Where is Resorts World Arena?

Resorts World Arena is at Perimeter Road, Solihull, B40 1NT (near Birmingham).

 

In brief

Originally planned to be Hall 7 at the NEC, it was built from 1979 and opened in late 1980 as the Birmingham International Arena. It was next called the NEC Arena from 1983 to 2008. It then became the LG Arena from 2008 until 2015, then Genting Arena from 2015 to 2018. Since 2018 it has been the Resorts World Arena.

Resorts World Arena (January 2020). Photography by Elliott Brown

 

Resorts World Arena - details

Resorts World Arena is a multipurpose indoor arena located at the National Exhibition Centre in Solihull (not far from Birmingham).

It was built as the seventh hall of the NEC complex from 1979 to 1980.

The venue was known as the Birmingham International Arena until 1st September 1983.

It was renamed to NEC Arena, which it was called from 5th September 1983 to 31st August 2008.

From 1st September 2008 the NEC Arena was officially renamed to the LG Arena following naming-rights sponsorsip deal with LG.

The arena then underwent an overhaul of it's facilities.

Work on the LG Arena was finished in mid October 2009.

In 2011 the venue became the tenth-busiest arena in the world and was ranked 13th-busiest in 2014.

It was announced in November 2014 that casino group Genting would be sponsoring the arena.

It was renamed to Genting Arena from 6th January 2015.

Genting Arena (October 2016). Photography by Elliott Brown

 

Genting Arena, as it was known in the mid 2010s, could be seen from the other side of the Pendigo Lake, next to Resorts World.

The Genting casino and hotel can be found at Resorts World Birmingham.

Genting Arena (December 2016). Photography by Elliott Brown

 

The NEC Group announced in 25th September 2018, that the Genting Arena would be renamed to Resorts World Arena on the 3rd December 2018.

Genting remained as the sponsor of the hall.

The reason was to closely align the venue with Genting's Resorts World Birmingham that is opposite the arena (opened October 2015).

Genting Arena (August 2018). Photography by Elliott Brown

 

In 2020 there was plans to expand the arena, that NEC Group submitted to Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council, but this was put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

During the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, the arena was known as NEC Arena, and hosted women's netball competition between 29th July and 7th August 2022.

Birmingham was a candidate City to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, and Resorts World Arena would have been the venue to be used. Liverpool was the eventual winner and will host in in May 2023.

Birmingham last hosted Eurovison in 1998 at the National Indoor Arena in the City Centre.

Resorts World Arena (September 2022). Photography by Elliott Brown

 

Contact details

Resorts World Arena

Perimeter Road

Birmingham

B40 1NT