Thirty years ago this week they broke ground for the Miami Arena

Aug. 4, 1986: Ground is broken for the Miami Arena.



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Two years later, in July 1988, the facility the Miami News called a "$52 million gamble," would open its doors to the public.

The Miami Heat played its first game at the Arena on Nov. 5, 1988.

Eight years later, in October of 1996, Heat head coach Pat Riley told reporters that the Miami Arena was one of the worst venues in the NBA. 

On December 28, 1999, after just 11 years at the Arena, the Heat played its last game at the facility.

Twenty years after it opened — in September of 2008 — demolition began on the Arena.

"The Miami Arena was obsolete from the moment it was built," Ron Turner, an executive at a sports architecture firm told the Los Angeles Times in 1996.