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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NASSAU COLISEUM TICKETS
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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). The Coliseum was also one of only two US venues chosen a few years earlier when
Pink Floyd performed 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. Eight years later,
Pink Floyd recorded and filmed their concert film and album
Delicate Sound of Thunder
at the Coliseum in August of 1988.
The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum hosted the first-third of the
World Wrestling Federation's
WrestleMania 2 in 1986 and
SummerSlam in 2002, in addition to 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.
Scenes for the 2007 movie
Music and Lyrics
starring
Hugh Grant and
Drew Barrymore were filmed at the arena.
On February 6th and 7th of 2008, the
Spice Girls performed to two sold out crowds as part of their
The Return of the Spice Girls World Tour. It was their first ever performance in the
New York area as a five piece. During the summer of their
Spiceworld Tour in 1998, the girls had played the
Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre,
PNC Bank Arts Center, and
Madison Square Garden as part of their New York dates; but
Geri Halliwell (
Ginger Spice) had left the girls right before the American Leg of the
Spiceworld Tour (which kicked off on June 15th, 1998 in
West Palm Beach.)
On December 3rd and 4th, 2008 singer
Tina Turner will perform at the Coliseum as part of her
Tina: Live in Concert Tour
.
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.
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).
References
- Visions of $200M renovation