The University of Delaware men's and women's basketball teams will begin their 16th season in the $20.5 million, 5,000-seat Bob Carpenter Center Acierno Arena for the 2007-2008 season.

The Blue Hen men have posted a record of 141-60 (.701) in the building entering the 2007-08 season, including christening the arena with a 77-69 win over rival Rutgers Dec. 1, 1992. The Blue Hen women own a record of 139-50 (.735), including a 74-53 win over Temple in their BCC debut Dec. 1, 1992. The UD women have won 72 percent of their conference games in the BCC (95-37).

The Blue Hen men's basketball team especialy has enjoyed outstanding success at the Carpenter Center since beginning play here in 1992-93 and have established a strong homecourt advantage.

The Bob Carpenter Center served as the site of the America East Men's Basketball Tournament for six years from 1996 until 2001 and as site of the Colonial Athletic Association Women's Basketball Tournament in 2006-07 and again this year.

The arena section of the building is named in honor of Frank E. Acierno, a local businessman and developer, who donated $1 million to the Bob Carpenter Center, the largest gift from a single donor. The BCC was formally dedicated in a ceremony Nov. 10, 1992.

Delaware basketball teams moved to their new home after competing at 3,000-seat Delaware Field House since 1967.

The Bob Carpenter Center is the center of an expansive collegiate athletic complex, the David M. Nelson Athletic Complex named in memory of the former University of Delaware athletic director, dean, and head football coach.

The complex includes 22,000-seat Delaware Stadium, the home of the nationally-ranked Fightin' Blue Hen football team; the new $3 million Fred P. Rullo Stadium, a 2,000-seat lighted ActionTurf field for field hockey and lacrosse that opened in September, 1998; Delaware Field House, an indoor track and practice facility which had a new surface installed in 1995; 2,000-seat Bob Hannah Baseball Stadium; numerous athletic fields; the Delaware Ice Skating Science Development Center; and an outdoor swimming pool.

The Bob Carpenter Center served for the first time as headquarters for the National Basketball Association Philadelphia 76ers pre-season training camp in October, 1995 with the team drawing large daily crowds, including a sellout crowd of 5,000 fans for the final scrimmage. The Sixers also held their pre-season camp at the BCC in 1996 before moving to alternate sites.

The Bob Carpenter Center, named in honor of longtime University board of trustee member, athletic benefactor, and former Philadelphia Phillies owner R.R.M. "Bob" Carpenter Jr. who died in 1990, serves as home for the University's football and basketball programs as well as a site for a wide variety of other events such as convocations, concerts, and banquets.

Special features of the facility are a 120-person football locker room, men's and women's basketball locker rooms, administrative offices, the state-of-the-art Chuck Hall Memorial Weight Room, and athletic training rooms.

Directly accessible to the locker room areas are three classroom meeting areas and a 120-seat lecture hall used for team meetings, classes, and press conferences.

The Bob Carpenter Center also includes a comfortable glass-walled reception lounge area, the Bob Carpenter Club, with views into Delaware Stadium and to the Acierno Arena; and a scoreboard with a color video message center. The original wood floor was a 203-panel tongue-and-groove 60-by-112 foot maple arena floor, the same floor used for the 1992 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship game in Minneapolis. The floor was replaced prior to the 2006-07 season.

The facility was designed by the architectural/engineering firm of Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., one of the top firms in the country.

Also involved with the project were local firms Tevebaugh and Associates of Wilmington, and Landmark Engineering Inc. and Healy Management Services Inc., both of New Castle.