Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum

Sports

The Coliseum originally had a capacity of 13,000 to 15,000 depending on the event, and in the early 1980s the maximum capacity was increased to around 18,000. Before closing for renovations in 2015 the Coliseum seated 16,170 for hockey, up to 18,100 for concerts and 17,686 for boxing. Those renovations resulted in drastically reduced capacities: 13,000 for hockey, 13,500 for basketball, and 14,500 for concerts

The Coliseum was home to the New York Nets of the American Basketball Association, and later the National Basketball Association, from 1972 to 1977. The first event at the Coliseum was a Nets game against the Pittsburgh Condors on February 11, 1972.

The Nets won two ABA Championships in the Coliseum, with Hall of Famer Julius Erving headlining the team. In 1973–74 the Nets defeated the Utah Stars in 5 games to capture their first title. The Nets then captured the final American Basketball Association Championship in 1976, defeating the Denver Nuggets in 6 games. Following the 1976 season the Nets joined the National Basketball Association as part of the ABA–NBA merger. After their first season in the NBA, the Nets moved to New Jersey. The New Jersey Nets played four seasons at the Rutgers Athletic Center before completion of a new arena at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.

The Coliseum also hosted the New York Arrows and later the New York Express of the original Major Indoor Soccer League.

In NCAA Division I men's college basketball, the Coliseum hosted the ECAC Metro Region Tournament organized by the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) in 1978, 1979, 1980, and 1981. It also has hosted first- and second-round games of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament in 1982, 1994, and 2001.

The New York Sets of the World Team Tennis league played their first match at Nassau Coliseum on May 7, 1974, and won the WTT championships in 1976. The team changed its name to the New York Apples for the 1977 season, and began playing at Madison Square Garden and the Felt Forum and repeating as champions.

The New York Raiders, intended by the fledgling World Hockey Association to be their flagship franchise, was slated to play in the new Nassau Coliseum in 1972–73. However, Nassau County didn't consider the WHA a professional league and wanted nothing to do with the Raiders. Nassau County retained William Shea to get a National Hockey League (NHL) team to play in the new building. The NHL responded by hastily awarding a franchise to Long Island —the New York Islanders— which forced the Raiders to play in Madison Square Garden, in the shadow of the New York Rangers. On October 7, 1972, the first Islanders game in Nassau Coliseum was played as the Atlanta Flames visited the Islanders. Flames forward Morris Stefaniw scored the first NHL goal in the building at 6:56 of the first period, while Ed Westfall scored the first goal for the Islanders, as the Flames won the game 3-2.

On February 8, 1983, the arena hosted the 35th National Hockey League All-Star Game, during which Wayne Gretzky scored four goals in the third period and was honored as the game's most valuable player.

The Coliseum was home to the New York Saints of the National Lacrosse League from 1989 to 2003, but the Saints became an inactive team in 2004. In 2007, it was home to four of the New York Titans National Lacrosse League team's eight home games (along with Madison Square Garden).

The Nassau Coliseum hosted minor league hockey prior to the awarding of the Islanders franchise, an event that was brought back in 2005, when the Islanders-affiliated Bridgeport Sound Tigers of the American Hockey League (AHL) played two "home" games at the Coliseum in the absence of National Hockey League (NHL) hockey due to the 2004–05 NHL lockout. On April 17–18, 2009, the Sound Tigers played two of their home playoff games against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins at the Coliseum due to a scheduling conflict at the Sound Tigers' regular home, the Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

In 2000 and 2005, the Professional Bull Riders brought their Built Ford Tough Series (originally Bud Light Cup) to the Coliseum.

On February 24–25, 2006, Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum hosted the 44th NYSPHSAA Wrestling Championships. It's just the third time the annual event has been held on Long Island. Selling 17,755 tickets over three sessions, it broke (and still holds) the NYSPHSAA wrestling tournament attendance record.

On April 25, 2015, the final Islanders game at Nassau Coliseum was held, Game 6 of their first round playoff series against the Washington Capitals. The game was won by the Islanders 3-1, forcing a Game 7 in Washington. Islanders' Nikolay Kulemin scored the final NHL game-winning goal at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum at 10:33 of the third period, a wrist shot against Braden Holtby. The Islanders' Cal Clutterbuck scored the final NHL goal at the Coliseum, an empty net goal that put the Islanders up 3-1 at 19:07 of the 3rd period. However, the Islanders were denied entry into the second round of the playoffs as they lost Game 7 of the series to the Capitals in Washington two nights later, thus making Game 6 the final major-league sporting event held at the Coliseum.

The arena has hosted WWE Raw and Smackdown events many times and was a mainstay of the WWF/WWE for over 30 years. One notable event was on the edition of October 12, 1998 of Raw is War when Stone Cold Steve Austin drove a cement truck into the arena, and filled Mr. McMahon's $50,000 Chevrolet Corvette with cement. On August 25, 2002, WWE hosted SummerSlam (2002) at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the first time that SummerSlam had been held in New York City and not at Madison Square Garden. On May 25, 2015, Chairman of the WWE, Vince McMahon, announced in an address to the crowd before its flagship show Raw that it would be the final WWE event at the Coliseum.

The Coliseum also hosted the opening leg of Wrestlemania 2 held on April 7, 1986. As part of an ambitious plan to have Wrestlemania from three separate venues (also used were the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena), 16,585 fans saw 4 live matches at the Coliseum with the rest of the event shown to the audience by closed-circuit television. The main event at the Nassau leg was actually a boxing match between Rowdy Roddy Piper and tough-guy actor Mr. T. WWE will return to the new Nassau coliseum with Monday Night Raw on April 10th, 2017. It will be WWE's first event in the coliseum since the coliseum closed for renovations in the Summer of 2015.

On November 5, 2015, the Nets announced their new NBA D-League team, the Long Island Nets, will play at the renovated Coliseum starting in 2017 (the team will play their first season at their parent team's home, the Barclays Center).

Seating capacity

The seating capacity for hockey during the life of the arena has been:

Music and film

Elvis Presley performed 4 sold out concerts at the Nassau Coliseum on June 22, 23 & 24, 1973. His last Coliseum appearance was on July 19, 1975. Six days following Presley's death, a summer tour was scheduled to begin at the Coliseum on August 22, 1977. Tickets for the show have become collectors items. David Bowie performed a radio broadcast from there during his 1976 Station to Station Tour. A heavily circulated bootleg of the concert saw official release in 2010 as part of the Station To Station Deluxe Box Set. Queen played at the Coliseum in February 1977 during their headlining US tour. The band used footage of their performance of "Tie Your Mother Down" in the song's promotional film.

Led Zeppelin played three nights at the Nassau Coliseum on their 1975 North American Tour. During the second night, February 13, Ronnie Wood of the Faces and The Rolling Stones joined the band for a rousing rendition of "Communication Breakdown." High quality soundboard recordings of the band's performances on February 13 and 14 have surfaced on bootlegs.

The Coliseum was one of only two venues in the United States where Pink Floyd mounted their limited run of shows for The Wall Tour. The group performed five concerts from February 24 through 28, 1980 one of which was filmed and only appeared as an underground tape. In August 1988, they recorded and filmed the Delicate Sound of Thunder over four nights at the Coliseum.

Live on Long Island 04-18-80 by The Marshall Tucker Band was the original lineup's final concert and the final recording of bassist and founding member Tommy Caldwell, who died just ten days later in an automobile accident. Tommy Caldwell is pictured on the album cover. The Coliseum album was the first to feature a complete concert from the original band. However, the album wasn't released until 26 years later. The band was touring in support of their album Tenth at the time, and the recording features the songs "It Takes Time" and "Cattle Drive" from that release as well as classics such as "Heard It in a Love Song", "Searchin' for a Rainbow" and "Can't You See".

Billy Joel has a "retired number" banner hanging from the rafters, along with those of Islander greats, to commemorate his many sold-out Coliseum shows. His "retired number" is 69. One of Joel's concerts from his 1982 tour at the Coliseum was recorded for a 1983 HBO concert special and VHS release, Billy Joel: Live From Long Island.

Bruce Springsteen has performed at the arena numerous times, most notably during a three-night stand in December 1980. A number of songs from these shows were part of his 1986 live album, Live/1975–85, and the show of December 31 was released in full as Nassau Coliseum, New York 1980 in 2015.

Supertramp performed at the Coliseum on their final tour with Roger Hodgson in 1983 in support of their ...Famous Last Words... album. The 1986 live album Finyl Vinyl by Rainbow features a rendition of the song "Can't Happen Here" which was recorded at Nassau Coliseum in 1981. The 1987 home video Cliff 'Em All features a rendition of the song "Master of Puppets" by Metallica, filmed at Nassau Coliseum on April 28, 1986 (while the band was opening a show for Ozzy Osbourne).

Both The Grateful Dead and Phish frequently played the Coliseum, concerts yielding live albums in both cases: Go to Nassau by the Dead; and three installments of the Live Phish Series — 4-2-98, 4-3-98 and 2-28-03. Genesis' performance at the Coliseum on November 29, 1981 (during the band's Abacab Tour) was recorded and filmed for the band's Three Sides Live album and concert video plus radio broadcast. Frank Zappa played his final U.S. show on March 25, 1988 at the Coliseum. He was joined onstage by his son, Dweezil Zappa, for the concert's encores. Pink Floyd performed between August 19 and 23, 1988, on their A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour. In March 1990, the country supergroup The Highwaymen performed at the Coliseum. Their performance was recorded and was released on VHS in 1991. On June 11, 12 and 13, 1990, Madonna performed three sold-out shows at Nassau Coliseum on her Blond Ambition World Tour. The inside sleeve to Morrissey's 1992 album Your Arsenal was shot at a performance at the Coliseum on November 11, 1991.

Post 2000, scenes for the 2007 movie Music and Lyrics starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore were filmed at the arena. On February 6 and 7, 2008, The Spice Girls performed two sold-out shows during their Return of the Spice Girls Tour. It was their first performance in the New York metropolitan area as a five-piece act. In 2012, Madonna used the arena to rehearse her MDNA World Tour. On July 19–20, 2014, the Global RallyCross Championship raced at the Nassau Coliseum parking lot.

Redevelopment

The Coliseum was the second-oldest arena in active use by a National Hockey League team (after nearby Madison Square Garden), and until the return of the Winnipeg Jets to the league at the 15,004 seat MTS Centre in Winnipeg, was the smallest arena in the NHL by total seating capacity. The arena has been considered obsolete for many years, and various Islanders owners tried to replace it.

The Lighthouse Project

Team and county officials announced in 2004 a plan called The Lighthouse Project to renovate the Coliseum. The project's centerpiece was a 60-story tower that would look like a lighthouse. Other plans included new housing, athletic facilities, a minor league baseball stadium, restaurants, and a hotel. The project would also add trees, water and other natural elements to the area.

On August 14, 2007, Islanders owner Charles Wang and the Lighthouse Development Group partnered with Rexcorp to create a new plan. The 60-story "lighthouse" evolved into two 31-story buildings connected by a footbridge at the top. The project was transformed from a simple renovation of the Coliseum property into a 150-acre (0.61 km²) transformation of surrounding properties. Plans called for more 2,000 residential units (20% affordable housing), a hotel, a convention center, a sports technology center, 500,000 square feet (46,000 m²) of retail space, and a sports complex next to to the renovated Coliseum. The overall project was slated to cost roughly $3.75 billion.

Construction was not planned to begin until at least mid-2009. Nassau County approved the Lighthouse Project in 2006 on a 16–2 vote, and the Draft Environmental Impact Statement was completed after a state-mandated environmental review. The Lighthouse Project was then expected to go before the Town of Hempstead for approval on a change in land zoning. However, the approval was never granted. After the October 2009 deadline passed, the Long Island Press reported the Lighthouse Project's cancellation. Wang has denied the report.

In May 2010, Mets COO Jeff Wilpon had discussions with Wang about constructing an arena for the Islanders near Citi Field. Wilpon has also discussed buying the Islanders. In June 2010, the FanHouse website reported Jeff and Fred Wilpon, the owner of the Mets, began working with real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle (who also worked on Madison Square Garden's latest renovation) on a feasibility study of a new Islanders arena in Queens. However, a source from Newsday indicated the FanHouse report was not true. There were also reports businessman Nelson Peltz wanted to buy the Islanders and move them to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.

2011 proposal to replace arena

On July 12, 2010, Town Supervisor Kate Murray (R-Hempstead) announced an "alternate zone" for the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum property that downsized the Lighthouse Project to half its proposed size and made the project, according to Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and the developers, "economically unviable for both the developer and owner of the site." As a result, Wang, Mangano and the developers decided they would no longer pursue the project.

On May 11, 2011, the Islanders and Nassau County executives announced that county residents would vote on a referendum for approval of a $400 million public bond issue for a new plan to replace the Coliseum. The plan, including the construction of a new $350 million arena as well as a $50 million minor league baseball ballpark nearby, was presented by Wang as a last-ditch effort to keep the Islanders on Long Island. However, voters in Nassau County rejected a proposal by a 57% to 43% margin on August 1, 2011.

On October 24, 2012, the Islanders announced the team would move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn after their lease expired at the end of the 2014–2015 season. The Islanders played their final game at the Coliseum on April 25, 2015, beating the Washington Capitals 3-1 in game 6 of the first round of the playoffs against the Washington Capitals forcing a Game 7, held in and won by Washington, ending the Isles' run at the Coliseum; in Game 6 Cal Clutterbuck of the Islanders scored the final NHL goal in the building, an empty netter at 19:07 of the third period.

Renovation

Not long after the Islanders announced their move to Brooklyn, Forest City Enterprises, the owner of Barclays Center, was chosen to perform a study on development possibilities for the Nassau Coliseum site. A request for proposal was issued as a result of this study to transform the arena into a smaller sized venue and its surrounding parking lot into an entertainment hub with theaters, sports bars, and retail.

Four competing proposals were submitted in May 2013, and Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano selected two finalists in July 2013, including one from a group led by Forest City Ratner. Ratner's proposal called for a reduction of the Coliseum's capacity to 13,000 seats and a revamp of the arena's interior and concrete facade designed by SHoP Architects, the firm which designed the Barclays Center, which would cost the group approximately $89 million. As part of his bid, the Islanders would play 6 games per season in the arena, the Brooklyn Nets would play one exhibition game, and a minor league hockey team would call the arena home.

On August 15, 2013, Nassau County announced Forest City had won the bid for the renovation of the Nassau Coliseum and the surrounding property, pending approval from the Nassau legislature and zoning changes from the Hempstead town government. The Nassau legislature unanimously approved the bid on September 24, 2013.

Billy Joel performed the arena's final pre-renovation concert on August 4, 2015. In July 2008, Joel's performances at Shea Stadium were thevenue's final concert event before its demolition.

On November 5, 2015, Edward Mangano and members of the Brooklyn Nets management ceremoniously 'broke ground'. The renovations will be complete in spring 2017.

On April 5, 2017, a Billy Joel concert will be the arena's post-renovation event. Other acts that will perform during the new Coliseum' opening week include Stevie Nicks, The Pretenders, Idina Menzel, Lionel Richie, Mariah Carey, and Marc Anthony. Bruno Mars and New Kids on the Block have also been announced.

On November 4, 2016, it was announced Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment had reached a naming rights deal with local bank New York Community Bank; the arena will be called Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Presented By New York Community Bank, as the deal with the county mandates the inclusion of "Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum" in the arena's name. The cost of the naming rights and the agreement's length were not disclosed.

On January 14, 2017, it was announced the closing Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus would perform their last show at the renovated Nassau Coliseum on May 21, 2017.

In late January 2017, Bloomberg News reported via internal sources that Barclays Center was considering dropping the Islanders due to poor attendance and effects on the venue's profits. The arena has received a poor reception due to poor sight lines and ice conditions (the arena was designed for basketball and concerts). Newsday reported Nassau County executive Edward Mangano had met with Ledecky, and he told the paper the Islanders could return to the renovated Nassau Coliseum.