Colisée Pepsi

Updated on Jan 07, 2024

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Operator ExpoCité Broke ground May 24, 1949 Capacity 15,176 Owner Quebec City		Surface Multi-surface Closed September 14, 2015 Opened 8 December 1949

Former names Colisée de Québec (1949-99) Location ExpoCité 250, boulevard Wilfrid-Hamel Quebec City, Quebec G1L 5A7 Similar Centre Vidéotron, Centre Bell, Androscoggin Bank Colisée, Pavillon de la Jeunesse, Capitole de Québec

Le colis e pepsi 2012

Colisée Pepsi (formerly known as Colisée de Québec) was a multi-purpose arena located in Quebec City, Quebec.

It was the home of the WHA and NHL Quebec Nordiques from 1972 to 1995, and was also the home of the Quebec Remparts of the QMJHL from 1999 to 2015.

Colisée Pepsi Colise Pepsi Picture of Colisee Pepsi Quebec City TripAdvisor

The Colisée would host the Québec International Peewee Hockey Tournament annually in February, with almost 2,300 young hockey players from 16 countries participating.

Colisée Pepsi httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Metallica one colis e pepsi qu bec 14 september 2015

History

The barrel vault arena was originally built in 1949, seating 10,034, to replace a building on the same site that had burned down a year earlier. Built by architects Rinfret and Bouchard with directions from Robert Blatter and F. Caron, the arena was a mix of International Style exterior and Art Deco interior. It was known as "The House that Béliveau Built", as it was often filled to capacity in its earlier years to watch Jean Béliveau star for the Quebec Aces before moving to the NHL and the Montreal Canadiens. Two decades later, sellout crowds came to see Guy Lafleur as a member of the Quebec Remparts before, he too, would join the Canadiens.

Le Colisée underwent major renovations in 1980. The old entrance was taken down and replaced with a massive glass facade, and the seating capacity was increased to 15,750 to meet NHL standards of that era after the Nordiques made the jump from the WHA to the NHL. PepsiCo bought the naming rights on November 18, 1999, and current capacity is 15,176. Coincidentally, the former Quebec Nordiques, now known as the Colorado Avalanche, currently play at Pepsi Center in Denver.

Colisée Pepsi World Stadiums Colise Pepsi in Quebec City

The arena hosted the 1971 Memorial Cup championship series, in which the Remparts defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings two games to none. Since the championship switched to a tournament format, the Coliseum has hosted it in 1991 and 2003 & 2015. Internationally, the first game of the 1974 Summit Series between Canadian WHA all-stars and the Soviet national team was played at the Coliseum, as were one game in each of the 1976 and 1991 Canada Cups. The arena co-hosted the 1978 IIHF World U20 Championship with Montreal and also co-hosted, along with Halifax, the 2008 IIHF World Championships. Rendez-vous '87, a two game series between the NHL All-Stars and the Soviet national team, was another highlight in the building's history. Colisée Pepsi has also hosted many big concerts.

Colisée Pepsi FileColise Pepsi de Qubec2jpg Wikimedia Commons

Quebec City has entertained several proposals in recent years to return NHL ice hockey to the city; most of these proposals envision using the Colisée as a temporary home while a new NHL-ready arena is built next to the existing facility. On October 10, 2009 Quebec city newspapers such as Le Soleil reported that negotiations were held between the city and the NHL concerning the possibility and pertinence of relocating or creating an NHL franchise into the city.

Former Nordiques owner and Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut originally said that there were no plans to demolish the Colisée Pepsi even if a new arena was built. Aubut mentioned a prospective future Winter Olympics bid among other justifications for maintaining the existing arena. As part of the agreement constructing the new arena, an additional C$7 million was set aside for renovating the Colisée, should the city have landed a potential National Hockey League expansion franchise before the new arena was completed in 2015. The New Centre Vidéotron was opened on September 8, 2015. After a Metallica concert on September 14, 2015 (the band would play at the Centre Vidéotron two days later), the Colisée was closed to the public, with minimal operations and maintenance since. There is no timetable for the building's demolition.