Talks around a new arena for
ZZ Leiden had been ongoing for years, and the municipality agreed on demolishing the outdated
Vijf Meihal and 3 Oktoberhal and on building a new indoor hall in 2018. Construction began in 2022 and costed approximately €24 million. There had been discussions between the municipality of Leiden and ZZ Leiden regarding the attendance capacity of the planned arena. The basketball club insisted on building a hall with a capacity of at least 3,000, in order to meet
FIBA regulations to play international games in the
Basketball Champions League. Eventually, in 2018, the municipality decided to build the arena with a capacity for 2,435 people. The official name was announced in December 2022, after a survey among 500 Leiden citizens, and refers to the year in which the city was liberated following the
Siege of Leiden. Its indoor hall was named "Aad van der Luithal"'''. == References ==