|
|
|
|
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
|
| |
|
| |
The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, commonly known as Nassau Coliseum or the "Old Barn on Hempstead Turnpike" (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.
ed in 1972, the Coliseum occupies 63 acres (255,000 m²) of Mitchel Field, site of a former Army and Air Force base.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum' Start a new discussion about 'Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, commonly known as Nassau Coliseum or the "Old Barn on Hempstead Turnpike" (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.
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 facility is located in an unincorporated area of the Town of Hempstead, within the Uniondale 11553 Zip Code.
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 performed at the Coliseum as part of her Tina: Live in Concert Tour.
On March 11, 2009 singer Britney Spears will perform at the Coliseum as part of her The Circus starring: Britney Spears Tour. The tour is supporting her sixth studio album, Circus. She will also return on March 23, 2009 for the second night hosted at the Coliseum.
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 of all 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. On August 14, 2007, Islanders owner Charles 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. However, the Lighthouse project has met with delays in receiving approval from Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead. Wang has threatened to move the Islanders if the project does not go through.
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. (In those four seasons, the Isles lost just 36 of their 200 regular season and playoff games at home, compiling a 141-36-23 mark.)
- 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.
- On October 7, 1989 Howard Stern used the arena for his US Open Sores Competition, to have a tennis match with his producer Gary Dell'Abate(baba booey) who ended up winning. Also in the arena was comedian Sam Kinison and Leslie West of Mountain. The event was sold out in just a few hours.The Star Spangled Banner was played by Celastein.
- 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).
- Lauryn Hill mentions Nassau Coliseum in her 1998 song Everything is Everything in the line; "Roll with cherubims to Nassau Coliseum"
- The Lifter Puller song "Nassau Coliseum" is set during a drug arrest at Nassau Coliseum.
External links
|
| |
|
|
