Arena Quick Facts
Name: Liberty Arena
Capacity: 4,000
Opened: December 2020
Liberty Arena Highlights
The $65 million, 125,000-square-foot Liberty Arena opened in December 2020 as the new home of the Liberty men’s basketball, women’s basketball and volleyball programs. The 4,000-seat venue features loge and club seating options. Other facility highlights include court projection technology and a Teraflex volleyball playing surface, providing a safe playing surface for the Lady Flames and their opponents and an attractive surface for fans. The Taraflex flooring, which is assembled in sections, is similar to that used by a majority of Power Five programs and the one utilized for the NCAA Division I Women’s Volleyball Championship Region and Final Four rounds. Liberty is one of only a few programs outside of the Power Five to use a Taraflex flooring system.
Moving Next Door
Liberty Arena is connected to the Vines Center, which served as the home of Liberty basketball and volleyball for 30 years (1990-2020). The first basketball game at Liberty Arena (Dec. 1, 2020) is taking place almost exactly 30 years to the date after the first basketball game inside the Vines Center (Nov. 30, 1990). During Liberty’s 30 years in the Vines Center, the men’s basketball team won 307 games, capped off with winning the ASUN Championship for the final game in the Vines Center. The women’s basketball program enjoyed a considerable amount of success at their previous home, going 308-83 and winning seven Big South Championship titles at the Vines Center. In 30 years at the Vines Center, Liberty volleyball clinched two Big South Volleyball Championships (2001 and 2007) on the Vines Center court. The final volleyball match in Vines Center history took place on Dec. 8, 2019, a 3-1 win over High Point that sent the Lady Flames into the quarterfinals of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship.
Hiepler Court
Thanks to a lead naming gift, the Liberty University Athletics Department announced in August 2020 the court in the new Liberty Arena will be named in memory of Dr. Orville and Florence Hiepler.
In March 2019, Orville passed away and son Mark wanted to honor both his parents and their love for Liberty, as well as their heart for ministry, by naming the court in the new Liberty Arena in their memory. Orville and Florence’s grandson Ryan Hiepler was part of the Liberty men’s basketball team from 2015-18.
