The O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the United Kingdom, behind Co-op Live and Manchester Arena, and in 2008 was the world's busiest music arena. As of 2022, it is the ninth-largest building in the world by volume with a diameter of 365 metres and a height of 52 metres. The arena was built under the Millennium Dome, a large dome-shaped building built to house an exhibition celebrating the turn of the third millennium; as the structure still stands over the arena, The Dome remains a name in common usage for the venue. The arena, as well as the overall The O2 complex, is named after its primary sponsor, the telecommunications company O2, a subsidiary of Virgin Media O2.
Full name The O2 Arena
Former names North Greenwich Arena (during the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics)
Location Greenwich, London, SE10
Public transit North Greenwich
Owner Homes England
Operator Ansco Arena Limited (AEG Live) Europe
Capacity 20,000
Surface Versatile
Built 2003–2007
Opened 24 June 2007
Architect HOK Sport Now POPULOUS
Structural engineer Buro Happold
Services engineer M-E Engineers Ltd.
General contractor Sir Robert McAlpine
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The O2 Arena, commonly known as The O2, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the centre of The O2 entertainment district on the Greenwich Peninsula in southeast London. It opened in its present form in 2007. It has the third-highest seating capacity of any indoor venue in the United Kingdom, behind Co-op Live and Manchester Arena, and in 2008 was the world's busiest music arena.[1] As of 2022, it is the ninth-largest building in the world by volume with a diameter of 365 metres (399 yards) and a height of 52 metres (57 yards).
The arena was built under the Millennium Dome (renamed The O2), a large dome-shaped building built to house an exhibition celebrating the turn of the third millennium; as the structure still stands over the arena, The Dome remains a name in common usage for the venue. The arena, as well as the overall The O2 complex, is named after its primary sponsor, the telecommunications company O2, a subsidiary of Virgin Media O2.
O2 History
Following the closure of the Millennium Experience at the end of 2000, the Millennium Dome was leased to Meridian Delta Ltd. in December 2001, for redevelopment as an entertainment complex. This included plans for an indoor arena.
Construction of the arena started in 2003, and finished in 2007. In December 2004, after the interior of the dome had been largely cleared and before building work inside began, the dome was used as the main venue for the annual Crisis Open Christmas organised by the London-based homelessness charity Crisis.
Owing to the impossibility of using cranes inside the dome structure, the arena's roof was constructed on the ground within the dome and then lifted; the arena building's structure was then built around the roof. The arena building, which houses the arena and the arena concourse, is independent from all other buildings in the O2 and houses all the arena's facilities. The arena building itself takes up 40% of the total dome structure.
The seating arrangement throughout the whole arena can be modified, similar to the AO Arena in Manchester. ( here for details ). The ground surface can also be changed between ice rink, basketball court, exhibition space, conference venue, private hire venue and concert venue.
The arena was designed to reduce echoing, a problem common among older arenas used for concerts.
Damage to the O2"s tent, above the roof of the O2 Arena, caused by Storm Eunice (2002)
On 18 February 2022 during Storm Eunice, large sections of the arena's fabric roof were shredded, causing the evacuation of 1,000 people, and the venue to close. It was later announced that repair works would take place and that the arena was likely to reopen on 25 February 2022, for a UB40 concert. Watch here. The repairs took place as planned, with the O2 Arena reopened as scheduled.
Main Events at The O2 Arena
In August 2007, American musician Prince began The Earth Tour: 21 Nights in London, a series of 21 sold-out nights at the venue. The record-breaking run featured many of his hits while the set list changed every night, so no two shows would be the same.
Beginning in July 2009, Michael Jackson was scheduled to hold a 50-show residency at the arena, titled This Is It. However, he died on 25 June, 2009, eighteen days before the first scheduled show.
O2 Arena hosting a tennis match at the ATP World Tour Finals
The O2 Arena hosted the ATP World Tour Finals between 2009 and 2020.
ATP Finals | Previous
champions and
tournament records
The ATP Tour Finals are in Turin for the
third consecutive year, and there are
four former year-end finals champions
in the field.
Novak Djokovic, obviously, leads the
2023 field in year-end finals wins with
6 titles, he is also the defending
champion from 2022. Djokovic’s 6 ties
the record for the highest number of
year-end finals wins in ATP Tour history
with Roger Federer, who won his in
three different locations.
Alexander Zverev has won this event
twice (2018 & 2021), Daniil Medvedev
was the last London champion in 2020,
and Stefanos Tsitsipas was the
champion in 2019.
The ATP Tour Year-End Finals Evolution
The reason that we have to refer to ‘year
-end finals’ rather than simply the ATP
Tour Finals is because the champion-
ships have been through multiple
changes over the years.
The inauguration of a year-end
tournament was in 1970, when the tour
began. From 1970 to 1989 it was
referred to as the Masters Grand Prix
and was won by most of the top
legendary names in the men’s game.
Initially it was held in a different city
every year, but Romanian Ilie Nastase
made it a habit to win almost wherever
it went. Nastase won the title four times
in Paris, Barcelona, Boston, and
Stockholm, to be the first real legend of
the competition.
New York City then became the spiritual
home of this event and though Jimmy
Connors won the first one in 1977, it
would become dominated by John
McEnroe (1978, 1983, 1984), Bjorn Borg
(1979, 1980), and, later, Ivan Lendl (1981,
1982, 1985, 1986, 1987).
ATP Tour World
Championships (1990-1999)
The tournament underwent a new lick of
paint for the final decade of the
twentieth century and new venues in
Germany: Frankfurt and Hannover. This
did help
Michael Stich (1993), and definitely
Boris Becker (1988, 1992, 1995). Becker
was an eight-time finalist in total, behind
only Federer and Lendl in that mark.
Pete Sampras (1991, 1994, 1996, 1997,
1999) was the dominant force of the
ATP Tour World Championships though,
winning five crowns in the 1990s.
Tennis Masters Cup
(2000-2008)
The tournament returned to a more
nomadic state again for the 21st
century as the Tennis Masters Cup.
Gustavo Kuerten won his only title in
Lisbon in 2000, Lleyton Hewitt won back
-to-back, and then Roger Federer began
to take over.
The Swiss maestro won in Houston in
2003 and 2004, then lost an epic to
alternate David Nalbandian in 2005,
Shanghai’s first season, but came back
to win again in 2006 and 2007.
Shanghai also saw Novak Djokovic win
his first year-end finals in 2008 against
Nikolay Davydenko.
ATP World Tour Finals (2009-
2016) & ATP Finals (2017-
Now)
Another big rebrand came in 2009
alongside a huge multi-year deal to play
in London at the O2 Arena. This deal
extended to 2020 in the end and as
such, has been the longest stretch of
consistency in the event’s history.
Davydenko won the first London edition
in 2009, but then back came Federer for
the next two years. The Swiss also
made the final in three of the next four
years, but found Novak Djokovic in
supreme form as the Serbian won four
in a row, the only player to do so in
history.
Since that 2015 Djokovic victory though,
there has been a new champion in most
years. Andy Murray won his first and
only title in 2016, then Grigor Dimitrov
triumphed over David Goffin in 2017.
The remaining champions all consist of
the players that we will see in Turin next
week. Turin took over the contract from
London in 2021.
ATP Finals Records
Most Titles – Roger Federer & Novak
Djokovic (6)
Most Finals – Roger Federer (10)
Most Consecutive Titles – Novak
Djokovic (4)
Most Year-End Finals match wins –
Roger Federer (59)
During the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, the venue was referred as the North Greenwich Arena due to Olympics regulations regarding corporate sponsorship of event sites.[19]
Since March 2013, the arena has hosted C2C: Country to Country, Europe's largest country music festival, which annually attracts over 20,000 fans. UK and Irish acts, as well as up-and-coming American acts, perform sets several times across various pop-up stages in and around the arena, with the main stage accessible only to ticket-holders. The seventh C2C was held on 8–10 March 2019.[20]
The arena has hosted the 2013 EuroLeague Final Four between 10 and 12 May 2013.
Ariana Grande was scheduled to perform on 25 and 26 May 2017 as part of her Dangerous Woman Tour, but the event was cancelled after the Manchester Arena bombing on 22 May. The event was not rescheduled. Grande, however, held five concerts at the arena for her Sweetener World Tour on 17, 19, and 20 August 2019 as well as 15 and 16 October 2019.[21]
On 30 November 2019, JoJo Siwa became the youngest person to perform in the O2 Arena at the age of 16, as part of her D.R.E.A.M. The Tour.[22]
On 14 May 2022, Little Mix held the final show of The Confetti Tour, called The Last Show (For Now) in the O2, which was their last show before their indefinite hiatus. Along with performing there live to 20,000 they also livestreamed the show live to millions for those who could not attend the tour.
On 15 October 2022, the O2 hosted a boxing match between Claressa Shields and Savannah Marshall that was the first time two female boxers headlined at a major venue in the United Kingdom. Shields won, and the fight headlined the first all-female boxing card in the United Kingdom.
On 1 July 2023, the O2 Arena hosted WWE Money In The Bank, as well as the 30 June 2023 go-home episode of Friday Night Smack Down beforehand, which was the first time the show aired live on BT Sport (Now known as TNT Sports).
In October 2023, American singer Madonna opened her 40th anniversary concert series, The Celebration Tour, in the O2 Arena. The six shows at the venue were sold out in minutes.
In July 2024, the American band The Killers on the Rebel Diamonds Tour sold out six shows at the venue and selling over 105,000 tickets.
The O2 Arena will host the final of the 2024 League of Legends World Championship on 2 November 2024.
Ticket sales records
Despite being open for only 200 days per year (the equivalent of seven months), the venue sold over 1.2 million tickets in 2007, making it the third most popular venue in the world for concerts and family shows, narrowly behind the Manchester Arena (1.25 million) and Madison Square Garden in New York City (1.23 million).
As of 2023, the O2 Arena was the third busiest music arena in the world in terms of ticket sales.
World's Busiest Arenas – 2023
Venue Ticket sales
Madison Square Garden, New York City, USA 1,985,832
Movistar Arena, Santiago, Chile 1,451,098
The O2 Arena, London, UK 1,264,882
WiZink Center, Madrid, Spain 1,191,860
Accor Arena, Paris, France 1,134,237
Kia Forum, Inglewood, USA 1,100,855
Dickies Arena, Dallas, USA 1,015,253
OVO Hydro, Glasgow, UK 1,012,333
Lanxess Arena, Cologne, Germany 1,004,777
3Arena, Dublin, Ireland 975,640
Prizes and awards to O2 Arena
•2016 Pollstar International Venue of the Year
•2016 Billboard Touring Awards: Top Arena
•2016 The London Venue Awards: Best Music Venue
•2016 The Drum UK Event Awards: Large Venue of the Year
•2017 Pollstar International Venue of the Year
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