Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
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| Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum | |
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| Nassau Coliseum
The Coliseum |
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| Location | 1255 Hempstead Turnpike Uniondale, New York 11553 |
| Opened | 1972 |
| Owner | Nassau County, New York |
| Operator | SMG Management |
| Construction cost | $31 million (USD) |
| Architect | Welton Becket and Associates |
| Tenants | New York Islanders (NHL) (1972-present) New York Dragons (AFL) (2001-present) New York Titans (NLL) (2007) New York Nets (ABA/NBA) (1972-1977) New York Arrows (MISL) (1978-1984) New York Express (MISL) (1986-1987} New York Saints (NLL) (1998-2003) Long Island Jawz (RHI) (1996) |
| Capacity | 16,234 (hockey) |
The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, commonly known as Nassau Coliseum (or simply The Coliseum), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York, on Long Island. The Coliseum is 19 miles (30 km) from New York City. It is home to the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League and the New York Dragons of the Arena Football League.
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[edit] History
Opened in 1972, the Coliseum occupies 63 acres (255,000 m²) of Mitchel Field, site of a former Army and Air Force base.
The New York Raiders, intended by the fledging World Hockey Association to be their flagship franchise, was initially slated to play in the brand-new Nassau Coliseum. However, Nassau County didn't consider the WHA a professional league and wanted nothing to do with the Raiders. Nassau County retained William Shea to get an NHL team to play in the new building. The NHL responded by hastily awarding a franchise to Long Island--the New York Islanders, which forced the Raiders to play in Madison Square Garden, in the shadow of the New York Rangers.
The Coliseum was home to the New York Saints of the National Lacrosse League from 1998–2003, but the Saints became an inactive team in 2004. In 2007, it was home to four of the New York Titans National Lacrosse League team's eight home games (along with Madison Square Garden). In 2008, the Titans moved all of their home games to Madison Square Garden.
Earlier, the Coliseum had hosted the New York Arrows and later the New York Express of the original Major Indoor Soccer League. Before that, the Coliseum had been home to the New York Nets basketball team of the American Basketball Association and later the National Basketball Association from 1972–1977. The Coliseum has also hosted first and second round games of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, most recently in 2001.
The Coliseum is also used for concerts, large exhibitions and shows of various kinds, as well as trade shows (44,000 square feet at the main arena, 60,000 at the Expo Center). Long Island native Billy Joel is one of the Coliseum's most prolific tenants, holding multiple shows at his hometown arena over the course of his tours. Billy Joel has a "retired number" banner, along with those of Islander greats, hanging from the rafters to commemorate his many Coliseum sellouts. New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen also played a memorable New Year's Eve concert at The Coliseum in 1980. Certain songs from the concert were used on his 1986 live album Live/1975-85. Both Phish and the Grateful Dead frequently played here and both have live albums recorded at Nassau Coliseum: the Grateful Dead (Go to Nassau), Phish (4-2-98, 4-3-98, 2-28-03 of the Live Phish Series). Pink Floyd recorded and filmed their concert film and album Delicate Sound of Thunder at the Coliseum in August of 1988. In 1990, Madonna (entertainer) performed here during her Blond Ambition Tour. The Coliseum was also one of only two US venues chosen to perform in their limited run of shows in support of their 1979 album The Wall in February of 1980. One of the shows was filmed and bootlegged and has been heavily traded by fans for years.
The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum hosted the first-third of the World Wrestling Federation's WrestleMania 2 in 1986 and SummerSlam in 2002. The Coliseum will host WWE's The Great American Bash pay-per-view event in 2008. The Coliseum has also hosted several WWE television shows like RAW, SmackDown!, HEAT, Velocity, Superstars of Wrestling, and Saturday Night's Main Event.
The Nassau Coliseum hosted minor league hockey prior to the awarding of the Islanders franchise, a gimmick brought back in 2005, when the Islanders-affiliated Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL) played two "home games" at the Coliseum in the absence of NHL hockey due to the lockout. It originally had a capacity of 12,000 to 15,000 depending on the event, but in the early 1980s the maximum capacity was increased to around 18,000. It currently seats 16,234 for hockey, up to 17,760 for concerts and 17,686 for boxing and wrestling.
Despite the obvious flaws of the outdated facility, the Coliseum is still considered to be one of the toughest arenas for opposing players, primarily because of the intensity of the crowd noise that echoes around the interior. For example, during the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals in 2002, in which the Islanders squared off against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Islanders won all three games played at home in a series dominated by home-ice advantage, as Toronto won all four of their home games.
Scenes for the 2007 movie Music and Lyrics starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore were filmed at the arena.
[edit] Redevelopment
The Coliseum is currently the third-oldest arena in active use by an NHL team (after Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena and Madison Square Garden), and has the smallest capacity out of all the arenas in the NHL. It is generally considered to be obsolete. Knowing that the arena was deteriorating, officials announced in 2004 an ambitious plan to renovate the coliseum, instead of building a whole new arena. The centerpiece of the project would be a 60-story tower designed to look like a lighthouse. Other plans include new housing units (including affordable housing units), athletic facilities, a new minor league baseball stadium, restaurants, and a new hotel. The project would also add trees, water and other natural elements to the area to replace the sea of concrete, as well as many other things to the area, at a projected overall cost of approximately $200 million.[1] On August 14, 2007, Wang and the Lighthouse Development Group, partnered with Rexcorp, created a new plan downsizing the entire project. The coliseum design has totally changed and the 60 story "Lighthouse" has evolved into two 31 story buildings connected with a footbridge at the top. Construction is not planned to begin until at least mid 2009.
[edit] Trivia
- During the New York Islanders run of four consecutive Stanley Cup Championships in the early-1980's, Nassau Coliseum was proudly referred to as "Fort Neverlose" by fans of the team.
- Fans of rival teams as well as frustrated Islander fans sometimes use the moniker "Nassau Mausoleum" to describe the deteriorating conditions of the building. This nickname is also applicable in certain entertainment circles due to their being plagued by injury during performances at the Coliseum. In one such example, in November of 2006, an ice skater performing in the Disney On Ice presentation of Princess Wishes was badly injured during a high-risk stunt, breaking his nose and wrist as well as being knocked unconscious for several minutes.
- This arena was given the nickname "Bust Palace" in 1972, for all of the drug arrests at all of the Rock concerts held there, according to talk show host Alex Bennett.
- During various times throughout the summer, Jehovah's Witnesses use the arena to hold their annual District Convention
- The parking fields are often used from March through October for Autocross events by such auto clubs like: The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA), The BMW Car Club of America (BMWCCA) NY chapter, and The Porsche Club of America (PCA). These events take place usually in Lot 8 on Saturdays and Sundays from 9AM till 3–5PM. The events are open to anyone with roadworthy automobile (although club membership garners lower entrance fees).
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Preceded by first arena |
Home of the New York Islanders 1972 – present |
Succeeded by current |
| Preceded by Island Garden |
Home of the New York Nets 1971 – 1977 |
Succeeded by Rutgers Athletic Center |
| Preceded by Madison Square Garden |
Host of WrestleMania 2 w/ Rosemont Horizon & L.A. Sports Arena 1986 |
Succeeded by Pontiac Silverdome |
| Preceded by Capital Centre |
Host of NHL All-Star Game 1983 |
Succeeded by Meadowlands Arena |
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