Palestra

The Palestra is a notable arena on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadephia, Pennsylvania. It is home to the men's and women's basketball teams as well as the volleyball and wrestling teams at Penn. The building was completed in 1927 and named after the ancient Greek term palaestra, which was a site for instruction in wrestling. It was one of the first modern steel-and-concrete arenas in the United States and also one of the first to be constructed without interior pillars blocking the view. At the time of its construction, the Palestra was one of the largest arenas in the world.

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For many years the building shared the same management as Madison Square Garden in New York City. Teams wishing to play there were often required also to schedule a game at the Palestra, which led to Philadelphia hosting a number of very high-level sporting events that it might not otherwise have. Many professional games were played at the Palestra prior to the completion of the Spectrum.

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No arena has hosted more regular season or post-season NCAA men's basketball games than the Palestra. Today, the arena seats about 9,000. The Philadelphia Big Five (Penn, St. Joe's, Temple, La Salle, Villanova) or City Six (the Big Five + Drexel) still plays many games there.

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Arena: :For other meanings see arena (disambiguation)...

University of Pennsylvania: The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn or UPenn, although the former is the preferred and recognized nickname of the University) is a private, nonsectarian, research university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The fifth oldest institution of higher education in the U.S., ...

Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania (the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania) is one of four states of the United States of America that is called a commonwealth. It has given its name to the Pennsylvanian time period in geology. Pennsylvania is called the Keystone State....