Coleman Coliseum

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Coleman Coliseum
http://tour.ua.edu/images/coleman.jpg
Location	University of Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL 35487
Opened	January 30, 1968
Owner	University of Alabama
Operator	University of Alabama
Construction cost	$4.2 Million
Former names
Memorial Coliseum (1968-88)
Tenants
Alabama Crimson Tide (Basketball, Volleyball & Gymnastics)
Capacity
15,043

Coleman Coliseum is a 15,043-seat multi-purpose arena in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The arena opened in 1968 as a replacement for Foster Auditorium. It is home to the University of Alabama Crimson Tide basketball, gymnastics, and volleyball teams.

In addition to sports, Coleman Coliseum is used for other events including concerts (seating capacity 16,000), commencement exercises, alumni gatherings, student convocations, operas, ballets and orations by political figures. President Ronald Reagan visited Coleman Coliseum during the mid-1980s, the Coliseum has been used as an annual bass tournament weigh-in spot, and a Travis Tritt music video was filmed here. The stadium hosted the NCAA Basketball Tournament three times, as a regional site in 1974 and as a sub-regional in 1975 and 1981.

Coleman Coliseum was named for Jefferson Jackson Coleman, a prominent alumnus. Until his death, in 1995 he was the only person that had attended every Alabama bowl game, starting with the Rose Bowl game on January 1, 1926. Jeff went on to serve the university in many capacities, from Business Manager of the football team to Director of Alumni Affairs, for almost 50 years. He was one of the first pledges at the Delta Chi Fraternity at Alabama and "AA" Emeritus for the National Fraternity.

Before 1990, the building was known as Memorial Coliseum.

It is recognizable on television for its "striped" ceiling (a result of bands of acoustical tiles) and the two scoreboards behind each endline, both of which intersperse ads, video boards and scoring information with the familiar "R-O-L-L T-I-D-E" in large illuminated letters. The letters fomerly served as a noise meter during games, with the "E" in "TIDE" being red, as a sort of overload light. Now, all eight letters on both ends are constantly illuminated, and the final E is white, like the rest of the letters.

The coliseum was renovated in 2005.