Stabler Arena is a 6,200-seat multi-purpose arena in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Owned and operated by Lehigh University, it is located on the school's Goodman Campus. It was named for Donald B. Stabler, a 1930 Lehigh graduate, founder of Stabler Companies Inc., and a member of the university's Board of Trustees for over 30 years. He and his wife, Dorothy, were the primary donors for the facility. The arena officially opened with Lehigh's Commencement Exercises on May 29, 1979, replacing Taylor Gymnasium, which had hosted Lehigh athletics since 1914. Its first public event was Holiday on Ice in November later that same year.
Stabler has been the site for four music videos. The video for Whitney Houston's 1987 hit "So Emotional" and two Bon Jovi songs, "Bed of Roses" and "In These Arms", include footage from the artists' respective Stabler concerts. The bandBreaking Benjamin used footage of their February 11, 2007, Stabler Arena concert for their music video of "Breath". ;Breaking Benjamin DVD Breaking Benjamin's first live DVD, released with their album, Phobia, features the band's entire February 11, 2007, concert at the arena. The concert was broadcast on HDNetfor the first time on March 4, 2007. ;Nirvana bootleg Nirvana performed at Stabler on November 9, 1993, less than five months before lead singer Kurt Cobaincommitted suicide at his Lake Washington residence. This show has since become one of the band's most widely circulated bootleg recordings, because of its proximity to Cobain's death, representing one of Nirvana's final U.S. shows. ;Kiss bootleg On October 1, 1992, KISS kicked off their global tour at Stabler Arena, following smaller, warm-up venues in Europe and the U.S. It was the first show to use a giant, pyrotechnic mock up of the Statue of Liberty that became the tour's trademark. KISS' 1992 Stabler show has since become one of the band's most widely circulated video bootleg recordings, because of its status as a kick-off date for the last tour the group played before their later 1996 and subsequent tours, featuring a return to their trademark make-up and a reuniting of the band's original line up.
Renovations and Upgrades
In the fall of 2016, brand new LED video boards measuring tall and wide were installed in two corners of the arena. A new LED scorer's table was added, along with two new competition baskets with three-sided shot clocks, and two fixed digit scoreboards were installed in time for the start of the 2016-17 basketball season. The arena also debuted a new baseline club, a court-level area behind one of the baskets that features high-top tables. In the summer of 2017, the arena received a new basketball floor.
