Gentile Arena
Joseph J. Gentile Arena has served as the home to Loyola’s basketball and volleyball programs since the 1996-97 season and has undergone renovations over the years to stay in the top tier of facilities of its size in the Midwest. The arena was renovated in 2011 and significant technology and videoboard updates took place in 2017 and 2023. Current capacity for basketball and volleyball games is 4,557.
Gentile Arena officially opened its doors on November 23, 1996, as the Loyola Men’s Basketball program christened the new arena with a win over Eastern Kentucky in front of a packed house of 5,200 fans.
Ever since the tipoff of that game, Gentile Arena has provided the Loyola Chicago varsity sports programs with a tremendous home-court advantage. The Chicago Tribune has called Gentile Arena “the place to be for basketball” and “one of the best sports environments in town.”
In total, Gentile Arena has seen 16 conference championship teams play their home games there, including Loyola’s 2018 Final Four team in Men’s Basketball. Gentile Arena was the site of one of the greatest moments in Loyola Athletics history as the men’s volleyball team hosted the NCAA Championship and went on to capture the first of its back-to-back national championships with a four-set victory over Stanford in the NCAA championship match on May 3, 2014.
A quartet of top-five men’s basketball teams have paid a visit to since it opened in 1996 – No. 2 Michigan State in 2000, No. 5 Kansas State in 2010, No. 3 Wichita State in 2013, and No. 5 Nevada in 2018. On December 9, 2000, a Gentile-Arena-record 5,513 fans packed the facility to see the Ramblers battle defending NCAA champion Michigan State.
Named after Joseph Gentile, a 1946 Loyola graduate, the building became a reality when he graciously made a commitment with a total value of $3.5 million to cover nearly half the cost of the new facility that bears his name.
Gentile was a long-time fan and supporter of the athletics department at Loyola. For many years, he sponsored the television and radio broadcasts of Ramblers basketball games and donated cars for raffles held by the Loyola Department of Intercollegiate Athletics.
The Chicago native, along with Gerry Nagel and John Rosich, was the main benefactor for the construction of Gentile Arena. Gentile was named the National Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame Man of the Year in 1990 and earned the Founders Award one year later.
While the most visible tenants of Gentile Arena are the Rambler basketball and volleyball teams, an equally important group uses the building – the Loyola student body. Whether for graduation, intramural competitions, or entertainment purposes such as concerts and speakers, which have included the likes of the Dalai Lama, the facility allows the Division of Student Development to greatly expand its offerings.
The 45,000-square-foot facility is used not only for men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball, but also for Loyola special events, as well as by the community in the Rogers Park-Edgewater neighborhood. Graduation, which used to be held downtown in Medinah Temple, also is held in Gentile Arena.
The architecture firm of Solomon, Cordwell, Buenz and Associates Inc., is responsible for the facility’s new design. The same firm also designed The Norville Center for Intercollegiate Athletics, which opened in March 2011.
