Arkansas Rivercatz
The Arkansas Rivercatz were a team of the American Basketball Association. Located in Pine Bluff Arkansas. The team was originally called the Little Rock Rivercatz, and was scheduled to play in Little Rock at the Barton Coliseum. The team had a 34-game schedule with 16 home games on the slate to be played at the Pine Bluff Convention Center.
They compiled a 17-7 record and were ranked #15 in the ABA Power Rankings before the team's headquarters, the Royal Arkansas Hotel and Suites suddenly went out of business, forcing the team to merge operations with its brother franchise, the Arkansas Aeros.
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Several global companies are headquartered in the northwest corner of Arkansas, including Wal-Mart (the world's largest public corporation by revenue in 2007), J.B. Hunt and Tyson Foods. This area of the state has experienced an economic boom since the 1970s as a result.
In recent years, automobile parts manufacturers have opened factories in eastern Arkansas to support auto plants in other states. Additionally, the city of Conway is the site of a school bus factory.
Tourism is also very important to the Arkansas economy; the official state nickname "The Natural State" was originally created (as "Arkansas Is A Natural") for state tourism advertising in the 1970s, and is still regularly used to this day.
An 8,500-seat multi-purpose arena featuring 22,984 square feet of space and a 40-foot ceiling height. The arena hosts local concerts and sporting events, including boxing, basketball, auto racing, wrestling, and rodeos, as well as conventions, trade shows, circuses, dances and banquets for the area. There are 5,000 permanent seats, and the arena can hold up to 2,500 for banquets and 1,296 classroom-style. The arena has four concession stands and four restrooms along its concourse, and 5 dressing rooms. The arena's loading truck can accommodate four trucks.
A 14,400-square-foot banquet hall, seating up to 2,000 theater-style, 1,400 for banquets and 1,000 classroom-style. It is used for trade shows, conventions, banquets, luncheons and other special events. It is divisible into four smaller rooms and is served by a modern full-line kitchen. The banquet hall is unique in that it is lit by tracks of colored lights. Adjacent is a 310-square-foot meeting room.
A 1,899-seat theater used for concerts, opera, Broadway shows, recitals, ceremonies and other special events. The theater's 93'3"-by 47' stage can accommodate 600 theater-style, 450 banquet-style and 300 classroom-style. The theater also contains 5 dressing rooms at stage level.
In addition, the Convention Center also contains three VIP suites, and a 2,048-square-foot storage area.
The Convention Center is also home to the Arkansas Rivercatz.
The team compiled a 25-2 record during their short existence. The team had absorbed the operations of their brother franchise, the Arkansas Rivercatz following the unexpected closure of the 'Catz' headquarters location hotel in Pine Bluff.
