Matadome, Indoor sports arena in Northridge, California.
The Matadome is a 2,500-seat indoor arena inside Redwood Hall at California State University, Northridge, where kinesiology classes also meet. Despite the nickname, the roof is flat, not domed. It was completed in 1962 and renamed Premier America Credit Union Arena in 2022.
The arena underwent major structural changes following the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which led to significant modifications of its design and function. Renovations in the late 1990s updated the facility with modern seating and amenities for athletic events.
The nickname Matadome was coined in the early 1980s by Lisa Nehus Saxon, a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News, who used it playfully in a game story; a plaque outside repeats the joke. The arena has also served as a filming location, appearing in The Karate Kid (1984) and National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002).
The arena sits inside Redwood Hall, so visitors enter through the building that also houses kinesiology classes; walls separate the arena from those classrooms. Seating is chair-backed bleachers, and the flat roof means no dome interior. Events are campus athletics, so check the university calendar for game times before travelling to Northridge.
The nickname was coined in the early 1980s by Lisa Nehus Saxon, a reporter for the Los Angeles Daily News, who used it playfully in a game story. The flat-roofed building sits inside Redwood Hall, so the "dome" is only in the name; a small plaque outside repeats the joke.
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