Nashville, Tenn. (April 8, 2015) – Bridgestone Arena ranks second in the United States and fifth in the world for concert ticket sales, according to international trade publication Pollstar’s First-Quarter Ticket Sales report. The Top Five attendance ranking comes on the heels of February’s announcement that Bridgestone Arena had been named Pollstar’s 2014 Venue of the Year. Pollstar announced Bridgestone Arena ticket sales as 203,915, inclusive of solely show and concert tickets. When including the SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament and Nashville Predators home hockey games, Bridgestone Arena has hosted nearly 800,000 people in the building year to date.

Buildings in the world Top 10 include: 1.) The O2 - London 2.) Manchester Arena (Manchester, U.K.) 3.) Lanxess Arena (Cologne, Germany) 4.) Allstate Arena (Rosemont, Ill.) 5.) Bridgestone Arena 6.) The SSE Hydro (Glasgow, U.K.) 7.) O2 World Hamburg 8.) American Airlines Center (Dallas) 9.) Ziggo Dome (Amsterdam) 10.) O2 World (Berlin).

“Night after night, fans continue to fill the seats at Bridgestone Arena because of the high-quality entertainment and top shows that seek out Nashville and Bridgestone Arena as a regular tour stop,” Bridgestone Arena Senior Vice President of Booking David Kells said. “We are incredibly appreciative of the support from the city, the building staff, great performers and promoters, the entire community and most importantly the fans – all of whom work to make Bridgestone Arena a go-to destination.”

2015 Bridgestone Arena Highlights:

· Eric Church’s show on Jan. 10 set the Bridgestone Arena concert attendance record with 18,411 fans in the building for the performance.

· A total of 192,727 fans attended the SEC Men’s Basketball Championship between March 11-15, including 20,315 fans who were in attendance to watch Kentucky play Arkansas in the 2015 SEC Championship game on March 15, the largest ever crowd for an event at Bridgestone Arena.

· The Arena has hosted 23 Nashville Predators home games, improving the average capacity to more than 98 percent this season and setting the franchise record for sellouts in a season.

· Outside of hockey, the following events have taken place at Bridgestone Arena so far in 2015:

o   Jan. 3-4 Monster Jam

o   Jan. 10 Eric Church

o   Jan. 17 Linkin Park

o   Jan. 23-25 Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus

o   Jan. 28 Jack White

o   Jan. 31-Feb. 1 Amsoil Arenacross

o   Feb. 8 Winter Jam 2015

o    Feb. 13 Disney Junior Live on Tour!

o   Feb. 21 Jason Aldean

o   Feb. 23 WWE Raw

o   Feb. 25 Charlie Wilson

o   Feb. 27 Maroon 5

o   March 1 Chris Brown & Trey Songz

o   March 18 Fleetwood Mac

o   March 26-27 Kenny Chesney

o   March 28 Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet

o   March 30 Nickelback

o   April 7 Stevie Wonder

Stretching into 2015, Bridgestone Arena continues to undergo renovations in an effort to improve patrons’ experiences during their visits, building on a wave of upgrades during 2014 that includes various new bars, restaurants and the Lexus Lounge, an all-inclusive Performers’ Level Club. This summer, all of the seats in the Arena’s lower bowl will be replaced, followed by the replacing of the seats in the club level and upper bowl in the summer of 2016.

The NHL’s Nashville Predators have been the primary tenant of Bridgestone Arena since 1998 – just two years after the venue opened its doors for its first concert. On Oct. 17, 2014, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman visited Bridgestone Arena to announce that the Arena, the Predators and the city of Nashville had been named hosts of the 2016 NHL All-Star Game and festivities that will take place on Jan. 30 and 31, 2016. The awarding of the NHL All-Star Game comes on the heels of the announcement in October 2013 with the Southeastern Conference that Bridgestone Arena would be the home of 12 consecutive SEC Basketball Championships, a stretch that began with the 2015 SEC Men’s Basketball Championship in March.

Serving as the home for numerous national and international events, Bridgestone Arena has the distinction of being one of the busiest venues in the United States over the past decade and a half. In addition to recent accolades from Pollstar, Bridgestone Arena was named the Academy of Country Music’s Large Capacity Venue of the Year in March of 2014. Kells has also recently received recognition; he received his third consecutive Pollstar Facility Executive of the Year nomination in November, weeks after being named IEBA’s Venue Executive of the Year.

To receive regular updates on upcoming events at Bridgestone Arena go to Bridgestonearena.com. For more information on the Nashville Predators, game schedule and ticket availability, please visit Nashvillepredators.com.