U.S. Bank Arena

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U.S. Bank Arena (known originally as the Riverfront Coliseum, and known later as The Crown and the Firstar Center), is an indoor arena located in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio near the Ohio River next to the Great American Ball Park. Completed in 1975, the arena seats 12,823 for ice hockey. It was the home of the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA from 1975-1979. Since then, the arena has hosted another minor-league hockey team and various concerts, political rallies, and other events. The facility's longest-serving tenant was the men's basketball program of the University of Cincinnati, which used the arena from its completion until 1989, when U.C. built an on-campus facility (Shoemaker Center), now known as Fifth Third Arena. The arena building was heavily renovated in 1997, and still is in use. The current main tenants are the Cincinnati Cyclones of the East Coast Hockey League and the Cincinnati Jungle Kats of arenafootball2 (to begin play in 2007).

The venue hosted part of the 1981 and all of the 1992 Horizon League men's basketball conference tournament. The 2002 and 2004 Conference USA men's basketball tournaments were held there; the Atlantic Ten Conference also held its tourney there in 2005 and did so again in 2006. The 1996 NCAA Frozen Four also was staged at the facility. The arena was the site of the last World Championship Wrestling (WCW)/NWO Souled Out event in 2000. It also is slated to host the first World Wrestling Entertainment Cyber Sunday pay-per-view in 2006.The US Bank Arena has also held many other WWE events.

[edit] December 1979 tragedy

On December 3, 1979, the arena was the site of one of the worst rock concert tragedies in United States history. Eleven fans were killed and several dozen others injured in the rush for seating at the opening of a sold-out concert by English rock band The Who. The concert was using "festival seating", (also known as "general seating" or "stadium seating"), where the best seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. When the crowds waiting outside heard the band performing a sound check, they thought that the concert was beginning and tried to rush into the still-closed doors, trampling those at the front of the crowd.

Several factors contributed to the tragedy, including poor crowd control but, for the most part, it was a breakdown in decision-making of arena and city management. Due to the festival seating, many fans arrived much earlier than arena management expected. The extremely cold temperatures in Cincinnati that night created a crowd overly anxious to enter the facility. The gates opened behind schedule, and too few doors were opened to deal with the huge crowd. Management was reluctant to open more doors due to union restrictions on arena employees. However, on the far side of the building, lines were significantly shorter. Crowding around the doors ensued, and several people died from suffocation by the crowd. The concert went on as scheduled, with most patrons and the band unaware of the tragedy.

As a result, concert venues across North America switched to assigned seating or changed their rules about festival seating. Cincinnati immediately outlawed festival seating at concerts, although it overturned the ban on August 4, 2004, since the ban was making it difficult for Cincinnati to book concerts (Many music acts prefer festival seating because it allows the most enthusiastic fans to get near the stage and generate excitement for the rest of the crowd. Some performers and bands insist on a festival seating area near the stage, so the ban was hindering Cincinnati's ability to book concerts. In 2002, the city had made a one-time exception to the ban, allowing festival seating for a Bruce Springsteen concert.) Cincinnati was, at the time, the only city in the U.S.A. to outlaw festival seating altogether.

[edit] External links

U.S. Bank Arena

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Arena at Gwinnett Center \| Cambria County War Memorial Arena \| Carolina Coliseum \| St. Lawrence Homes Home Ice \| Ford Arena \| Germain Arena \| James Brown Arena \| North Charleston Coliseum \| Nutter Center \| Pensacola Civic Center \| Sovereign Bank Arena \| Sovereign Center \| Toledo Sports Arena \| U.S. Bank Arena \| WesBanco Arena		E Center \| Long Beach Sports Arena \| Orleans Arena \| Qwest Arena \| Rabobank Arena \| Save Mart Center \| Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre\| Stockton Arena \| Sullivan Arena \| US Airways Center

American Conference		National Conference
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Allen County War Memorial Coliseum \| Chevrolet Centre \| Everett Events Center \| Freedom Hall \| The MARK of the Quad Cities \| Pepsi Arena \| Qwest Arena \| Rabobank Arena \| Resch Center \| Selland Arena \| Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena \| Stockton Arena \| Toyota Center \| U.S. Bank Arena \| Wachovia Arena \| Verizon Wireless Arena		Alltel Arena \| Amarillo Civic Center \| American Bank Center \| Berry Center \| Birmingham Jefferson Convention Center \| CenturyTel Center \| Dodge Arena \| Ford Center \| Germain Arena \| Gray Civic Center \| Laredo Entertainment Center \| Lubbock Municipal Coliseum \| Tulsa Convention Center \| Von Braun Center