McCarthey Athletic Center
| The New Kennel, K2, The Kennel | |
 |
|
| Location | 801 North Cincinnati Street Spokane, WA 99258 |
|---|---|
| Owner | Gonzaga University |
| Operator | Gonzaga University |
| Capacity | 6,000 |
| Surface | Hardwood |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | April 24, 2003[1] |
| Opened | November 19, 2004 |
| Construction cost | $25 million ($31.3 million in 2024 dollars[2]) |
| Architect | ASLC & Ellerbe Becket[3] |
| Project manager | Garco Construction Inc.[4] |
| Structural engineer | DCI Engineers Inc.[4] |
| Tenants | |
| Gonzaga Bulldogs (2004–present) (Men's and Women's basketball) (West Coast Conference, NCAA) |
|
McCarthey Athletic Center or "MAC" is a 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Spokane, Washington. The arena opened in 2004. It is home to the Gonzaga University Bulldogs basketball program, and is often called "The New Kennel". This nickname was inherited from the school's former basketball arena, Charlotte Y. Martin Centre, popularly known as "The Kennel," which had been home to the Bulldogs for 39 years. As the MAC has become the established basketball arena on campus its nickname as "The New Kennel" is gradually becoming "The Kennel" with the Charlotte Y. Martin Centre being known as the "Martin Centre." For several years it was the largest basketball arena in the West Coast Conference. It lost this distinction when Brigham Young University joined in 2011; its arena, Marriott Center, seats 20,900 – more than triple the MAC capacity.
The arena's naming rights went to the McCartheys of Salt Lake City, as a result of major gifts by Gonzaga Trustee Philip McCarthey and Regent Thomas McCarthey. Both are Gonzaga alumni and former owners of The Salt Lake Tribune.
Not only has it hosted basketball games for the women's and men's teams, it has also served as the venue for concerts by Switchfoot, Yellowcard, Ben Folds, Jay Sean, Death Cab for Cutie and comedians Bill Cosby and Jeff Foxworthy.
In 2006, the West Coast Conference post-season tournament came to the McCarthey Center, marking the first time the event had ever been held in Spokane, as the original "Kennel" was considered too small to host the event and the larger Spokane Arena was unavailable due to annual scheduling conflicts.
After the Gonzaga Bulldogs men's basketball team accumulated 38 consecutive wins in the McCarthey Athletic Center and a 50-game win streak dating back to the Charlotte Y. Martin Centre, the Santa Clara Broncos ended what was, at the time, the longest home win streak in the NCAA. In February 2015, BYU snapped Gonzaga's 41-game home winning streak in the McCarthey Athletic Center, which was also the longest active home winning streak in the NCAA at the time.[5] As of March 1, 2015, the Zags are 149–10 in the building, which includes a 69–6 record in non-conference games, a 80–3 record in conference games, and a 2–0 record in the WCC Tournament.[6] The following are the eleven Gonzaga men's basketball losses in the building:
| Rank | Team | Date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santa Clara | February 12, 2007 |
| 2 | Washington State | December 5, 2007 |
| 3 | Portland State | December 23, 2008 |
| 4 | Wake Forest | December 5, 2009 |
| 5 | San Diego State | November 16, 2010 |
| 6 | Saint Mary's | January 27, 2011 |
| 7 | Michigan State | December 10, 2011 |
| 8 | Illinois | December 8, 2012 |
| 9 | BYU | February 28, 2015 |
| 10 | Arizona | December 5, 2015 |
| 11 | UCLA | December 12, 2015 |
Records
- On January 16, 2010, Heather Bowman broke the West Coast Conference women's basketball all-time points record.
- On March 21, 2011, Courtney Vandersloot became the first basketball player (men's or women's) to score 2,000 points and tally 1,000 assists in their career.
NCAA Tournament
In October 2009, NCAA announced that McCarthey Athletic Center will be one of 16 locations that will host the first and second rounds of the 2011 NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament.[7]
The arena also hosted the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament first and second rounds in 2012 and 2013, as well as a regional in 2013.
References
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- ↑ 1634 to 1699: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. 1700-1799: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. 1800–present: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 4.0 4.1 http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2004/11/20041122/Facilities/Bulldogs-Break-In-A-New-House-For-Hoops.aspx
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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