John J. Lee Amphitheater

Payne Whitney Gymnasium, 70 Tower Pkwy, New Haven, CT 06511

The John J. Lee Amphitheater "JLA", the home of Yale men’s and women’s basketball, volleyball and gymnastics, sits inside Payne Whitney Gymnasium, which was constructed in 1931 under the direction of John Russell Pope. It is the a nine-and-one-half story building, housing one of the most complete units of indoor athletic facilities in the world.

The building was given to the University by the Whitney family in memory of Payne Whitney, class of 1898. Planning for the structure started in 1925; groundbreaking ceremonies took place in 1930.

The first basketball game in the Amphitheater was played on December 2, 1932, with Yale defeating an alumni team 38-16.

In 1996, Yale named the venue in honor of alumnus John Lee ’58, who set a number of Yale records in basketball and helped lead the Bulldogs to the first official Ivy League Championship.

Recent enhancements to the historic arena include state-of-the-art lighting, a video scorer’s table and the Corridors of Champions, which highlights the illustrious history of each of the programs.

Wrote legendary basketball columnist John Feinstein in his book The Last Amateurs: “There is no gym, arena, or field house in America that looks like Payne Whitney. It is nine stories high and from the outside it looks like a twelfth-century European cathedral.”

Lee Amphitheater was selected as one of college basketball’s historic venues by ESPN The Magazine in 2011. The title of the feature was Grand Stands, the game marches on, but a dwindling number of college basketball cathedrals can still take us back to when it all began. “To walk through these gates and settle into these seats is to remember the game’s roots,” wrote LaRue Cook. “Because sometimes sports aren’t about results – they’re about beauty and style and being connected to something bigger than the game.”

Also In 2011, the Amphitheater was the site of the thrilling Ivy League playoff game between Princeton and Harvard. Princeton Doug Davis hit the winning shot as time expired in front of a packed house.

More history was made in 2019 when the Amphitheater hosted the Ivy League Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament. In front of a packed house, Yale secured a berth in the NCAA Tournament with a victory over Harvard in the men’s championship game.

In addition, the arena has hosted NCAA Tournament volleyball matches, numerous Ivy League and ECAC gymnastics championships, postseason men’s and women’ basketball games and the 1996 NCAA Men’s and Women’s Fencing Championship.