmut Jahn who was to go on to become an important architect of his era.
"Located in Kansas City’s Historic West Bottoms, Hy-Vee Arena is the Nation’s first multi-level, multi-functional sports complex. Two separate floors house 12 hardwood maple courts, dining, businesses, and retail space offer an unparalleled experience. That’s over 82,000 square feet of column free space. The four lower level courts are striped for NBA and Collegiate regulation. The upper bowl has eight High School and Collegiate regulation courts. Courts are lined for basketball, volleyball, futsal and pickleball. In addition, the arena has one of the longest indoor tracks at 350 meters featuring five racing lanes and Mondo track surface."
