The was a multi-purpose sports and entertainment arena in
Charlotte, North Carolina . It was operated by the Charlotte Coliseum Authority, which also oversees the operation of
Cricket Arena , the
Charlotte Convention Center , and
Ovens Auditorium . It no longer hosts events.
It hosted its final
NBA basketball game on
October 26 ,
2005 , a preseason game between the
Charlotte Bobcats and the
Indiana Pacers .
The city of Charlotte is in the process of selling the property, and the building will likely be demolished at some point.
Construction on the Charlotte Coliseum began in
1986 and was opened in
1988 , approximately one year after the inception of the
Charlotte Hornets . At the time the venue was seen as state-of-the-art, complete with luxury boxes and a large eight-sided video scoreboard. Ironically, on the morning of the day the Coliseum was to host its first event, the multi-million dollar scoreboard was destroyed when it crashed to the floor. It also destroyed the basketball court it landed on (an alternate floor was brought from
Cricket Arena in time for the game that night).
When the Hornets made their
NBA debut in November of 1988 the Charlotte Coliseum was the largest venue in the league, seating nearly 24,000 fans. The Hornets would go on to lead the NBA in attendance over the course of their first few seasons playing in "The Hive," but poorly-received decisions made by Hornets team owner George Shinn caused fan support to dwindle, and by the time the Hornets skipped town for
New Orleans in
2002 , the Hornets' attendance had dropped to dead last in the 29-team league. By then the once-sparkling Coliseum was seen by many as outdated and no longer suitable to be the home of a major professional sports team.
The arena was also used for a variety of collegiate basketball events. The Coliseum hosted the
1994 Men's
Final Four and the
1996 Women's Final Four (both jointly hosted by
Davidson College and
UNC Charlotte ), in addition to many
NCAA Tournament regionals, sub-regionals, and eight
ACC men's basketball tournaments.
It also hosted the 1991
NBA All-Star Game . It was also the site of
WWE Unforgiven 1999 and
WWE Judgment Day 2003.
This was actually the second building to use the name "Charlotte Coliseum";
Cricket Arena , located on Independence Boulevard, originally opened as the Coliseum, and it shared the same features as the "new" Coliseum, including its famous domed roof.
Although the Hornets were the primary tenants of the Coliseum, many other teams called The Hive home. The
Charlotte Sting of the
WNBA began play in the Coliseum upon their inception in
1997 , but has moved to
Charlotte Arena in the summer of
2006 . The
Charlotte 49ers of the
NCAA played in the Coliseum during their final days in the
Sun Belt Conference from 1988 through 1992. Two now-defunct
Arena Football League teams played in the Coliseum - the
Charlotte Rage (1992-96) and the
Carolina Cobras (2003-04).
When the NBA returned to Charlotte in
2004 with the expansion Charlotte Bobcats, they played the 2004-05 season in the Coliseum as the new
Charlotte Arena was being completed.
