The Coliseum on the morning of the implosion, with much of the structure stripped away.

The controlled demolition of the New Haven Coliseum.

The New Haven Coliseum was a sports-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. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (3072 × 2048 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixelsFull resolution (3072 × 2048 pixel, file size: 2. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Downtown New Haven is the neighborhood located in the heart of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. ... New Haven redirects here. ... Official language(s) none (de facto English) Capital Hartford Largest city Bridgeport[2] Largest metro area Hartford Metro Area[3] Area  Ranked 48th in the US  - Total 5,543[4] sq mi (14,356 km²)  - Width 70 miles (113 km)  - Length 110 miles (177 km)  - % water 12. ... Year 1968 (MCMLXVIII) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... is the 244th day of the year (245th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... John DeStefano, Jr. ... is the 20th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 2007 (MMVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. ...

The arena's formal name was Veterans Memorial Coliseum, but most locals simply referred to it as "the Coliseum." The Coliseum could hold 11,171 people at full capacity, and occupied 4.5 acres (18,000 m²) of land next to the Knights of Columbus Building and faced the Oak Street Connector/Route 34 downtown spur. Located in New Haven, Connecticut. ... The Oak Street Connector is a divided-highway freeway section of CT Route 34 that is located in downtown New Haven, Connecticut. ...

Hosted events

The Coliseum hosted the New Haven Knights of the United Hockey League, New Haven Nighthawks, New Haven Senators, and Beast of New Haven of the American Hockey League, as well as the 1984 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference and Yale University's 2002 National Invitational Tournament men's college basketball tournament opening round games. It was also home of the Connecticut Coasters roller hockey team in 1993, and the New Haven Ninjasarenafootball2 team in 2002. The special debut episode of WWE Friday Night SmackDown! was filmed at the Coliseum on April 27, 1999, and aired on UPN two days later. The United Hockey League (UHL) is a professional ice hockey league with teams in the United States. ... The New Haven Nighthawks are a former ice hockey team that played in the American Hockey League from 1972 to 1993. ... The New Haven Senators are a former ice hockey team that played in the American Hockey League During The 1992-93 AHL season. ... New Haven, Connecticut, USA. Played in the American Hockey League in 1997-99. ... The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league in North America, that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League (NHL). ... This article is about the year. ... The Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC, pronounced mack) is a college athletic conference which operates in the northeastern United States. ... Yale redirects here. ... Also see: 2002 (number). ... The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is a mens college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. ... Conference American Division Northeast Year founded 2002 Home arena New Haven Coliseum City, State New Haven, Connecticut ArenaCup championships none The New Haven Ninjas were an expansion team in the AF2 for the 2002 season. ... af2 (short for arenafootball2) is the name of the Arena Football Leagues minor league, which started play in 2000. ... For the video game series based on the show, see WWE SmackDown! (video game series). ... UPN (which originally stood for the United Paramount Network) was a television network in over 200 markets in the United States. ...

Among the musical stars who appeared at the Coliseum were Elvis Presley, Queen, The Who, Frank Sinatra, The Grateful Dead, Stone Temple Pilots, Guns N´ Roses, Fleetwood Mac, Van Halen and Bruce Springsteen, with Tool being the final musical performers prior to closing. The final event held there was a professional wrestling show held by World Wrestling Entertainment, a popular attraction since the early days of the arena. In fact, WWE considered the Coliseum its home arena, as it was the closest arena to WWE's headquarters in Stamford, CT. Mötley Crüe also played there during their Theatre Of Pain and Dr. Feelgood tours. During the Dr. Feelgood show, drummer Tommy Lee fell from a drum solo he was performing above the crowd. Tommy required medical attention as he suffered a concussion. Elvis redirects here. ... Queen are an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Brian May, lead vocalist Freddie Mercury, and drummer Roger Taylor, with bassist John Deacon joining the following year. ... The Who are an English rock band that formed in 1964. ... Sinatra redirects here. ... This article is about the band. ... Stone Temple Pilots (abbreviated STP) is an American rock band consisting of Scott Weiland (vocals), brothers Robert (bass guitar, vocals) and Dean DeLeo (guitar), and Eric Kretz (drums, percussion). ... This article is about the band. ... This article is about the band Van Halen. ... Springsteen redirects here. ... Tool is an American rock band that was formed in 1990 in Los Angeles, California. ... For the NES video game, see Pro Wrestling (video game). ... World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. ... Stamford is a city located in Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 117,083. ... Mötley Crüe (IPA pronunciation: ) is an American Hard Rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. ... Theatre of Pain is the third album by rock band Mötley Crüe, released on June 21, 1985. ... Dr. Feelgood as a nickname may refer to: Heroin, the narcotic Physicians generally who overprescribe psychoactive medications, and in particular to Dr. Max Jacobson Dr. Feelgood may also refer to: Dr. Feelgood (band), British rock/blues band (album), and a single of the same name, by American band Mötley... This article is about the American drummer Tommy Lee. ...

Expositions attracted tens of thousands of patrons to the Coliseum. Best known among these was the nationally renowned New Haven Antiques Show. This show utilized the entire rear staging area and front corridor as well as the Coliseum's main floor. Visitors to this semi-annual event came from throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. Other expositions included the Connecticut Camping and Outdoors Show, New Haven Home Show and Connecticut Business Show. The Home Show was unique featuring a full-size landscaped, furnished, and decorated modular home erected on the Coliseum floor.

History

Construction

The Coliseum was built to replace the New Haven Arena, New Haven's prior indoor sports and entertainment venue. The Coliseum, as well as the neighboring K of C building, was designed by the architects Kevin Roche / John Dinkeloo & Associates. One interesting aspect of the arena's design was that the parking garage was built on top of the actual Coliseum structure. This design was not very popular in the marketplace, however, because of the quarter-mile helical ramps required to access the parking. Other features of the design, such as street storefronts and an exhibition hall, were never completed. New Haven Arena was an indoor arena in New Haven, Connecticut. ... Kevin Roche (b. ...

Deterioration

During the 1980s, the structure of the parking garages had deteriorated to the point where large canvas panels had to be attached to the outside to catch pieces of concrete that would occasionally drop off onto the sidewalk below. Renovations were made to correct that problem. The city shut down the facility after concluding that it was a drain on city coffers. However, the city did not hold any public hearings, referendum votes, or conduct any surveys, and several groups, local stakeholders, and the Coalition to Save Our Coliseum mounted a campaign to save and renovate the Coliseum, to no avail. Others in the community supported the plan to demolish the arena. Despite Mayor DeStefano's plan to close and demolish the building within six months, it ultimately took more than four years.

Among the reasons for the Coliseum's demise was the construction or renovation (often with state money) in the 1990s of alternative comparably sized venues within the southern Connecticut market. The Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport attracted a minor league hockey team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Many musical acts started booking the Chevrolet Theatre, formerly the Oakdale Theater, in suburban Wallingford after it was upgraded and expanded. A large arena was built about an hour away at the Mohegan Sun Casino. Even though the state gave $5.5 million to the arena for new paint, signage, and scoreboards, the Coliseum simply could not compete with newer facilities, as even as early as 1980 the Coliseum was decried as a "White Elephant". Mayor DeStefano also had staked out a strategy of investing city resources into arts and cultural activities rather than attracting sports teams to the city.^[1] For the band, see 1990s (band). ... The Bridgeport Arena at Harbor Yard is a 8,281-seat multi-purpose arena in Bridgeport, Connecticut. ... Bridgeport redirects here. ... The Bridgeport Sound Tigers are an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League. ... The Chevrolet Theater, originally the Oakdale Theatre, is located on South Turnpike Road in Wallingford, Connecticut. ... The Oakdale Theater is located on South Turnpike Road in Wallingford, Connecticut. ... Map sources for Wallingford at grid reference SU6089 Wallingford is a small town in Oxfordshire in southern England. ... The Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino located in the village of Uncasville in the town of Montville, Connecticut, U.S., is the worlds second largest casino. ... For other uses, see White elephant (disambiguation). ...

Demolition

The Coliseum's demolition was delayed by the state's refusal to award the $6.5 million that the city requested^{[citation needed]}, and the arena remained empty and darkened. The office area was used in the meantime for practice by the New Haven Fire Department.

Actual demolition work began in late October 2005 with removal of most of the arena area. At 7:50 a.m. on January 20, 2007, after years of wrangling and delay, the Coliseum was finally imploded, using more than 2,000 pounds of explosive. It was said that the implosion could be heard all the way to Meriden and Northford. As it came down, a massive cloud of dust and smoke covered the surrounding area, but blew away quickly toward the shoreline. Upwards of 20,000 people watched from the nearby Temple Street Garage and other buildings, and residents of nearby apartments were evacuated. The two helical ramps were not imploded, and were subsequently destroyed by conventional methods. Year 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Nickname: Location in Connecticut Coordinates: , NECTA Region Incorporated (town) 1806 Incorporated (city) 1867 Consolidated 1922 Government  - Type Council-manager  - Council leaders Mark Benigni, Mayor Matthew C. Dominello, Deputy Mayor Stephen T. Zerio, Council Leader Keith Gordon, Deputy Leader Patricia D. Lynes, Deputy Leader  - City manager Lawrence J. Kendzior Area  - City... North Branford is a town in New Haven County, Connecticut, United States. ...

The city has tentative plans to replace the Coliseum with a new downtown/Long Wharf redevelopment plan,^[2] including a relocated Long Wharf Theatre and a new campus for Gateway Community College. Long Wharf is a waterfront district and neighborhood of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. ... Long Wharf Theatre started life in a warehouse alongside the harbor of Newhaven, Connecticut, in 1965, the brainchild of 2 alumni of Yale University, Jon Jory and Harlan Kleiman, intent on creating a resident professional theatre company. ... GateWay Community College is located in Phoenix, Arizona. ...

A temporary 400-space parking lot opened on the former Coliseum site on December 4, 2007, but plans are advancing to redevelop the site with a mix of offices, apartments, and retail space.^[3]

Notes

The New Haven Register is a Connecticut newspaper based out of New Haven, Connecticut. ...

External links

• Wikimapia
• WTNH News Story on Implosion
• View Coliseum Implosion Pictures and Video
• News stories about the Coliseum through the years
• Tribute Video
• A History of the Coliseum