Richmond Coliseum

Richmond Coliseum is an arena in Richmond, Virginia, where the SPHL Richmond Renegades played until the 2008-2009 season and the SIFL Richmond Raiders will play starting with the 2010 season. It is also the venue for various large concerts. The arena opened in 1971 and holds 13,500 people. A small fire occurred there in 1997, shutting it down for repairs. It is managed by SMG.

The Richmond Coliseum was also the former part-time home of the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association. The Squires played there in addition to Roanoke Civic Center, Norfolk Scope and Hampton Coliseum (all within the Commonwealth of Virginia) from 1970 until just before the ABA–NBA merger in 1976. The Coliseum also hosted the Southern Conference men's basketball tournaments in 1973 and 1974.

The Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball tournament was held there in 1988. The Colonial Athletic Association men's (NCAA) collegiate basketball tournament has been contested at the Richmond Coliseum since 1990. On March 1, 2006, a deal was signed to keep the tournament in Richmond until 2012. The Coliseum served as the primary home for the MEAC Men's Basketball Tournament between 1998 and 2005, with some games played at the Arthur Ashe Athletic Center.

Until John Paul Jones Arena opened in 2006, the Richmond Coliseum was the largest sports arena in Virginia. The Virginia Commonwealth University Rams men's basketball team played there until the 7,500-seat Alltel Pavilion, on the VCU campus, opened in 1999.

In 1994, the Coliseum hosted the Women's NCAA Division I Basketball Championship. Charlotte Smith of the University of North Carolina sank a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to defeat Louisiana Tech, 60-59, in the final.

It has been a regular stop for professional wrestling promotions through the years, including the old NWA (Jim Crockett Promotions) Mid-Atlantic territory, and more recently, WWE. In recent years, it hosted the fifteenth WWF In Your House 15: A Cold Day in Hell pay-per-view in 1997, WWE Armageddon on December 17, 2006, and hosted the televised portion of the 2010 WWE Draft. It held WWE Friday Night SmackDown on November 16, 2010. It held WWE Raw on Monday, June 6, 2011 featuring WWE Hall of Famer Steve Austin to announce the winner of WWE Tough Enough. It also held Monday Night Raw again May 21, 2012, immediately following Over the Limit in which John Cena lost a match against John Laurinaitis, with Laurinaitis only winning after The Big Show intervened.

The Coliseum has also been a site for the Professional Bull Riders. In 1998 and 1999 a Built Ford Tough Series Bud Light Cup event known as the Lane Frost Memorial was held in the Coliseum; the PBR returned in 2007 to host minor-league tour stops sponsored by former bull rider Greg Potter.

On October 22, 2008, it hosted a rally for Presidential Candidate Barack Obama, drawing over 13,000 people. A similar crowd was drawn for the 2009 Republican Party of Virginia convention.

Preliminary planning for a new arena to replace the Coliseum with possible seating of 16,000 to 20,000 is in the works with an estimated cost of $147,100,000. By comparison, the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio costs $148 million and has a capacity of 20,000.

Layout
The Richmond Coliseum is laid out on 6 levels. In order from lowest to highest they are the event level, the mezzanine, the lower concourse, the upper concourse, the 300 level and the ring. The event level is where the event floor (and ice rink) is located, as well as all the support rooms for events and the building. Team locker rooms, star dressing rooms, Exhibition halls, the Coliseum Club and the kitchens are located on the event level. The Clay Street tunnel, one of the innovative features of the coliseum, is on the event level and allows vehicles, including tractor trailers and monster trucks, to pull into the coliseum. It is accessed at the intersection of Clay Street and Eighth Street. The tunnel provides storage for shows and parking for coliseum personnel. The mezzanine is where the administrative offices for the coliseum are located. The Leigh Street entrance is on this level. The lower concourse is the access for all lower level seating and suites. The Fifth Street and Sixth Street entrances are located on this level, as well as exits to the areas above Clay Street and Leigh Street. The upper concourse is the access for all upper level seating and the 300 level is access to the highest seats on either radius of the coliseum. The ring is where the spotlights are operated and is the access to the catwalk.

Notable concerts

 * The Jacksons performed at Richmond Coliseum on August 4, 1981 during their Triumph Tour.