The original
ARCO Arena, where the Kings played their home games for three seasons (
1985–
1988) after moving from
Kansas City, had a capacity of 10,333 seats. It was located at 1625 North Market, and is now a mixed-use office building. This arena was also the home for the
Sacramento Attack of the
Arena Football League in 1992, their only season, the
WNBA's
Sacramento Monarchs until they folded in 2009 and the
Sacramento River Rats of
Roller Hockey International. ARCO Arena was located in a once isolated area on the expanding northern outskirts of the city. It was constructed at a cost of just $40 million, the lowest of any venue in the NBA. It was the smallest arena in the NBA with a
seating capacity of 17,317, and had 30 luxury suites and 412 club seats. It hosted such varied events as concerts, ice shows, rodeos and monster truck rallies. At one time, nearly two million spectators from throughout Northern California visited ARCO Arena in a year. The configuration for ice shows and ice hockey actually ran perpendicular to the basketball court with the normal sideline seating being retractable to allow for an international standard ice rink. The arena was never intended to be a long-term facility – being a relic of the 1980s, it lacked a lot of amenities found later in more modern stadiums, like digital signage, spacious locker rooms, and wide concourses. NCAA cited that the arena was not adequate for college basketball (let alone the NBA), prompting plans to build a new facility.
LeBron James, the
NBA's all-time leading scorer, made his career regular season debut with the
Cleveland Cavaliers at the arena on October 29, 2003. Despite losing the game to the Sacramento Kings, James scored 25 points. In 2006, there was a campaign to build a new $600 million facility in downtown Sacramento, which was to be funded by a quarter cent sales tax increase over 15 years; voters overwhelmingly rejected ballot measures Q and R, leading to the NBA publicly calling for a new arena to be built at another well-known Sacramento facility,
Cal Expo, the site of California's
state fair. The original namesake sponsor of the arena was
ARCO. On March 19, 2007, the Maloof brothers announced a multi-year agreement extending the naming rights of ARCO Arena. ARCO's sponsorship agreement ran out in February 2011. The arena was renamed Power Balance Pavilion on March 1, 2011, for its new sponsor,
Power Balance, a manufacturer of sports wristbands. On October 15, 2012, the arena assumed its final name when The Sleep Train purchased the naming rights. The arena's center-hung scoreboard was designed as a joint venture between
Panasonic and
White Way Sign. Originally it contained four
LCD video screens (one on each side) plus enough room for two players' stats on each team; as pro basketball grew in popularity, the scoreboard was upgraded in 1991 so that stats for five players on each team could be shown; the original video screens were replaced a decade later with Panasonic Astrovision
LED video screens. The last Kings home game at Sleep Train Arena was on April 9, 2016, a 114–112 win against the
Oklahoma City Thunder. The last points scored in the arena were two free throws by the Kings'
Rudy Gay with one second left to clinch the game for the Kings. The last ticketed event at Sleep Train Arena was the
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus on September 19, 2016. The circus also opened the arena back in 1988. The last planned non-ticketed event was
Sacramento State's winter commencement ceremonies on December 17, 2016. In November 2018, officials from the
Sacramento Zoo explored the possibility of moving the zoo to the ARCO Arena site, citing the need for more space and the constraints of their current location at
William Land Park; however, the Kings, who control the arena site, have conflicting plans to replace the arena with a mixed-use development with of commercial space and 2,000 residential units. Once closed, the arena still hosted occasional events such as conferences and swap meets. Jehovah's Witnesses used the arena for an extended stay in 2019. In April 2020, state health officials announced that the Sleep Train Arena would be converted into a temporary hospital in response to the
COVID-19 pandemic in California. In June 2021, the Sacramento Kings and the City of Sacramento announced that the site had been donated to
California Northstate University, and that a medical school and hospital will be built there. On March 19, 2022, the Sacramento Kings hosted the final ever event at the arena, reverting to the original ARCO Arena name for a free farewell event attended by thousands of fans and Kings personnel/alumni. Fans were allowed to enter the arena, reminisce about their memories there, and say their goodbyes before the arena's impending demolition. Demolition plans were formally submitted to the City of Sacramento, and after an environmental hold on the demolition plans went through. The demolition process began on August 9, 2022, and was completed in October 2022. The site of the arena is still open to the public, although it is mostly abandoned; the parking lot is still the site of the Sacramento Antique Faire. ==Events==