Mississippi Coast Coliseum

Last updated
Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Mississippicoastcoliseu (cropped).jpg
USA Mississippi relief location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Location within Mississippi
Usa edcp relief location map.png
Red pog.svg
Mississippi Coast Coliseum
Location within the United States
Location2350 Beach Boulevard
Biloxi, Mississippi, 39531
Coordinates 30°23′37″N88°58′29″W / 30.3935°N 88.9746°W / 30.3935; -88.9746
Public transit Bus-logo.svg CTA
OwnerMississippi Coast Coliseum Commission
OperatorMississippi Coast Coliseum Commission
Capacity 11,500 (concerts)
9,150 (ice hockey)
SurfaceMulti-surface
Construction
Broke ground1975
Opened1977
Construction cost$60 million (expansion)
ArchitectH F Fountain Jr & Associates [1]
Tenants
Mississippi Coast Sharks (GBA) (1992)
Mississippi Coast Gamblers (USBL) (1994)
Mississippi Sea Wolves (ECHL) (19962005, 20072009)
Mississippi Beach Kings (EISL) (1998)
Mississippi Fire Dogs (IPFL/NIFL) (19992002)
Gulf Coast Bandits (WBA) (2005)
Mississippi Blues (ABA) (20092010)
Mississippi Surge (SPHL) (20092014)
Mississippi Sea Wolves (FPHL) (2022present)

Mississippi Coast Coliseum is an 11,500-seat reserved seating, 15,000 festival seating, multi-purpose arena in Biloxi, Mississippi. It was built in 1977. It hosted the WCW Beach Blast in 1993 and the Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament in 1992 and 1993. The Metro Conference men's basketball tournaments were contested there in 1990 and 1994. In addition, the rematch between legendary boxing former world heavyweight champion Larry Holmes and his fellow former world heavyweight champion Mike Weaver was held at the Coast Coliseum on November 17, 2000; Holmes winning by sixth-round technical knockout. [2]

Contents

Elvis Presley was set to perform at the grand opening, dying before the official opening. [3] The first concert held at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum was by Charley Pride on November 18, 1977, while the first rock band to perform was Blue Öyster Cult on April 16, 1978. The Mississippi Coast Coliseum also holds one of the largest crawfish festivals in America. This event is held every year, over two weekends in April.

Ice hockey

It was previously home to the Mississippi Sea Wolves (ECHL) ice hockey team. Due to damages to the arena by heavy flooding and winds from Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the Sea Wolves cancelled their 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 seasons. Repairs are now virtually complete, and the Sea Wolves returned to the ice on October 27, 2007. On March 30, 2009, the Sea Wolves announced they had suspended operations once again. [4] However, the Coliseum was not without ice hockey entirely, as the Mississippi Surge announced its membership in the Southern Professional Hockey League and played at the Coliseum from 2009 to 2014. [5] [6]

In 2021, the Federal Prospects Hockey League hosted three neutral site games in Biloxi and an ownership group announced a new Sea Wolves team would begin playing in the 2022–23 season. [7] The new organization gained an approval from the county board of supervisors for a two-year lease, pending league approval of the expansion team. [8]

The Sea Wolves returned to play for the 2022–23 season at the coliseum.

Basketball

It was home to the Gulf Coast Bandits, a basketball team that played in the World Basketball Association (WBA). The Bandits cancelled their 2006 season for the same reasons as the Sea Wolves and did not return in 2007. The Coliseum also hosted the Mississippi Coast Gamblers of the United States Basketball League in 1994.

On October 13, 2013, the New Orleans Pelicans hosted the Atlanta Hawks in a preseason NBA game. Nearly 4,000 spectators came to the game, won by the Pelicans. [9]

The coliseum hosted the 1990 and 1994 Metro Conference men's basketball tournament.

Soccer

The Mississippi Beach Kings, under the leadership of general manager Roy Turner and coach Gary Hindley, went 18–10 during the 1998 season in the Eastern Indoor Soccer League. Hindley was voted coach of the year for the second-place finish. The Beach Kings won their first playoff series over the Huntsville Fire, two games to one, and lost the championship game to the regular-season champion Lafayette Swampcats, 10–9. The EISL folded the next year.

Football

The Mississippi Fire Dogs of the National Indoor Football League also played at the arena, folding in 2003.

Music

It also holds an annual rock festival, known to the locals as CPR FEST. It is presented by the local radio station 97.9 WCPR-FM. It consists of various popular rock artists. Such bands as Three Days Grace, Hinder, and Staind have performed at the event. In 2007, Daughtry, Saliva, and Puddle of Mudd performed. Ozzy Osbourne and Mötley Crüe both played here during the height of their success. Depeche Mode have also performed at the venue during their Devotional World Tour. Miranda Lambert has performed in the venue multiple times, most recently being during her Wildcard Tour in early 2020.

Guns N' Roses performed in the Coliseum on September 20, 2023, as part of their We're F'N' Back! Tour.

Wrestling

WWE has held many events, including WWE Smackdown and WWE Raw . It has also held many house shows, and in September 2013, it held Monday Night Raw for the first time in 8 years. SmackDown comes about once a year.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Footprint Center</span> Multipurpose sports arena in Phoenix, Arizona

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CFG Bank Arena</span> Arena in Baltimore, Maryland, US

CFG Bank Arena is a multipurpose arena in Baltimore, Maryland. This venue is located about one block away from the Baltimore Convention Center on the corner of Baltimore Street and Hopkins Place in downtown Baltimore. With a seating capacity of up to 14,000 for concerts, CFG Bank Arena is owned by the City of Baltimore and managed by the Oak View Group, a global sports and entertainment company.

The Mississippi Sea Wolves were a professional hockey team based in Biloxi, Mississippi, and play in the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The Sea Wolves were members of the ECHL.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Haven Coliseum</span> Sports and entertainment arena in Connecticut, U.S.

New Haven Coliseum, formally known as New Haven Veterans Memorial Coliseum, was a sports and entertainment arena located in downtown New Haven, Connecticut. Construction began in 1968 and was completed in 1972. The Coliseum was officially closed on September 1, 2002, by Mayor John DeStefano Jr., and demolished by implosion on January 20, 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smoothie King Center</span> Multi-purpose indoor arena in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

Smoothie King Center is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is located in the city's Central Business District, adjacent to Caesars Superdome. The arena opened in 1999 as New Orleans Arena and has been home to the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA) since 2002. The New Orleans VooDoo of the Arena Football League played their home games in the arena from 2004 until the team disbanded in 2008. The VooDoo resumed play at the arena in March 2011, until after the 2015 AFL season when the franchise folded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cincinnati Gardens</span> Former indoor arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, US

Cincinnati Gardens was an indoor arena located in Cincinnati, Ohio, that opened in 1949. The 25,000 square foot brick and limestone building at 2250 Seymour Avenue in Bond Hill had an entrance that was decorated with six three-dimensional carved athletic figures. When it opened, its seating capacity of 11,000+ made it the seventh largest indoor arena in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greensboro Complex</span> Arena in North Carolina, United States

The Greensboro Complex, formerly known as the Greensboro Coliseum Complex, is an entertainment and sports complex located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Opened in 1959, the complex holds eight venues that includes an amphitheater, arena, aquatic center, banquet hall, convention center, museum, theatre, and an indoor pavilion. It is the home of the UNC Greensboro Spartans men's basketball team, the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA G League, the Carolina Cobras of the National Arena League, as well as the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) with their Men's and Women's basketball tournaments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific Coliseum</span> Indoor arena in Vancouver, Canada

Pacific Coliseum, locally known as The Coliseum or the Rink on Renfrew, is an indoor arena located at Hastings Park in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its main use has been for ice hockey and the arena has been the home for several ice hockey teams.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richmond Coliseum</span> Arena in Richmond, Virginia

Richmond Coliseum is a defunct arena located in downtown Richmond, Virginia, with a capacity of 13,500 that was most often used for various large concerts. The arena opened in 1971 and the region is looking to replace the aging facility with a larger one. The arena was quietly shuttered in February 2019 while new proposed replacements are in development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum</span> Multi-purpose indoor arena in Phoenix

Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, also called the Madhouse Coliseum or Phoenix Memorial Coliseum, is a 14,870-seat multi-purpose indoor arena in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, located at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. It hosted the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association from 1968 to 1992, as well as indoor soccer, professional roller hockey, multiple professional minor league ice hockey teams, and roller derby.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carolina Coliseum</span> Arena in Columbia, South Carolina

Carolina Coliseum is a 12,401-seat former multi-purpose arena in Columbia, South Carolina, built in 1968 by the University of South Carolina. The Coliseum was the largest arena in South Carolina at the time of its completion. It was the home of the USC men's and women's basketball teams from 1968 to 2002, as well as Columbia's main events venue until 2002, when the Colonial Life Arena, opened a block away on Greene Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lubbock Municipal Coliseum</span> Former arena in Lubbock, Texas, US

Lubbock Municipal Coliseum was an 8,344-seat multi-purpose arena in Lubbock, Texas. Although the arena was located on the campus of Texas Tech University, it was owned and operated by the City of Lubbock until 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berglund Center</span> Arena in Roanoke, Virginia, US

Berglund Center is a 10,500-seat multi-purpose arena located in the Williamson Road neighborhood of Roanoke, Virginia. It was built in 1971 and is currently the home of the Roanoke Rail Yard Dawgs of the SPHL. The arena also hosts Virginia Tech, Radford University and Roanoke College men's ice hockey games, as well as regular concerts and other large indoor events. The arena is also the home of the annual boys basketball games between Roanoke's two city high schools, Patrick Henry High School and William Fleming High School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hampton Coliseum</span> Multi-purpose arena in southeast Virginia

Hampton Coliseum is a multi-purpose arena in Hampton, Virginia. Construction began on May 24, 1968. The venue held its first event on December 1, 1969, with the nearby College of William & Mary playing North Carolina State University in a college men's basketball game. On January 31, 1970, the Coliseum formally opened as the first large multi-purpose arena in the Hampton Roads region and the state of Virginia

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hirsch Memorial Coliseum</span> Arena in Louisiana, United States

Hirsch Memorial Coliseum is 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Shreveport, Louisiana, designed by the late local architect Edward F. Neild Jr. (1908–1958) who, with his father in 1937, had designed the Louisiana State Exhibit Museum in Shreveport. The coliseum is named after William Rex Hirsch, a former fair president, manager and treasurer. The building completed construction in 1954, the year of Hirsch's death, and initially was planned to have the name The Youth Building. The coliseum has been used for a variety of events through the years, with dirt being brought in and placed on the floor for rodeos and tractor pulls. It is located adjacent to the Independence Stadium and across from Fair Park High School in Shreveport. Hirsch coliseum is very similar in design, though smaller in size to the John M. Parker Agricultural Coliseum, owned and operated by the Louisiana State University Campus in Baton Rouge. However, the Parker coliseum has a dirt floor arena and is mainly used for livestock-type events, with portable hard floors laid on top of the dirt for other types of events such as basketball games or concerts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bayfront Center</span> Arena in Florida, United States

Bayfront Center was an indoor arena located in St. Petersburg, Florida that hosted many concerts, sporting and other events. Depending on the configuration, it could hold up to 8,600 people. The arena was opened in 1965 and demolished in 2004. It adjoined the Mahaffey Theater, which is still standing.

The Sun Belt Conference men's basketball tournament has been played every year since the formation of the Sun Belt Conference prior to the 1976–77 American collegiate academic year. The winner of the tournament is guaranteed an automatic berth into the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mississippi Surge</span> Ice hockey team in Biloxi, Mississippi

The Mississippi Surge were a professional hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League that began play in the 2009–10 season and folded on May 2, 2014. Playing for five seasons, the Surge was based in Biloxi and home games were played at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum, also known as "The Power Plant".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mississippi Beach Kings</span> Soccer club

The Mississippi Beach Kings were an indoor soccer team based in Biloxi, Mississippi, United States. They played their games in the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. They were members of the Eastern Indoor Soccer League and played only during the 1998 season. During the 1997 season, the team played in Columbus, Georgia as the Columbus Comets.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mississippi Sea Wolves (FPHL)</span> Ice hockey team in Biloxi, Mississippi

The Mississippi Sea Wolves are a professional hockey team located in Biloxi, Mississippi, and play at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. They currently play in the Federal Prospects Hockey League. The team is named after a former ECHL team that played in Biloxi from 1996 to 2009.

References

  1. Engineering News-Record. 1975.
  2. "BoxRec: Bout".
  3. Bergeron, Kat (August 22, 2022). "Elvis Presley had a girlfriend on the Mississippi Coast. 'I love you ... and I always will.'". The Sun Herald . Retrieved December 2, 2024.
  4. "Sea Wolves suspend '09-'10 operations - Sports - SunHerald.com". Archived from the original on 2009-04-01. Retrieved 2009-05-11.
  5. "SOUTHERN PROFESSIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE COMES TO THE COAST". TheSPHL.com. May 7, 2009. Retrieved May 11, 2009.[ dead link ]
  6. "Coast Hockey announces new team name". The Sun Herald. June 17, 2009. Retrieved June 17, 2009.[ dead link ]
  7. "Professional hockey team returning full-time to Biloxi". supertalk.fm. January 3, 2022.
  8. "Sea Wolves set to play home games at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum". supertalk.fm. February 7, 2022.
  9. "Hawks vs. Pelicans - Box Score - October 13, 2013 - ESPN".