Mid-South Coliseum
Mid-South Coliseum is an indoor arena in Memphis, Tennessee. The facility was opened in 1964, and became known "The Entertainment Capitol of the Mid-South" due its significance in hosting events such as concerts, sports games and professional wrestling shows.[7] The Coliseum closed in 2006. In the late 2010s, efforts emerged to help preserve and refurbish the arena as part of a larger redevelopment of the surrounding area.
Location
996 Early Maxwell Blvd, Memphis, Tennessee, 38104
10,085 permanent seats, 11,200 for basketball
2006
Merrill G. Ehrman[6]
(Furbringer and Ehrman)
Robert Lee Hall[6]
(Robert Lee Hall & Associates)
December 6, 2000
Basketball[edit]
The Coliseum was home to the American Basketball Association's Memphis Pros. After the New Orleans Buccaneers moved upriver to Memphis in 1971, the Memphis Pros struggled in their first season. The team was then purchased by baseball Oakland A's owner Charlie Finley, who renamed them the Tams and briefly hired Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp as team President. After Finley sold the team, the renamed Sounds also struggled in 1974–75. The franchise left Memphis for Baltimore in 1975, becoming the Baltimore Claws and folded before playing a regular season game.[16]
As an ABA arena the Coliseum hosted the Indiana Pacers during the 1971 Western Division Semifinals[17] and the Kentucky Colonels during the 1975 Eastern Division Finals;[18] the Pacers went on to win the 1971 ABA Championship[17] and the Colonels went on to win the 1975 ABA Championship.[18]
It was home to the Memphis Tigers basketball team before the Pyramid opened in 1991. The Coliseum also hosted five Metro Conference men's basketball tournaments.
Closure and redevelopment[edit]
The venue closed at the end of 2006, when Memphis and Shelby County Governments refused the request from the Mid-South Coliseum Board to pay its operating losses, which were projected to be $1 million a year. The Coliseum also needed renovations to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.[19]
In 2016, an assessment found that a renovation and restoration of the Coliseum (including ADA compliance) would cost around $23.8 million. In 2018, a group known as the Coliseum Coalition was formed to pursue the preservation of the facility as part of redevelopment of the Memphis Fairgrounds into a youth sports complex. In 2018, a plan was proposed to use funding from the designation of the Fairgrounds as a tourism development zone (TDZ) to "achieve the reactivation, adaptive reuse, or redevelopment of the Mid-South Coliseum". The Coliseum was not included in the plan approved the state, but it was suggested that the development could help spur private investment. Coalition member Marvin Stockwell stated that the building was still "in great shape".[20][21][4][22]
In 2022, professional soccer team Memphis 901 FC announced plans to build a soccer-specific stadium at the site of the Mid-South Coliseum, which would be demolished. The new stadium is planned to open in 2025 and include 6,500 to 8,000 seats on a 6-acre (2.4 ha) site.[23]