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Richfield Coliseum
Richfield Coliseum, also known as the Coliseum at Richfield, was an indoor arena located in Richfield Township, between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio. It opened in 1974 as a replacement for the Cleveland Arena, and had a seating capacity of 20,273 for basketball. It was the main arena for the Northeast Ohio region until 1994, when it was replaced by Gund Arena (now Rocket Arena) in downtown Cleveland. The Coliseum stood vacant for five years before it was purchased and demolished in 1999 by the National Park Service. The site of the building was converted to a meadow and is now part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
The arena was primarily the home to the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), developed by Cavaliers owner Nick Mileti, who also owned the Cleveland Crusaders of the World Hockey Association. Over the years it had additional tenants such as the Cleveland Barons of the National Hockey League, Cleveland Force of Major Indoor Soccer League, Cleveland Crunch of Major Indoor Soccer League, the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the International Hockey League, and the Cleveland Thunderbolts of the Arena Football League.
It hosted the 1981 NBA All-Star Game; The Buckeye Homecoming, the 1983 professional boxing match between Michael Dokes and Gerrie Coetzee; and the 1985 MISL All Star Game. It was also the site of the March 24, 1975 boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner, which in part inspired the movie Rocky.
The Coliseum was a regular concert venue, with its first event being a concert by Frank Sinatra. The first rock concert at the Richfield Coliseum, in October 1974, featured Stevie Wonder in October 1974. The last concert was by Roger Daltrey, in 1994; that was also the last official event at the arena.
The Grateful Dead played thirteen shows at the Coliseum - the first on September 7, 1990, and the last on March 21, 1994.
The arena, which opened in 1974, replaced the Cleveland Arena, which had 12,500+ boxing capacity, 10,000+ otherwise. The new arena seated 20,273 for basketball and 18,544 for hockey, and was one of the first indoor arenas to contain luxury boxes. Cavaliers founder Nick Mileti was the driving force behind the Coliseum's construction, believing that its location in northern Summit County south of Cleveland near the confluence of the Ohio Turnpike and Interstates 77 and 271 was ideally suited given the growth of urban sprawl.
While Cleveland Arena had once been one of the finest arenas in the country when it opened in 1937, it had not aged well by the time the Cavs arrived. It also had little parking. City officials balked at a downtown replacement, leading Mileti to turn his attention to the suburbs.
The Coliseum was built in Richfield to draw fans from both of Northeast Ohio's major cities, as nearly five million Ohioans lived within less than an hour's drive (in good weather) from the Coliseum. While the arena's location hindered attendance somewhat, the Cavaliers' average attendance was over 18,000 per game each of the last two seasons at the Coliseum. In a 2012 interview with ESPN's Bill Simmons, basketball great Larry Bird said that it was his favorite arena to play in. The Coliseum was the site of Bird's final game in the NBA.
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Richfield Coliseum
Richfield Coliseum, also known as the Coliseum at Richfield, was an indoor arena located in Richfield Township, between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio. It opened in 1974 as a replacement for the Cleveland Arena, and had a seating capacity of 20,273 for basketball. It was the main arena for the Northeast Ohio region until 1994, when it was replaced by Gund Arena (now Rocket Arena) in downtown Cleveland. The Coliseum stood vacant for five years before it was purchased and demolished in 1999 by the National Park Service. The site of the building was converted to a meadow and is now part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
The arena was primarily the home to the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA), developed by Cavaliers owner Nick Mileti, who also owned the Cleveland Crusaders of the World Hockey Association. Over the years it had additional tenants such as the Cleveland Barons of the National Hockey League, Cleveland Force of Major Indoor Soccer League, Cleveland Crunch of Major Indoor Soccer League, the Cleveland Lumberjacks of the International Hockey League, and the Cleveland Thunderbolts of the Arena Football League.
It hosted the 1981 NBA All-Star Game; The Buckeye Homecoming, the 1983 professional boxing match between Michael Dokes and Gerrie Coetzee; and the 1985 MISL All Star Game. It was also the site of the March 24, 1975 boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner, which in part inspired the movie Rocky.
The Coliseum was a regular concert venue, with its first event being a concert by Frank Sinatra. The first rock concert at the Richfield Coliseum, in October 1974, featured Stevie Wonder in October 1974. The last concert was by Roger Daltrey, in 1994; that was also the last official event at the arena.
The Grateful Dead played thirteen shows at the Coliseum - the first on September 7, 1990, and the last on March 21, 1994.
The arena, which opened in 1974, replaced the Cleveland Arena, which had 12,500+ boxing capacity, 10,000+ otherwise. The new arena seated 20,273 for basketball and 18,544 for hockey, and was one of the first indoor arenas to contain luxury boxes. Cavaliers founder Nick Mileti was the driving force behind the Coliseum's construction, believing that its location in northern Summit County south of Cleveland near the confluence of the Ohio Turnpike and Interstates 77 and 271 was ideally suited given the growth of urban sprawl.
While Cleveland Arena had once been one of the finest arenas in the country when it opened in 1937, it had not aged well by the time the Cavs arrived. It also had little parking. City officials balked at a downtown replacement, leading Mileti to turn his attention to the suburbs.
The Coliseum was built in Richfield to draw fans from both of Northeast Ohio's major cities, as nearly five million Ohioans lived within less than an hour's drive (in good weather) from the Coliseum. While the arena's location hindered attendance somewhat, the Cavaliers' average attendance was over 18,000 per game each of the last two seasons at the Coliseum. In a 2012 interview with ESPN's Bill Simmons, basketball great Larry Bird said that it was his favorite arena to play in. The Coliseum was the site of Bird's final game in the NBA.