AO Arena

AO Arena is an indoor arena immediately north of Manchester city centre, built in air-rights space partly above Manchester Victoria railway station and opened on 15 July 1995; it is called AO Arena for sponsorship reasons and was previously the Manchester Arena. Its capacity of 23,000 makes it the second largest indoor arena in the UK after Co-op Live and the third largest in Europe, and it is the only indoor venue in the country laid out with 360-degree seating on both tiers. A three-year, 50 million pound redevelopment begun in 2022 is taking capacity to 24,000 and adding new public entrances and lounges. It hosts boxing and swimming as well as music, and was used for the 2002 Commonwealth Games.