It was 1971. The Guess Who headlined NIU’s Winter Carnival. The men’s run-and-gun basketball team averaged nearly 93 points a game. And the staff of the Norther, the university’s yearbook, rallied in support of building a new home for concerts and sporting events alike. It would be on the western edge of campus with 10,000 chairback seats and parking for thousands outside.*

The early push for an arena in the 1970s ultimately failed, but it was an idea that would not die. The need for a large venue to showcase athletics, provide large-scale entertainment, and host conferences, job fairs and other big events grew only more clear as the decades marched on. 

In the late 1980s, a contingent on the Board of Regents pushed President John LaTourette to “get moving” on an arena. UIUC, SIU and ISU all had such facilities, and they were boons to the communities in which they were located.  When LaTourette pushed back, asking for time to properly study financing options, he nearly lost his job. At the same time, LaTourette genuinely believed in the arena concept, and spent a good part of the early 1990s building support – and a business plan – for the facility.

In 1998, La Tourette took a plan to the new Board of Trustees. He said the proposed “convocation center” would solve several university problems at once: 

First, the multipurpose center would include an indoor track, allowing NIU to field a women’s track team, thereby meeting Title IX requirements to offer a balanced set of athletic opportunities to men and women.

Second, the development of many acres would create thousands of new parking spaces for NIU’s burgeoning student population. Then as now, campus parking was a problem.

Third, NIU’s student recreation center was bursting at the seams. LaTourette’s plan was to move all Evans Field House operations to the new arena, allowing Evans to be remodeled as a rec center annex.

LaTourette spent the following year shopping his plan around, holding meetings with students and community leaders, and generally gaining the support for the facility, which was to be funded with student fees, user fees and generated revenues. In April of 1999, the Board of Trustees approved the plan and set a budget at $36 million. Student Trustee Joe Sosnowski told his fellow board members that students were “very enthusiastic” about the project, and said most were saying that “it’s about time.” The Student Association Senate passed a resolution in favor of the arena, sponsored by 20 SA senators.

Ground was broken on 52 acres just west of NIU’s residence halls in October of 1999, with a timetable of about 20 months to completion. Drawings from the period show an expansive, multi-level, bowl-shaped arena with an eight-sided video board and video screens suspended from the center of the ceiling.

With a total of 215,000 square feet, the project included an NCAA-level indoor track,  practice gym and volleyball court, and an attached building with offices, an auxiliary gym with bleacher seating for 800, a media center, food preparation areas and a large lobby/reception space.

Designed to be flexible, the retractable seat feature allowed the bowl to be set up for many different audience sizes and performer needs. In its largest set-up, the arena could seat 10,000.

In August 2002, the Convocation Center opened its doors for the first time, hosting  the Huskie Bash new student welcome party that caps Move-In Day.  All that week, different audiences were introduced to the center in VIP receptions and events that included a concert with student-favorite band Mike and Joe and a sold-out performance by comedian Bill Cosby.

The following month NIU’s Convocation Center hosted the rock bands Counting Crows and Dishwalla; in November the men’s and women’s basketball teams began play at the new venue.

While John LaTourette began the Convocation Center project, it was his successor, John Peters, who opened the facility. 

“I’ve seen arenas like this one inject tremendous pride into a campus and its host community,” Peters said. I’ve seen students plan their free time around the many options presented by a large-scale entertainment venue like this one. I’ve seen area businesses enhanced by a steady flow of new customers. I’ve seen all those things, and I have every reason to believe that we’ll see the same benefits at NIU.”

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