McNichols Sports Arena was an indoor arena located in Denver, Colorado, United States. Located adjacent to Mile High Stadium and completed in 1975, at a cost of $16 million, it seated 16,061 for hockey games and 17,171 for basketball games.
It was named after Denver mayor William H. McNichols Jr., who served from 1968 to 1983. A small-scale scandal surrounded the naming because McNichols was in office at the time.
Twenty-seven luxury suites were installed as part of a 1986 renovation. The renovation also saw the original Stewart-Warner end-zone scoreboards, which each had color matrix screens, upgraded by White Way Sign with new digits and to include new color video screens.
McNichols Sports Arena was the home of the Denver Nuggets of the ABA and NBA for its entire existence from 1975 to 1999. It also hosted multiple hockey teams, including the Denver Spurs of the WHA during the 1975–76 season, the Colorado Rockies of the NHL from 1976 to 1982, the Colorado Flames of the CHL from 1982 to 1984, the Denver Grizzlies of the International Hockey League from 1994 to 1995, and the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL from 1995 to 1999.
The NBA's Denver Nuggets played their last game on May 5, 1999, against the Houston Rockets, and the Colorado Avalanche played their final game on June 1, 1999, during the playoffs versus the Dallas Stars. Though the arena was only 24 years old when it was demolished, like most arenas of the 1970s, it was narrow and dark in the concourse-level corridors. In addition, the locker rooms and shower facilities were not updated to NBA and NHL standards. Also, the arena lacked enough luxury suites (27 compared to some newer arenas' 200 or more) and had no club seating. Combined, these factors effectively made McNichols Sports Arena obsolete.
The arena closed after the Nuggets and Avalanche moved to the Pepsi Center (now Ball Arena) and was demolished in 2000 to make space for a parking lot surrounding Empower Field at Mile High.
Notable events
McNichols hosted the NCAA Final Four in 1990, won by UNLV over Duke University and the West Regional semifinal in 1996. It was also host to the 1976 ABA All-Star Game, in which the host Nuggets defeated the ABA All-Stars, games 1, 2, and 5 of the 1976 ABA finals, and the 1984 NBA All-Star Game. It also hosted games 1 and 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996, where the Colorado Avalanche defeated the Florida Panthers in four games to bring Denver its first major sports championship.
Another notable event at McNichols took place on December 13, 1983, when the Nuggets hosted the Detroit Pistons in a regular season contest. Nuggets players Kiki Vandeweghe and Alex English scored 51 and 47 points, respectively, while Piston Isiah Thomas also scored 47 points, with teammate John Long scoring 41 in a 186–184 triple-overtime Detroit win over the Nuggets. The game, still to date, is the highest-scoring game in NBA history, and also holds the record for the most players to score 40 or more points in a single game. However, the game was not televised in the Denver area (instead being shown back to the Detroit market, via WKBD-TV) and was attended by just over 9,300 people. This game has since been broadcast on NBA TV and ESPN Classic.
Concerts
The opening event at McNichols Sports Arena was a concert by Lawrence Welk on August 22, 1975.
The group Heart performed their rendition of "Unchained Melody" at the arena in 1980. "Unchained Melody" was included on their highly successful double LP Greatest Hits/Live released November 1980.
The Grateful Dead played McNichols 13 times between 1977 and 1994. The Grateful Dead here for the first time on their Fall Southwest Tour on October 9, 1977. In 1979, the band was scheduled for three nights at Red Rocks, but performances on August 13 and August 14, 1979, were moved to McNichols because of rain. The Grateful Dead would return to play the arena on July 13 and July 14, 1981, December 12-14, 1990. Performances on December 2 and December 3, 1992 would be the first shows of 1992 following the band's break in 1992. The band played its final three Colorado shows on November 29, November 30 and December 1, 1994.
Elvis Presley performed a sold-out concert here on April 23, 1976.
The band KISS performed at McNichols on November 4, 1979, as part of their Dynasty Tour. This was the last tour featuring original drummer Peter Criss until 1996.
Rolling Stones guitarists Keith Richards and Ron Wood performed as The New Barbarians at the arena in 1979.
REO Speedwagon's concert from 1981 was performed here, as MTV's first ever live concert.
Parts of U2's half-live rockumentary Rattle and Hum, came from two concerts filmed in the arena on the third leg of the band's Joshua Tree Tour in November 1987. The recordings notably included Bono's famous "Fuck the revolution!" speech during "Sunday Bloody Sunday", featured in the accompanying film.[10]
Pop star Michael Jackson performed 3 consecutive sold-out shows in front of 40,251 people during his Bad World Tour on March 24 and 25, & 26, 1988.
Pop star Prince made a stop here on July 3, 1986, while on his Parade Tour.
The bonus tracks on Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble's album In Step, including "The House is Rockin’" (Live), "Let Me Love You Baby" (Live), "Texas Flood" (Live), and "Life Without You" (Live) were recorded on November 29, 1989, at McNichols Sports Arena.
Depeche Mode held a concert for its Devotional Tour at the arena on November 2, 1993. Following the performance, keyboardist Martin Gore was arrested by local police and fined $50 for disturbing the peace when holding a loud party in his hotel room.[11]
The first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event UFC 1 was held on November 12, 1993.
Phish performed and recorded their show, on November 17, 1997, which was later released as a live album, entitled Live Phish Volume 11.
ZZ Top performed at the venue's final concert on September 12, 1999. They were also the first rock band to play the arena on August 27, 1975.[12]
Steve Miller Band and Bachman-Turner Overdrive played McNichols in 1978.
Rush played McNichols a few times, one occasion being March 1, 1980.
On Halloween, 1976, Black Sabbath, Heart and Boston played to a huge standing room only crowd in McNichols.
ZZ Top played on August 1, 1976 under the Colorado Sun-Day #2 event. When BOC dropped out, the concert was moved from Mile High Stadium to McNichols Arena. Then the Outlaws were added to the billing. The night of the concert, the Outlaws did not show, due to some illness, so ZZ Top started early and played for at least three hours.
Related Research Articles
The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a men's professional basketball major league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA merged into the National Basketball Association (NBA) in 1976, resulting in four ABA teams joining the NBA and the introduction of the NBA 3-point shot in 1979.
The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division of the Western Conference. The team was founded as the Denver Larks in 1967 as a charter franchise of the American Basketball Association (ABA) but changed their name to the Rockets before the first season. The Rockets then changed their name again to the Nuggets in 1974. After the name change, the Nuggets played for the final ABA Championship title in 1976, losing to the New York Nets.
Footprint Center is a multi-purpose arena in Phoenix, Arizona. It opened under the name America West Arena on June 6, 1992, at a cost of $89 million.
Ball Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Denver, Colorado. It is situated at Speer Boulevard, a main thoroughfare in downtown Denver, and is served by two nearby exits off Interstate 25. A light rail station is on the western side of the complex. Opened in 1999, it is the home arena of the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), the Colorado Avalanche of the National Hockey League (NHL), and the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League (NLL).
Amalie Arena is a multipurpose arena in Tampa, Florida, United States, that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, arena football, concerts, and other events. It is mainly used as the home for the Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League.
Oakland Arena, often referred to as the Oakland Coliseum Arena, is an indoor arena located in Oakland, California, United States. From its opening in 1966 until 1996, It is often referred to as the Oakland Coliseum Arena as it is part of the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum Complex with the adjacent Oakland Coliseum. Oakland Arena seats 19,596 fans for basketball.
Desert Diamond Arena is an indoor entertainment arena located in Glendale, Arizona, which anchors the 223-acre, $1 billion Westgate Entertainment District.
The Kia Forum, also known as Los Angeles Forum or formerly the Forum, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Inglewood, California, United States, adjacent to Los Angeles. Located on West Manchester Boulevard, with Pincay Drive to the south and between Kareem Court and Prairie Avenue to the east and west, it is north of SoFi Stadium and the Hollywood Park Casino, and about 3 miles (4.8 km) east of the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
Market Square Arena (MSA) was an indoor arena in Indianapolis. Completed in 1974, at a cost of $23 million, it seated 16,530 for basketball and 15,993 for ice hockey. Seating capacity for concerts and other events was adjusted by the use of large curtains which sealed off the upper rows. The arena closed down in 1999 and was demolished two years later.
St. Louis Arena was an indoor arena in St. Louis, Missouri. The country's second-largest indoor entertainment venue when it opened in 1929, it was home to the St. Louis Blues and other sports franchises. The Arena sat across U.S.40 from Forest Park's Aviation Field.
The Capital Centre was an indoor arena in the eastern United States, located in Landover, Maryland, a suburb east of Washington, D.C. The seating capacity was 18,756 for basketball and 18,130 for hockey.
Heritage Bank Center is an indoor arena in downtown Cincinnati, adjacent to Great American Ball Park. It was completed in September 1975 and named Riverfront Coliseum because of its placement next to Riverfront Stadium. In 1997, the facility became known as The Crown, and in 1999, it changed its name again to Firstar Center after Firstar Bank assumed naming rights. In 2002, following Firstar's merger with U.S. Bank, the arena took on the name U.S. Bank Arena and kept that name until 2019.
The Denver Nuggets were a professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets joined the National Basketball League (NBL) for the 1948–49 season, and then joined the National Basketball Association when the NBL was absorbed by the Basketball Association of America to create the NBA for the 1949–50 season. The Nuggets were the first major professional sports franchise in Colorado, but disbanded after going 11–50 in their inaugural season. This franchise is not directly connected to the current Denver Nuggets franchise of the NBA.
Pechanga Arena is an indoor arena in San Diego, California. It is the home of the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the San Diego Seals of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). The arena opened in 1966; it is designated as a historic resource by the City of San Diego.
Daniel Paul Issel is an American former professional basketball player and coach. An outstanding collegian at the University of Kentucky, Issel was twice named an All-American en route to a school-record 25.7 points per game for his career. The American Basketball Association Rookie of the Year in 1971, he was a six-time ABA All-Star and a one-time NBA All-Star.
Altitude Sports and Entertainment is an American regional sports cable and satellite television channel owned by Stan Kroenke's Kroenke Sports & Entertainment. The channel, which serves the Rocky Mountain region of the United States, features a mix of professional, collegiate, and high school sporting events as well as some entertainment-based programming.
Denver Auditorium Arena was an indoor arena located at the corner of 13th and Champa Streets in Denver, Colorado. It was constructed as the Denver Municipal Auditorium in 1908 during the administration of Mayor Robert W. Speer. The building was opened on July 7, 1908, and was the site of the 1908 Democratic National Convention.
This is a list of sports in Denver, Colorado, United States. Denver is home to many professional sports teams who are based out of Denver and surrounding cities in the metropolitan area. It is also one of the twelve American cities to house a team from each of the U.S. cities with teams from four major league sports. All four of its teams play their home games near downtown with three active sports venues which includes Empower Field at Mile High, home of the Denver Broncos; Ball Arena, home of the Colorado Avalanche and Denver Nuggets; and Coors Field, home of the Colorado Rockies. There is also a Major League Soccer (MLS) team based in the Denver metro area, but they do not play their home games in the city of Denver; the team is located in nearby Commerce City.
The 1976 ABA All Star Game was the ninth and final American Basketball Association All-Star Game, played at McNichols Arena in Denver, Colorado, on January 27, 1976. This time, the league abandoned the usual East vs. West format it used from the 1967–68 season onward and instead had the league's first-place team at the All Star break face off against a team of ABA All Stars. The change was decided given the league's reduction from ten to seven teams and from two divisions to only one. At the All-Star break, the Denver Nuggets were in first place, which was convenient as the Nuggets had also been selected to host the game in McNichols Arena. Kevin Loughery of the New York Nets coached the All-Stars while Larry Brown led the Denver Nuggets. This was the second year in a row that Loughery and Brown coached against each other in the ABA All-Star Game.
The 1975–76 Denver Nuggets season was Denver's ninth and final season in the American Basketball Association (ABA). Prior to the season, the team moved their home games from the Denver Auditorium Arena to the new McNichols Arena. At the conclusion of the season the team would join the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was led by an eventual hall of fame coach, Larry Brown.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
