The venue is also used for concerts (capacity 13,390), community events, and trade shows (17,000 square feet (1,580 m2) of arena floor space plus 10,000 sq ft (930 m2) in the auxiliary gym). It hosted a Davis Cuptennis match in April 2013, a second-round tie between the U.S. and Serbia.
Bronco Gym
The arena's predecessor on campus was Bronco Gymnasium, which opened in the mid-1950s, during the junior college era. Its last varsity basketball game was the regular season finale in 1982 on February 27, against rival Idaho, ranked ninth in the AP poll.[4][5] Sold out two weeks in advance,[6] the Saturday night game had a record attendance of 3,946;[7] the capacity of the gym at the time was listed at 3,682.[6][8]
History
Long in the planning stages,[9][10] the architects were Cline, Smull, Hamill and Associates of Boise, selected in October 1978.[3] Ground was broken for the arena in February 1980, directly north of the Bronco Gym. Construction displaced the tennis courts and the right field area of the baseball field, currently the site of the auxiliary gym on the west side of the arena.
Eight tennis courts were rebuilt on the former baseball infield, west of the arena. The baseball field was not rebuilt as BSU dropped baseball as a varsity sport following the 1980 season.[11][12] During their final season, the Broncos played home games at Borah Field (now Wigle Field) at Borah High School, four miles (6 km) west of campus.
The arena opened 42 years ago in 1982 as the BSU Pavilion; its first event was commencement on May 16,[1] followed by graduation ceremonies for the city's three public high schools. That August, it hosted an eight-day Billy Graham Crusade,[13][14] and its first significant sporting event was the NCAA basketball tournament in March 1983.[15]
In April 2017, Boise State ended their wrestling program, which had been using the arena as its home venue.[16]
Naming rights
The BSU Pavilion received its first naming rights sponsorship in June 2004 with Taco Bell, a fast-food restaurant chain based in Irvine, California; the 15-year agreement with the university was for $4 million and the venue was renamed Taco Bell Arena.[17] At its expiration in 2019, Boise State entered into a new agreement with ExtraMile, a convenience store chain jointly owned by Chevron and Jacksons; the 15-year agreement was for $8.4 million and it became ExtraMile Arena.[18]
ExtraMile Arena has been a familiar site for early-round NCAA tournament games, hosting first and second round competition nine times (1983, 1989, 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2009, and 2018). It had been scheduled to return in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the entire tournament getting moved to Indiana.
In 1995, UCLA guard Tyus Edney dashed the length of the 94-foot (29 m) court in just over four seconds to make a layup that gave the Bruins a 75–74 win over Missouri,[19] which sustained UCLA's run to the national title.[20]
In 2001, it was the site of the closest first-round day at a single host location, with the four games on March 15 decided by a combined total of seven points.[21] One was Hampton's 58–57 upset of #2 seed Iowa State — only the fourth #15 seed to advance since the tournament expanded from 53 to 64 teams in 1985.[21]
^Friend, Tom (March 20, 1995). "N.C.A.A. TOURNAMENT: WEST; U.C.L.A. Dash Knocks Wind Out of Missouri". The New York Times. U.C.L.A.'s Tyus Edney ran a 94-foot dash in 4.7 seconds today. That he also managed to toss in a swooping layup left Missouri with its hands over its face. The No. 1-seeded Bruins trailed the No. 8-seeded Tigers by 1 point with 4.8 seconds remaining when Edney, a turbo point guard, started his cross-country journey. He took the inbounds pass under his own basket, was neck-and-neck with defender Jason Sutherland at midcourt, freed himself with a behind-the-back dribble, made a hairpin turn to the lane and banked in a shot over 6-foot-9-inch Derek Grimm at the buzzer.
