UC Santa Barbara Events Center, Indoor arena at University of California Santa Barbara, United States.

The UC Santa Barbara Events Center, known as The Thunderdome, is an indoor multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara. It seats 5,000 for basketball, with chairback seating that replaced the original bleachers and cut capacity by about 600 seats. It hosts Gauchos men's and women's basketball and women's volleyball, plus concerts and boxing.

Built in 1979 as the Campus Events Center, the arena was named through a student and faculty vote that included tongue-in-cheek entries like "Yankee Stadium" and "Jerry Brown Arena." The nickname "The Thunderdome" took hold after UCSB, led by future Laker Brian Shaw, upset Jim Valvano's North Carolina State Wolfpack in 1987; athletic director Stan Morrison is credited with coining it, and Valvano said afterward, "It was louder than thunder in there tonight."

Students call the arena the Thunderdome, a nickname coined by athletic director Stan Morrison after UCSB beat North Carolina State in 1987. In the 1980s fans threw toilet paper after the first basket; after a crackdown around 1990 they switched to tossing tortillas, a practice known as the Tortilla Technical. The team was assessed a technical foul while the tortillas were cleared, and the tradition faded after a 1997 game against Pacific.

Arriving early is a good idea during busy events, since security checks at the entrances can take some time. The building is easy to reach on foot from the central part of the campus, and signs across the grounds point the way.

The nickname was coined by athletic director Stan Morrison after UCSB, led by future Laker Brian Shaw, upset Jim Valvano's North Carolina State Wolfpack in 1987. Valvano reinforced it in a postgame interview, saying, "It was louder than thunder in there tonight."