The University of Miami’s BankUnited Center, an 8,000-seat multipurpose facility that hosts Hurricane men’s and women’s basketball games, concerts, family shows, and lectures, is one of Florida’s top venues in its class, according to Venues Today magazine.
The Global Spectrum-managed facility has been ranked No. 3 in the state among venues with a capacity of 5,001 to 10,000. The ranking, compiled as part of the magazine’s “2013 Florida Top Stops,” is based on total gross sales, total attendance, and the number of shows hosted between April 2012 and March 2013.
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“We are very proud to be ranked one of the top venues in the state of Florida,” says Global Spectrum’s Lorenzo Muniz, general manager of the BankUnited Center. “We had a great year full of high profile events, and we look forward to bringing more entertaining shows and concerts to the City of Coral Gables and to South Florida in this next year to come.”
Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, the BankUnited Center hosted a variety of events, including Telemundo’s Billboard Latin Music Awards, Univision’s Premios Juventud Awards, Wiz Khalifa, Cee Lo Green, and New Edition, along with multiple 2012 presidential election events, including Univision’s “Meet the Candidates” forum with both President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. Additional events over the past year that have contributed to the facility’s ranking include: Frankie Beverly, Kelly Price and Friends, Sesame Street Live: Elmo’s Super Heroes, and Sneaker Con, among others.
While the rankings take into account concerts and shows, the BankUnited Center also made history this year when it hosted six consecutive sellout games by the Miami Hurricanes men’s basketball, which captured both the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season and tournament championships.