The arena site on West Livingston Street was approved in December 1983, at a time when concerts and other large-scale events were held at the Orange County Convention Center, which is several miles away from downtown.

[5] In 1986, support was growing to attempt to bring an NBA franchise to Orlando, and general manager Pat Williams knew that having an arena already under construction would be critical for expansion being approved by the league.

[6] Considering the importance of the arena, the city voted to allow construction to begin before a study of its impact on the area was filed with state and regional planners.

[7] Ground broke in January 1987, four months before the NBA Board of Governors made their final decision to bring Orlando into the league.

[13] However, in 1999, TD Waterhouse, a division of Canadian finance company Toronto Dominion, purchased the naming rights at a cost of $7.8 million for five years.

As part of the deal, Amway received an initial exclusive option to negotiate for the right to name Orlando's new arena, which had just been announced.

On August 22, 2004, the City of Orlando evicted the Seals and they were forced to sit out the first season of Southern Professional Hockey League play for 2004–05 as a result.

Also, the placement of the skyboxes gave them the worst sightlines in the arena,[16] consequently Fortune 500 companies in the vicinity such as SunTrust, Lockheed Martin, Darden Restaurants, and Hughes Supply did not lease the luxury suites.

[15] The Orlando Magic's desire for a major renovation of the building dated to 1994, when the arena was only five years old, as the team was seeking to increase revenue by expanding the limited retail and concession space and luxury seating.

[19] However, even if luxury suites were relocated to the midlevel, the city had few corporations in the area willing to pay the $100,000-plus a year lease rates.

Beginning around 2000, the Magic began to push the City of Orlando for a brand new arena, replacing the TD Waterhouse Centre.

Since the city, as well as Orange County, were not keen on picking up the tab for a second facility in a little over a decade, the Magic stated they would contribute to the cost of building it.

"[21] The Magic outlined where an arena should be built, the potential cost, what type of tax should pay for it and what could be done with the existing building once it was abandoned by the team.

[22] Any plans for renovation or replacement relied on tourist-tax revenue, and after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the numbers of tourists in the area declined sharply.

"[23] On September 29, 2006, the City of Orlando and Orange County finally came to an agreement on a $1.1-billion improvement package that included $480 million for a new arena.

The City of Orlando began demolition of Amway Arena's interior on December 15, 2011, originally planning to take about six months to traditionally demolish the facility.

[26] The goal of the complex is to redevelop the site into "a place where high-tech companies locate; and employees of those businesses and other residents live, work, learn and play".

The final sporting event at Amway Arena was an Orlando Predators game on July 24, 2010, against the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz.

On October 20, 2008, Democratic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama held a major outdoor rally immediately outside the Amway Arena north entrance that drew over 50,000 supporters and was televised nationally.

Many professional wrestling pay-per-view events have been held at Amway Arena over the years, including the 1990 WWF Royal Rumble, 1994 WCW Bash at the Beach, and WWE Armageddon 2003.