Toyota Center - Houston Rockets

​The Toyota Center is an indoor arena located in downtown Houston, Texas. It is named after the Japanese automobile manufacturer Toyota. The arena is home to the Rockets of the National Basketball Association, the principal owners of the building, and the Aeros of the American Hockey League.

Rockets owner Leslie Alexander first began to request a new arena in 1995, and attempted to release the Rockets from their lease at The Summit, which ran until 2003. However, he was denied by arena owner Chuck Watson, then-owner of the Aeros, who also wanted control of a new arena. The two sides agreed to equal control over an arena in a deal signed in 1997, but the proposal was rejected by city voters in a 1999 referendum. It was not until the city and the Rockets signed an amended agreement in 2001, excluding the Aeros, that the proposal was accepted.

Construction began in July 2001, and the new arena was officially opened in September 2003. The total costs were $235 million, with the city of Houston paying the majority, and the Rockets paying for enhancements. Toyota paid $100 million for the naming rights.

In May 1995, several Texas sports teams, including the Houston Rockets, proposed legislation that would dedicate state tax revenue to build new arenas. Although the bill was failed in the Texas House of Representatives, Rockets owner Leslie Alexander announced he would continue to study the possibility of constructing a new arena in downtown Houston, saying the 20-year old Summit arena was too outdated to be profitable. Although the Summit's management said they could renovate the building for a small part of the cost of a new arena, the Rockets began talks with the city of Houston on a possible location for an arena, They also negotiated with Houston Aeros and Summit owner, Chuck Watson, to release them from their contract with the Summit, which ran until 2003.

The arena can seat 18,300 for basketball, 17,800 for hockey, and 19,300 for concerts. The price for courtside seats to a Rockets game in the new arena were raised by as much as 50% compared to prices in the team's old home, while upper-deck seat prices were lowered. It has 2,900 club seats and 103 luxury suites, and the 2,500-space Toyota Tundra garage is connected to the arena by a private skybridge.
 
Levy Restaurants manages concession services at the arena, and offers fast food on the main concourses, while also catering a VIP restaurant for suite-holders. Alexander personally chose colors for the restaurant to help customers feel "warm and comfortable", and Rockets president George Postolos said that the Rockets looked "for a relationship with the people that attend events in our venue". A 40 by 32 feet central scoreboard, which has four main replay screens and eight other full-color displays, hangs from the ceiling of the arena, and has the highest-resolution display of any North American sports facility. The arena has two additional displays located at each end of the court, and a "state-of-the-art" audio system.

In July 2003, the arena was named the Toyota Center, after Toyota agreed to pay $100 million for naming rights, the fourth-largest deal for a sports arena in the United States at the time. The logo of the company was placed on the roof of the building, as well in other prominent places inside the arena, and the company was given "a dominant presence" in commercials shown during broadcasts of games played in the arena.

The interior of the arena during a Rockets game.The arena's first event was a Fleetwood Mac concert on October 6, 2003, and the first Rockets game at the Toyota Center was against the Denver Nuggets on October 30.

In its first year, the total attendance for events at the arena exceeded 1.5 million. The arena was also the winner of the Allen Award for Civic Enhancement by Central Houston, the "Rookie of the Year" award by the Harlem Globetrotters, and a finalist for Pollstar Magazine’s "Best New Concert Venue" award. The current attendance for a concert held at the arena was set on November 20, 2008, when Metallica played to a sold out crowd during the World Magnetic tour. The record for a basketball game is 18,501, set on May 14, 2009, when the Rockets defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semifinals, 95-80.