Moda Center is the arena at the heart of Portland’s Rose Quarter, rising along the Willamette River as the home of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. It opened on October 12, 1995 as the Rose Garden, replacing the aging Memorial Coliseum next door, and was designed by architecture firm Ellerbe Becket at a construction cost of about $262 million.
The venue took on its current name in August 2013 after a naming rights deal with Oregon-based insurer Moda Health, a switch that drew plenty of grumbling from longtime fans attached to the original Rose Garden name. Despite the rebrand, the building has remained a fixture of Portland sports and entertainment for three decades, hosting everything from NBA playoff runs to major touring concerts.
Stats at a Glance
- Team(s): Portland Trail Blazers (NBA)
- Location: Portland, Oregon
- Opened: October 12, 1995
- Capacity (basketball): about 19,393
- Capacity (hockey/lacrosse): about 18,280
- Architect: Ellerbe Becket
- Notable feature: 160-panel rotating ‘acoustical cloud’ ceiling system
The Rose Quarter Setting
Moda Center anchors Portland’s Rose Quarter entertainment district, sitting just across the plaza from the historic Veterans Memorial Coliseum it was built to complement. The arena was engineered from the start to also accommodate an NHL tenant, a franchise Portland has never landed, though the building has hosted concerts, family shows, and the Winterhawks junior hockey club in earlier years.
Its most distinctive engineering feature is the ceiling-mounted ‘acoustical cloud,’ a set of about 160 rotating panels designed to replicate the crowd-noise intensity fans remembered from the old Coliseum. The arena can also be reconfigured down to an intimate 6,500-seat ‘Theater of the Clouds’ setup for smaller concerts and events.
A Landmark for the Trail Blazers
Since opening, the arena has served as the sole home court for the Portland Trail Blazers, hosting the team’s biggest moments of the modern era, including numerous playoff appearances. The building’s name changed from Rose Garden to Moda Center in 2013 under a new naming rights agreement, a switch that remains a point of local nostalgia even years later.
Beyond basketball, the venue regularly hosts major touring concerts and entertainment events, cementing its role as one of the Pacific Northwest’s primary large-scale event spaces alongside its sports duties.
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Moda Center FAQs
What was the Moda Center originally called?
It opened in 1995 as the Rose Garden and was renamed Moda Center in August 2013 after a naming rights deal with Moda Health.
Who plays at the Moda Center?
The Moda Center has been the home arena of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers since it opened in 1995.
How many people does the Moda Center hold?
It seats about 19,393 for basketball and roughly 18,280 for hockey or lacrosse configurations, with a reduced 6,500-seat ‘Theater of the Clouds’ option for concerts.
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Photo: CrispyCream27 / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.