Desert Diamond Arena Capacity: Everything You Need to Know About Glendale’s Most Surprising Comeback Story
Here’s something nobody expected to say about a hockey arena in the Arizona desert: it’s doing better now that the hockey team left. Significantly better. Like, 156% better in gross sales. That’s not spin. That’s the data.
Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale has quietly become one of the most interesting venue turnaround stories in American entertainment. And it all started with a very messy NHL divorce.
Quick Facts
| Info | Details |
| Full name | Desert Diamond Arena |
| Location | 9400 W Maryland Ave, Glendale, Arizona |
| Owner | City of Glendale |
| Operator | ASM Global |
| Opened | December 26, 2003 |
| Concert capacity | 19,000 |
| Basketball capacity | 18,300 |
| Hockey capacity | 17,125 (+ 17,534 with standing room) |
| Luxury suites | 53 luxury suites + 12 suite lounge loges |
| Club seats | 3,075 club seats |
| Land footprint | 13.5 acres |
| District | 223-acre Westgate Entertainment District |
| Renovation cost | $42 million (2023–2025) |
| Former names | Glendale Arena → Jobing.com Arena → Gila River Arena → Desert Diamond Arena |
| Current tenants | Arizona Rattlers (IFL), Arizona Ridge Riders (PBR) |
| Former tenant | Arizona Coyotes NHL (2003–2022) |
The Number Everyone Gets Wrong
Ask most people what Desert Diamond Arena holds and they’ll say 19,000. That’s technically correct — for concerts with full general admission floor configurations. But that same venue holds 17,125 for hockey, 18,300 for basketball, and somewhere in between for everything else.
The capacity isn’t a fixed number. It’s a range that moves depending on what’s happening on the floor. General admission concerts push the count toward that 19,000 ceiling. Sporting events with fixed seating and playing surfaces eat into the floor space and shrink the number. If you’re trying to figure out whether you’ll actually be able to see whatever act you’re going to see, the configuration matters more than the headline number.
For reference: 19,000 is the figure the arena officially markets. It’s real, but it requires the right setup.
Twenty Years of Name Changes Nobody Asked For
The arena that opened on December 26, 2003 was called Glendale Arena. That lasted three years. In late 2006, a company called Jobing.com — yes, that was a real company name — paid a reported $30 million for ten years of naming rights. The building became Jobing.com Arena on January 1, 2007.
Then 2014 happened and apparently nobody needed to use Jobing.com anymore, because the contract ended early and the arena rebranded again. The Arizona Coyotes did something genuinely interesting: they signed a naming rights deal with the Gila River Indian Community, making this the only major American sports venue with a federally recognized tribal naming rights agreement. It became Gila River Arena on September 10, 2014.
That lasted eight years. The Coyotes left in 2022 after a relationship with Glendale that had been deteriorating for years. The city chose not to renew the operating agreement after the 2021-22 season, and the team eventually relocated to Salt Lake City, where they became the Utah Mammoth. With the hockey team gone, Desert Diamond Casino swooped in and put their name on the building in August 2022.
Four names in under twenty years. The building went through more identities than most people change careers. At some point you just learn to say “the arena in Glendale” and call it a day.
The Coyotes Era: Long, Complicated, and Apparently Not Worth It
Here’s the honest version of the Arizona Coyotes and Desert Diamond Arena’s relationship.
The Coyotes played there from 2003 until 2022. Nineteen years. That’s a long time for a team that was perpetually embroiled in financial uncertainty, ownership drama, and what seemed like an endless stream of failed arena deals in Scottsdale, in Tempe, everywhere they looked. The city of Glendale subsidized the relationship for years, and by the end of it, the math didn’t work for either party.
Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers put it plainly: the instability within the Coyotes organization made a sustainable long-term arrangement impossible. Former City Manager Kevin Phelps went further — he said the economic data actually improved after the Coyotes left. The arena crushed its all-time revenue record in its first full post-Coyotes year.
When a venue’s best financial year is the first year without its anchor tenant, that tells you something about what the anchor tenant was actually contributing to the bottom line.
The Post-Hockey Numbers Are Legitimately Staggering
Let’s put some actual figures on this because they deserve attention.
In 2022, the arena’s last year with the Coyotes, they managed 43 total events — including 28 Coyotes home games that essentially filled the calendar. After the team left, the venue pivoted hard toward concerts and entertainment.
Between 2022 and 2023, gross sales jumped 156%. Attendance climbed 119%. That’s not a modest improvement — that’s a complete transformation of what the venue was doing commercially. And the 20th anniversary year of 2023 was described by management as the best year in the building’s entire two-decade history.
Zach Bryan, Drake, Carrie Underwood, Katt Williams, Mana, The Cure, Peso Pluma — these were some of the names filling the arena in 2023. WWE Smackdown was the highest-attended non-prime event in the Phoenix Valley that year. The Arizona PBR (Professional Bull Riders) event was its most attended in state history.
Oh, and Rihanna rehearsed her Super Bowl LVII halftime show there. Not performed — rehearsed. That’s the kind of moment where a venue earns street credibility it doesn’t even advertise.
The $42 Million Renovation: Turning a Hockey Barn Into a Music Venue
Once Glendale and ASM Global committed to the concert-first future, they put serious money behind the vision. $42 million worth.
The renovation project ran from 2023 through spring 2025 and touched 25 different spaces throughout the building. Design firm HOK — the same firm that worked on T-Mobile Center in Kansas City — handled the architectural work alongside ASM Global’s internal team and UK-based venue strategy consultants Forward Associates.
What actually got built? The main concourse was repainted in a sleek dark grey scheme that reads less like a sports facility and more like a high-end entertainment venue. Four new premium spaces emerged: the Bassline Bar (open before and after shows), Encore Club on Three, Studio 623, and The View Lounge & Bar — a VIP club space with a custom-built bar and open social design.
The suite situation got an overhaul too. The existing 53 luxury suites and 12 suite lounge loges were already there, but the renovation added 22 Encore Club Theatre Boxes, 14 Club 623 Studio Booths, and 341 View Club Seats. The premium experience tier got a meaningful expansion.
The whole thing debuted for real at Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show in spring 2025. Which is a genuinely solid opening act for a reimagined arena.
Where It Sits in the Glendale Entertainment Machine
You can’t fully understand Desert Diamond Arena without understanding where it lives. This isn’t a standalone building in a random suburb. It anchors the Westgate Entertainment District — 223 acres of hotels, restaurants, bars, retail, and entertainment infrastructure. The district includes State Farm Stadium (home of the Arizona Cardinals and host of Super Bowl LVII), 13 hotels, more than 4,000 hotel rooms, and the Westgate retail and dining complex.
The city of Glendale has positioned itself as a genuine alternative to Phoenix for large-scale events. Twenty-six thousand parking spaces. Direct Loop 101 freeway access. Multiple venues at different scales within walking distance of each other.
The city manager wasn’t exaggerating when he said the arena generates $2 billion in private capital investment around it. Between 2019 and 2025, Glendale’s total sales tax revenue grew from $172 million to $289 million — a 68% jump. Event venues as economic catalysts is one of those things people debate in theory. Glendale has the receipts.
What It Currently Holds (And Who’s Using It)
After the Coyotes left and the renovation landed, the current tenant roster looks very different from the arena’s sporting roots.
The Arizona Rattlers of the Indoor Football League joined in 2024. Indoor football is a natural fit for a 19,000-seat arena — the smaller playing surface and venue configuration work well at this scale.
The Arizona Ridge Riders Professional Bull Riders franchise has been there since 2022. PBR at an arena is a different experience than a concert but it draws well, and the 2023 Arizona PBR event was the most-attended in state history, so that’s working.
Beyond those anchor tenants, the building runs on concerts. The strategy is simple: fill as many dates as possible with touring artists, special events, boxing cards, WWE, UFC, and anything else that draws 10,000-plus people. That model has produced three consecutive record-breaking box office years.
The Suite and Premium Space Picture
For anyone evaluating Desert Diamond Arena as an event host or a premium-experience purchase, here’s the full breakdown.
The arena carries 53 luxury suites and 12 suite lounge loges as its core premium inventory. The renovation added Club seats in The View, which is an open VIP lounge concept rather than a traditional suite. The Encore Club on Three is a members-style space on the third level. Studio 623 provides booth-style seating in a more intimate club configuration.
The 3,075 club seats number represents the total premium-tier seating beyond general admission and standard reserved. For a venue this size, that’s a solid premium footprint that gives the building recurring revenue sources beyond just ticket sales.
Final Words
Arena renovations and identity pivots are announced constantly. Most of them are modest: some new concession stands, a rebranded suite, maybe a fresh coat of paint. What Desert Diamond Arena did is genuinely different.
They lost their anchor NHL franchise, chose not to scramble for a replacement sports tenant, bet $42 million on a concert-first strategy, and proceeded to set revenue records in consecutive years. That’s not a lucky break. That’s a strategic decision that worked.
The capacity question — 17,125 for hockey, 18,300 for basketball, 19,000 for concerts — is almost beside the point now. The building doesn’t do hockey anymore. It does concerts, bull riding, arena football, WWE, and whatever else ASM Global can book into 19,000 seats in the Arizona desert. And it turns out that’s plenty to work with.
If you’re heading to an event there, know that the building has been meaningfully upgraded. The premium spaces are genuinely new. The concourse experience is better than it was. And the venue that spent nearly two decades defined by a troubled hockey franchise has found something that works better for it.
Who knew that losing the Coyotes would be the best thing that ever happened to the arena they played in.
FAQs
1. What is Desert Diamond Arena’s capacity?
It depends on the event. Concert capacity is 19,000. Basketball capacity is 18,300. Hockey capacity is 17,125 (17,534 with standing room). The floor configuration determines which number applies.
2. Where is Desert Diamond Arena?
9400 W Maryland Ave, Glendale, Arizona. It’s on the south end of the Westgate Entertainment District, near Glendale Avenue and the Loop 101 Agua Fria Freeway.
3. What were Desert Diamond Arena’s previous names?
Four names total: Glendale Arena (2003–2006), Jobing.com Arena (2006–2014), Gila River Arena (2014–2022), Desert Diamond Arena (2022–present).
4. Who owns Desert Diamond Arena?
The City of Glendale owns the building. ASM Global, the world’s largest venue operator, manages it under a long-term lease agreement.
5. Did the Coyotes leave Desert Diamond Arena?
Yes. The Arizona Coyotes played their last game at Desert Diamond Arena on April 29, 2022. The city of Glendale chose not to renew the operating agreement for the 2022-23 season. The Coyotes eventually relocated to Salt Lake City and became the Utah Mammoth.
6. Did the arena do better after the Coyotes left?
Significantly. Gross sales increased 156% from 2022 to 2023, the first full year without the Coyotes. Attendance jumped 119%. The 2023 fiscal year was the building’s best in its entire 20-year history.
7. What is the $42 million renovation about?
A full transformation from a traditional sports arena into a concert and entertainment venue. HOK designed the project, which touched 25 spaces and added four new premium areas: Bassline Bar, Encore Club on Three, Studio 623, and The View Lounge & Bar. The project ran 2023 through spring 2025.
8. Who are Desert Diamond Arena’s current tenants?
The Arizona Rattlers (Indoor Football League, since 2024) and the Arizona Ridge Riders (Professional Bull Riders, since 2022). The venue’s primary revenue driver is concerts and touring events.
9. How many luxury suites does Desert Diamond Arena have?
53 luxury suites and 12 suite lounge loges, plus 22 Encore Club Theatre Boxes, 14 Club 623 Studio Booths, and 341 View Club Seats added in the 2025 renovation. The arena also has 3,075 club seats total.
10. What is the Westgate Entertainment District?
A 223-acre development anchored by Desert Diamond Arena that includes the Arizona Cardinals’ State Farm Stadium, 13 hotels, more than 4,000 hotel rooms, the Westgate retail and dining complex, 26,000 parking spaces, and the Desert Diamond Casino. It’s one of the largest entertainment complexes in the western United States.
11. What notable events has Desert Diamond Arena hosted?
Concerts by Zach Bryan, Drake, Carrie Underwood, Rihanna (rehearsals for Super Bowl LVII halftime), The Cure, and Pearl Jam; UFC including UFC 263 (highest-grossing event in venue history); WWE Friday Night Smackdown; Professional Bull Riders; Cirque du Soleil; Sesame Street Live; and the Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva fight.
12. What parking is available at Desert Diamond Arena?
Multiple lots including E, G, L, Yellow, Garage, and West VIP. The broader Westgate complex has over 26,000 total parking spaces across the entertainment district.
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