Sommet Center / Nashville Arena
Sommet Center (formerly Nashville Arena and Gaylord Entertainment Center and pronounced soh-MAY') is an all-purpose venue in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, that was completed in 1996.
Sommet Center is owned by the Sports Authority of Nashville and Davidson County and operated by Powers Management Company, a subsidiary of the Nashville Predators National Hockey League franchise, which has been its primary tenant since 1998. ... more »
Sommet Center (formerly Nashville Arena and Gaylord Entertainment Center and pronounced soh-MAY') is an all-purpose venue in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, that was completed in 1996.
Sommet Center is owned by the Sports Authority of Nashville and Davidson County and operated by Powers Management Company, a subsidiary of the Nashville Predators National Hockey League franchise, which has been its primary tenant since 1998. The Predators hosted the NHL Entry Draft here in 2003.
In 1997, it was the host venue of the United States Figure Skating Association national championships, and in 2004 hosted the U.S. Gymnastics championships. It was the home of the Nashville Kats franchise of the Arena Football League from 1997 until 2001, and hosted the team's revival from 2005 to 2007, when the Kats folded.
The venue has also hosted numerous concerts and religious gatherings, and some major basketball events, including both men's (2001, 2006, 2010) and women's tournaments of the Southeastern Conference and the Ohio Valley Conference.
In odd-numbered years, The arena was regularly one of eight sites to host the first and second rounds of the men's NCAA Basketball Tournament for the first ten years of its existence, though it has been taken out of the rotation through at least 2011, partly due to the obselete octagonal mid-1990s-style scoreboard that hung above the arena floor. It was replaced in the summer of 2007 by a new $5 million scoreboard and digital control room « hide
