Inside the Venue: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center
Location: New Orleans
Opened: 1985
Seating Capacity: 4,000
The Ernest N. Morial Convention Center will play host to its first Ultimate Fighting Championship event, as former welterweight title contender Jake Shields collides with the surging Jake Ellenberger in the UFC Fight Night 25 headliner on Saturday in New Orleans. The event -- which airs on Spike TV at 9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT -- will also feature a middleweight battle pairing “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 11 winner Court McGee with Dongi Yang, a featherweight duel pitting Roufusport representative Erik Koch against “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 12 winner Jonathan Brookins and a middleweight tilt matching Alan Belcher with Canadian veteran Jason MacDonald.
Named for Ernest N. Morial, New Orleans’ first African-American mayor, the convention center served as one of two primary emergency shelters during the Hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005. It has undergone several expansions since it opened in 1985 within walking distance of the Crescent City’s famed French Quarter. With 1.1 million square feet of contiguous exhibit space, the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center is the sixth-largest facility of its kind in the nation and consistently ranks among the Top 10 busiest venues. As of 2009, the convention center supported 23,989 jobs throughout the New Orleans area.
The National Association for College Admissions Counselors (Sept. 22-24), the American Public Transit Expo (Oct. 3-5), Project Homeless Connect (Oct. 12) and the New Orleans Opera Association (Oct. 13-15) will follow the UFC into the venue.
