Arena Debut In Dodge City

United Wireless Arena in Dodge City, Kan., moved a little bit closer to an expected Feb. 12 open house as media were invited to tour the 4,500-capacity facility even as workers apply finishing touches.

The $40.5 million arena is part of a long-awaited special events center that will include conference space and family entertainment venues, a project called “Why Not Dodge?” funded by special sales taxes.

Iowa-based VenuWorks will manage the publicly owned facility, which sports 4,200 fixed seats for sporting events but can expand to 4,500 for concerts inside 137,000 square feet of space.

“It’s the culmination of a lot of people’s dreams and desires and hard, hard work,” City Manager Ken Strobel said. “I think the whole community is extremely proud of the product that has been produced here – not just for Dodge City or Ford County, but for the entire southwest part of the State of Kansas.”

The arena has a variety of events on the books already, including a free concert with Little River Band Feb. 17, a monster truck show, bull riding, motorcycle racing and “Sesame Street Live.”