Stabler Arena

Stabler Arena
Location	124 Goodman Drive; Bethlehem, PA 18015
Owner	Lehigh University
Operator	Lehigh University
Capacity	6,000
Opened	May 1979
Tenants
	Lehigh Mountain Hawks (NCAA) (1979-present); Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (PIFL) (2011-2014); Lehigh Valley Outlawz (GLIFL/CIFL) (2004-2008)

Stabler Arena is a 6,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Owned and operated by Lehigh University, it is located on the school's Goodman Campus. It was named for Donald B. Stabler, a 1930 Lehigh graduate who was the founder of Stabler Companies Inc. and a member of the university's Board of Trustees for over 30 years. He and his wife Dorothy were the primary donors for the facility.^[1] The arena officially opened with Lehigh's Commencement Exercises on May 27, 1979. Its first public event was Holiday on Ice in November later that same year.^[2]

Athletics

Stabler Arena is home to the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks basketball teams, who play in college basketball's Patriot League. The conference has held portions of its men's tournament there three times. From 2011 to 2014, Stabler was also home to the Professional Indoor Football League's Lehigh Valley Steelhawks.

Stabler also has hosted ABC's Wide World of Sports and the U.S. Women's gymnastics finals.

Music

Stabler is a regular stop for many major musical acts. Because of the arena's reputation for exceptional acoustics and lively audiences, some musical acts have kicked off their U.S. concert tours at Stabler. These include: The Cranberries, Grateful Dead, KISS, Bette Midler & The Moody Blues. The Grateful Dead played at the Stabler Arena on September 25, 1981. Nirvana has also played at the Stabler Arena on November 9, 1993.

Music videos from Stabler

Stabler has been the site for four music videos. The video for Whitney Houston's 1987 hit "So Emotional" and two Bon Jovi songs, "Bed of Roses" and "In These Arms", include footage from the artists' respective Stabler concerts. The band Breaking Benjamin used footage of their February 11, 2007, Stabler Arena concert as their music video for "Breath".^[3]

Breaking Benjamin DVD from Stabler

Breaking Benjamin's first live DVD, released with their album, Phobia, features the band's entire February 11, 2007, Stabler Arena concert.

The concert was broadcast on HDNet for the first time on March 4, 2007.

Nirvana bootleg from Stabler

Nirvana performed at Stabler on November 9, 1993, less than five months before lead singer Kurt Cobain committed suicide at his Lake Washington residence. This show has since become one of the band's most widely circulated bootleg recordings, because of its proximity to Cobain's death, representing one of Nirvana's final U.S. shows.^[4]

Kiss bootleg from Stabler

On October 1, 1992, KISS kicked off their global tour at Stabler Arena, following smaller, warm-up venues in Europe and the U.S. It was the first show to use a giant, pyrotechnic mock up of the Statue of Liberty that became the tour's trademark.

KISS' 1992 Stabler show has since become one of the band's most widely circulated video bootleg recordings, because of its status as a kick-off date for the last tour the group played before their later 1996 and subsequent tours, featuring a return to their trademark make-up and a reuniting of the band's original line up.

References

External links

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

[1] "Lehigh receives largest gift in its history," Lehigh University, Saturday, May 31, 2008.

[2] About Stabler – Lehigh University Athletics.

[3] "Breath" official music video, by Breaking Benjamin, YouTube

[4] LiveNirvana.com

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e Lehigh University
Academics	Engineering highlights Faculty Lehigh University Press Tau Beta Pi
Athletics	Men's basketball Football Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association Goodman Stadium Lehigh Baseball Field Middle Atlantic Intercollegiate Sailing Association Patriot League The Rivalry (Lehigh–Lafayette) Saucon Valley Country Club Stabler Arena
Geography	Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Buildings Packer Memorial Chapel South Mountain Zoellner Arts Center
History	Alumni Presidents Clery Act Henry Coppée Thomas Messinger Drown East Coast Conference Gregory C. Farrington Alice Gast John McDowell Leavitt Lehigh Valley Railroad Peter Likins Asa Packer William Bacon Stevens Charles L. Taylor Taylor Stadium

v t e Lehigh Mountain Hawks men's basketball
Venues	Stabler Arena (1979–present)
People	Head coaches
Seasons	1901–02 1902–03 1903–04 1904–05 1905–06 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

Stabler Arena

Contents

Athletics

Music

Music videos from Stabler

Breaking Benjamin DVD from Stabler

Nirvana bootleg from Stabler

Kiss bootleg from Stabler

References

External links

Navigation menu

Personal tools

Namespaces

Variants

Views

More

Search

Navigation

Tools

Tenants
Location	124 Goodman Drive Bethlehem, PA 18015
Owner	Lehigh University
Operator	Lehigh University
Capacity	6,000
Opened	May 1979
Lehigh Mountain Hawks (NCAA) (1979-present) Lehigh Valley Steelhawks (PIFL) (2011-2014) Lehigh Valley Outlawz (GLIFL/CIFL) (2004-2008)