Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (or simply the Nassau Coliseum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York, on Long Island. The venue is situated approximately east of the eastern limits of the borough of Queens in New York City, adjacent to the Meadowbrook Parkway. The renovated arena accommodates 14,500 spectators for basketball, 13,900 for hockey and up to 16,000 for concerts.
Opened in 1972, the Coliseum occupies of Mitchel Field, a former Army airfield, later an Air Force base. The facility is located in the Town of Hempstead, within the Uniondale 11553 ZIP Code. The Coliseum is used for sporting events, concerts, large exhibitions, as well as trade shows— at the main arena, at the Expo Center. In 2015, the arena was closed for a major renovation which was completed in April 2017.
The New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL) played at the Coliseum from 1972 to 2015 before moving to Barclays Center in Brooklyn. After the move was commercially unsuccessful, the team split its home schedule between Barclays and the renovated Coliseum from 2018 to 2020 and played the home portion of their 2020–21 season at the Coliseum, before moving to the new UBS Arena at Belmont Park for the 2021–22 season, which is also on Hempstead Turnpike, west of the Coliseum.
It was also the home of the New York Nets (now known as the Brooklyn Nets) of the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1972 to 1977 and the New York Riptide of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) from 2020 to 2024. In 2017, the venue became the new home of the Brooklyn Nets' NBA G League team, the Long Island Nets. Currently, the Nets serve as the building's main tenant.
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 18,511 for concerts and 17,686 for boxing. Those renovations resulted in drastically reduced capacities: 13,917 for hockey and 14,500 for basketball.
Hockey The New York Raiders, intended by the fledgling World Hockey Association to be their flagship franchise, were slated to play in the new Nassau Coliseum in 1972–73. However, the Nassau County government did not consider the WHA a fully professional league and wanted nothing to do with the Raiders.
Nassau County retained William Shea to get an 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. The first Islanders' home win at the arena was on October 12, 1972, where they defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3–2. The Islanders' first playoff win at the arena came on April 20, 1975, where they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4–2. On April 22, 1976, the Islanders earned their first playoff series victory at the arena by defeating the Buffalo Sabres 3–2, and winning the series 4–2.
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 Islanders were 11–1 in Stanley Cup Final games at the Coliseum. Their only loss was a 1–0 setback in Game 1 in 1984 to the Edmonton Oilers. Team's fans nicknamed the arena "Fort Neverlose" in honor of the team's strong home record during the finals.
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 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 Arena at Harbor Yard in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the team's home.
The Islanders played their last game at the Coliseum before moving to Barclays Center on April 25, 2015, beating the Washington Capitals 3–1 in Game 6 of the first round of the 2015 playoffs against the Washington Capitals forcing a Game 7, held in and won by Washington, ending the Islanders' first 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. Following the 2014–15 season, the Coliseum underwent a major renovation. On September 17, 2017, the Islanders returned to the Nassau Coliseum to face the Philadelphia Flyers for a preseason match up. With the Islanders being unhappy at their home in Brooklyn, the league awarded the Islanders to split their home games during the 2018–19 season between the Barclays Center and Nassau Coliseum. The Islanders played their first regular season game back at the Coliseum on December 1, 2018, against the Columbus Blue Jackets, where the Islanders won 3–2. During the 2019 playoffs, the First Round was held at the Coliseum. The Islanders again split the 2019–20 season between Nassau Coliseum and Barclays Center and it was announced by then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo that the Islanders would play the remainder of their games at the Coliseum, while the Islanders new home UBS Arena was being built and the 2020–21 season being the final at the Coliseum. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the Islanders played at Scotiabank Arena and Rogers Place during the 2020 playoffs, and then opened up the 2020–21 season at the Coliseum with no fans.
The Islanders played their final game at the Coliseum before moving to their new arena on June 23, 2021, beating the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 3–2 overtime win in game 6 of the 2021 Stanley Cup semifinals, with Anthony Beauvillier scoring the overtime goal to force game 7. However, the Islanders lost game 7, thus making game 6 the last major league sporting event held there, and Beauvillier scored the last NHL goal in this arena, and his team achieved a rare feat as a consolation prize: they became the third team (after the 1982–83 Calgary Flames and 1994–95 Quebec Nordiques) to end their arena's history with a playoff victory.
Basketball 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 five games to capture their first title. The Nets then captured the final American Basketball Association Championship in 1976, defeating the Denver Nuggets in six 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 the Meadowlands Arena at the Meadowlands Sports Complex.
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.
On November 5, 2015, the Nets announced that their new NBA D-League team, the Long Island Nets, would play at the renovated Coliseum starting in 2017 (the team played their first season at their parent team's home, the Barclays Center).
Other sports The Coliseum also hosted the New York Arrows and later the New York Express of the original Major Indoor Soccer League. The Arrows, which existed as a franchise from 1978 to 1984, won the first four MISL championships. The short-lived New York Express played part of the 1986–87 season, ending operations before the All-Star break with financial troubles and a 3–23 record.
The New York Sets of World Team Tennis 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 played 12 of its 22 home matches at Madison Square Garden and the Felt Forum, repeating as champions. Prior to the 1978 season, the Apples announced that they would leave the Coliseum and play all their home matches in the Madison Square Garden complex.
The Coliseum was home to the New York Saints of the National Lacrosse League from 1989 to 2003. 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).
In 2000, 2005 and 2017, the Professional Bull Riders brought their Built Ford Tough Series (originally Bud Light Cup) to the Coliseum.
On February 24–25, 2006, the Coliseum hosted the 44th NYSPHSAA Wrestling Championships. It was 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 July 19–20, 2014, the Global RallyCross Championship raced at the Nassau Coliseum parking lot.
On July 22, 2017, the Coliseum hosted UFC on Fox: Weidman vs. Gastelum.
In February 2018, the Coliseum hosted the New York Open, an ATP 250 men's tennis tournament replacing the long-running Memphis Open.
In 2019, the Coliseum became the home of the National Lacrosse League's New York Riptide. In 2024 the team would relocate to Ottawa.
Seating capacity The seating capacity for hockey during the life of the arena has been: 13,571 (1972–1973) 14,665 (1972–1973) 14,865 (1973–1976) 15,317 (1976–1978) 14,995 (1978–1980) 15,008 (1980–1981) 15,230 (1982–1983) 15,850 (1983–1984) 16,002 (1984–1986) 16,270 (1986–1987) 16,297 (1987–2001) 16,234 (2001–2009) 16,250 (2009–2012) 16,170 (2012–2015) 13,917 (2017–present)
Entertainment
Concerts Elvis Presley performed four sold-out concerts at the Nassau Coliseum on June 22, 23 & 24, 1973. His last two Coliseum appearances were on July 19, 1975. In 1977, Elvis had been scheduled for an August 22 concert as part of his sixth tour of the year, but he died on August 16, the day before the tour was to start. Tickets for the show have become collector's items.
The Beach Boys performed to a sold-out audience on June 14, 1974. Their tour promoted the recently released Holland album and featured a set list of recent songs as well as several of their early 1960s hits. They were joined onstage by Elton John and Paul Simon for the encore performance. Several of the songs included on The Beach Boys In Concert album were recorded at The Nassau Coliseum.
Joni Mitchell performed at the Coliseum the night of August 28, 1974.
David Bowie performed a radio broadcast from there during his 1976 Isolar Tour, in support of the album Station to Station. A heavily circulated bootleg of the concert saw official release in 2010 as part of the 2010 reissue of the album, and in 2017 as a separate release, Live Nassau Coliseum '76. Queen played at the Coliseum on February 6, 1977, during their A Day at the Races Tour. The band used footage of their performance of "Tie Your Mother Down" in the song's promotional film.1977 A Day At The Races North American Tour Ultimate Queen. Retrieved August 31, 2011 They would return on November 19, 1978, on their Jazz Tour.