General Information

The Patriot Center is located on the Northern Virginia campus of The George Mason University and is home to Mason’s basketball teams, concerts, family shows and commencement ceremonies.

The 10,000-seat venue is the only one of its kind in Northern Virginia to attract premiere entertainment for the local community.

Alan Jackson, Enrique Iglesias, Neil Diamond, Avril Lavigne, R.E.M., Good Charlotte, Sesame Street Live, The Harlem Globetrotters and Dragon Tales Live are only a few of the concerts and family shows recently held at the Patriot Center.

Patriot Center Quick Facts:

• Managed by Washington Sports & Entertainment, which includes the Washington Wizards, Verizon Center, Baltimore-Washington Ticketmaster service and an in-house concert promoter, Musicentre Productions
• Opened on October 4, 1985, with a pre-season game between the Washington Bullets (now Wizards) and the New York Knicks, including rookie Patrick Ewing.
• Building is a 10,000 seat venue in Fairfax, VA and is 20 years old with a $10 million renovation in the works to include a new hospitality area overlooking the basketball court, new concession stands, locker rooms and bathrooms, and a new façade for the concourse and entrances.
• Over 7.7 million in attendance and over 2,400 events thus far including a record breaking attendance figure for 2005 totaling 522,559 people.
  Ranked No. 51 among venues worldwide for ticket sales in 2005 according to Pollstar.
• Record attendance for a concert is held by Phish at 10,356
  Record grossing concert is held from Bruce Springsteen in 2005 totaling $573,885. The previous record was held by Neil Diamond back in 2002 with a gross of $493,552.
• Record grossing family show is from 2003, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus at over $1.2 million.
• George Mason University Patriots men’s basketball team have made four NCAA appearances (1989, 1999, 2001 and 2006) and three NIT appearances (1986, 2002 and 2004) – the last two taking place at the Patriot Center.
• Hosted first men’s CAA Tournament in 1986 and the first women’s CAA Tournament in 2005.
• Sting and James Taylor have performed four times, Prince and Bruce Springsteen three times, and R.E.M twice in the twenty year history of the building.
• Longest tenured event is Sesame Street Live (1985).
• Patriot Center has had the same name for the past twenty years and the same general manager for the past eighteen years.
• First university venue to be managed by a private company, Washington Sports & Entertainment.
• First professionally sanctioned boxing match held in 2005 with local Virginia native and NBC’s The Contender contestant, Jimmy Lange.
• Hosted 1990 NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championships
• Multi-purpose venue with events ranging from basketball games to concerts to family shows to trade shows, including Larry the Cable Guy, Gwen Stefani and the Black Eyed Peas, Keith Urban, Audioslave, Duran Duran, Bill Gaither and Friends, Disney on Ice, Sesame Street Live, the Washington Bridal Showcase, and the World Famous Lipizzaner Stallions.
  

MORE: Patriot Center Technical Information