Heritage Bank Center is an indoor arena in downtown Cincinnati, adjacent to Great American Ball Park. It was completed in September 1975 and named Riverfront Coliseum because of its placement next to Riverfront Stadium. In 1997, the facility became known as The Crown, and in 1999, it changed its name again to Firstar Center after Firstar Bank assumed naming rights. In 2002, following Firstar's merger with U.S. Bank, the arena took on the name U.S. Bank Arena and kept that name until 2019.
The arena seats 17,556 people and is the largest indoor arena in the Greater Cincinnati region with of space. The arena underwent a $14 million renovation project in 1997. The current main tenant is the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL.
History The arena was the home of the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association from 1975 to 1979. Since then, the arena has hosted two minor league hockey teams and various concerts, political rallies, tennis tournaments, figure skating, professional wrestling, traveling circus and rodeo shows, and other events. The facility's longest-serving tenant was the Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball program of the University of Cincinnati, who used the arena from its construction until 1987, when the team moved to Cincinnati Gardens and eventually to the on-campus Fifth Third Arena.
Until the opening of Fifth Third Arena at the University of Cincinnati and Truist Arena at Northern Kentucky University, commencement ceremonies for both schools were held at Heritage Bank Center. On occasion, there have been local pushes for the attraction of another major sports franchise to occupy the arena, possibly a National Basketball Association (NBA) or National Hockey League (NHL) franchise. The Cincinnati Royals moved to Kansas City – Omaha in 1972, and were the last NBA team to call Cincinnati home. The NBA Cleveland Cavaliers have played preseason games at Heritage Bank Center.
In August 2019, it was announced that U.S. Bank would not be renewing its naming rights sponsorship of the arena, which had been in effect since 2002. Kentucky-based Heritage Bank assumed naming rights of the arena on November 4, 2019.Cincinnati Riverfront Venue U.S. Bank Arena Has A New Name
Owners Brian and Albert Heekin (1975–1997) Cincinnati Entertainment Associates (1997–2001) Nederlander Entertainment (2001–present) Anschutz Entertainment Group (2011–present)
Renovations The arena was renovated in 1997 as part of the facility's purchase that year by a group headed by Doug Kirchhofer, owner of the Cincinnati Cyclones. The renovation cost $14 million and included new seating, improved concourses and restrooms, expanded concession areas, and a new center-hanging video board. As part of the renovation, the building was renamed "The Crown" and the Cyclones, who then played in the International Hockey League, moved from the Cincinnati Gardens.
A $200 million renovation was proposed in 2015 by arena owners Nederlander Entertainment and AEG Facilities. The renovations would include both upgrades to the seating and expansion to increase capacity to 18,500 seats, additional luxury suites and other premium seating, a new exterior facade, new video boards, and a renovation of the exterior concourse. The push for extensive renovations and upgrades came in 2014 after the city ran a bid for the 2016 Republican National Convention, which was unsuccessful due to the lack of adequate hotel rooms and infrastructure in the proximity of the Arena.
In 2017, Nederlander Entertainment announced its intention to tear down and replace the arena if a deal could be made with taxpayers, citing inadequate space and dated '70s aesthetics. This plan came after the Arena was awarded to be a site for the 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, contingent upon updates to the venue. However, after little progress was made the NCAA decided in late 2019 to move the site of the games to Indianapolis.
From 2023 to 2025, Nederlander completed a series of modernizing renovations including full replacement of seats in the arena’s lower bowl and installation of an updated LED center-hung scoreboard.
Sporting events
Basketball
The Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association played eight games at the newly opened arena for their 1975–1976 season before the team folded due to the ABA–NBA merger following the season.
Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball utilized Riverfront Coliseum as their home court from 1976 to 1987. During the Bearcats' tenancy the venue hosted the 1978 and 1983 Metro Conference men's basketball tournament.
Additional conference tournaments hosted here was the finals of the 1981 and the entire 1992 Midwestern Collegiate Conference men's basketball tournament as well as the 2005 and 2006 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament. In these instances, Xavier served as the host for the conference tournaments.
The 2002 and 2004 Conference USA men's basketball tournament were also hosted at the venue, in these instances with Cincinnati serving as the host for the conference tournaments.
The arena was the site of the Regional of the 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and 1987 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, as well as a first and second round site for the 1988 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and the 1992 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. The arena was also host to the 1997 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament Final Four.
In the aftermath of the 2011 Crosstown Shootout brawl, Cincinnati and Xavier agreed to move the Crosstown Shootout to the arena for the next two seasons. After the 2013 game, the Shootout returned to being played on campus.
Regular season college basketball games Heritage Bank Center has hosted dozens of college basketball games as a neutral venue. The colleges which have most frequently played neutral-site games at the venue are Xavier (21 games), Cincinnati (15), Kentucky (11), Miami (OH) (9) Louisville (6), and Dayton (4).
This table does not include regular season games played by Cincinnati, when the team utilized Riverfront Coliseum as their home court from 1976 to 1987. List of college basketball games at the arenaDateHome teamOpponentScoreAttendance January 17, 1980 Xavier Marquette 62–76 -- February 20, 1980 Xavier No. 10 Notre Dame 72–85 -- December 13, 1980 Xavier Miami (OH) 73–74 -- January 10, 1981 Xavier Dayton 72–74 3,602 January 26, 1981 Xavier Marquette 59–78 -- January 28, 1981 Xavier Oral Roberts 73–69 -- February 14, 1981 Xavier Loyola 90–89 -- December 30, 1981 Xavier Texas 71–97 -- January 20, 1982 Xavier Marquette 50–63 -- January 15, 1983 Xavier Evansville 85–65 -- February 5, 1983 Xavier Saint Louis 60–79 -- February 19, 1983 Xavier Detroit 69–61 -- November 22, 1985 Miami (OH) Louisville 65–81 -- November 22, 1985 Dayton Tulsa 60–63OT 10,416 November 24, 1985 Louisville Tulsa 80–74 -- November 18, 1988 Xavier No. 4 Louisville 85–83 -- December 23, 1991 Kentucky Ohio 73–63 15,390 February 8, 1992 Xavier Louisville 73–86 -- December 17, 1994 No. 6 Kentucky Texas Tech 83–68 17,153 January 16, 1997 No. 14 Xavier Tulane 85–87 -- January 16, 1997 No. 4 Cincinnati Temple 55–70 -- January 22, 1997 No. 3 Kentucky Vanderbilt 58–46 17,121 November 23, 1998 Kentucky Wright State 97–75 16,845 December 5, 1998 No. 23 Xavier No. 14 Purdue 57–71 -- November 29, 1999 Kentucky Dayton 66–68 17,232 November 21, 2000 Kentucky Jacksonville State 91–48 10,140 November 28, 2001 No. 13 Kentucky Kent State 82–68 10,352 December 28, 2002 Miami (OH) Cincinnati 66–54 14,276 January 4, 2003 No. 20 Kentucky Ohio 83–75 14,506 December 1, 2003 No. 10 Kentucky Marshall 89–76 13,913 December 27, 2003 No. 14 Cincinnati Miami (OH) 83–63 14,873 November 23, 2004 No. 8 Kentucky Ball State 73–53 15,563 December 27, 2004 No. 22 Cincinnati Miami (OH) 77–53 15,486 December 28, 2005 Cincinnati Miami (OH) 77–65 11,786 December 30, 2005 No. 19 Kentucky Ohio 71–63 16,043 November 24, 2006 Dayton Louisville 68–64 8,250 December 27, 2006 Cincinnati Miami (OH) 60–52 9,256 December 29, 2006 Xavier Illinois 65–59 13,256 January 3, 2007 Xavier Kansas State 76–66 12,298 December 29, 2007 Cincinnati Miami (OH) 56–50 -- December 31, 2007 Xavier Kansas State 103–77 5,233 December 18, 2008 Cincinnati Mississippi State 75–63 -- December 18, 2008 No. 9 Louisville Ole Miss 77–68 5,922 February 4, 2009 Cincinnati Notre Dame 93–83 7,692 December 10, 2009 No. 19 Cincinnati Miami (OH) 63–59 6,280 November 27, 2010 Cincinnati Dayton 68–34 6,016 December 29, 2011 Cincinnati Oklahoma 56–55 4,439 December 19, 2012 No. 11 Cincinnati Xavier 60–45 14,528 December 14, 2013 Xavier Cincinnati 64–47 10,250 December 16, 2023 Dayton Cincinnati 82–68 12,547 December 20, 2024 No. 19 Cincinnati No. 22 Dayton 66–59 15,107
Source
Hockey
The first tenant of the arena was the Cincinnati Stingers franchise, which existed from 1975 to 1979 as an expansion team of the World Hockey Association. Despite moderate success, the Stingers did not survive the NHL–WHA merger in 1979 and the team ceased operations. A handful of minor league hockey franchises have called the arena home, with the most successful and longest standing being the Cincinnati Cyclones. As of 2020, the Cyclones are the only active tenant of the venue.
The arena has played host to a handful of college hockey events, including the 1996 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament Frozen Four, which was won by Michigan. The site also hosted the regional games for the 2014, 2016, and 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament. In each instance, Miami (OH) served as the host for the regional games.
Concerts The “Phish” from Vermont played the Coliseum on seven occasions. First on November 14, 1998 when the venue was named “The Crown”. A two night run followed on December 4th and 5th of 1999 while the venue was dubbed “FirstStar Center”. After the first hiatus, the neo-hippie quartet returned for two shows on February 21st and 22nd, much to the delight of the band’s many wook followers. The venue had changed names once again, this time to US Bank Arena. Phish’s final two performances to date occurred after the second hiatus in 2009. November 20th featured a tantalizing version of “Time Turns Elastic”, while the next evening’s setlist featured a 115 show gap bustout of Albuquerque.
The first entertainment event (opening night) to be staged at the facility was a rock concert by The Allman Brothers Band and special guest Muddy Waters on the Win, Lose Or Draw Tour on September 9, 1975, attended by 16,721 persons.
The following year, on October 2, 1976, the Grateful Dead played a two-set show which was officially recorded and released as Dave's Picks Volume 53.
Elvis Presley played two shows (2:30 pm and 8:30 pm) at the Riverfront Coliseum on March 21, 1976. On June 25, 1977, he gave his second-to-last concert here, with 17,140 persons attending.
In 1979, The Bee Gees played two sold-out shows during their Spirits Having Flown Tour.
In 1981, Bruce Springsteen concluded The River Tour on September 13 and 14.
The Grateful Dead came back on April 8, 1989, for their second and last show at the venue. Video of this performance is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com//watch?v=H4bd2Dv-xkA.
On March 28, 2010, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift performed a sold-out show at the venue during her Fearless Tour.
Musical duo Twenty One Pilots performed as part of their Bandito Fall Tour on October 22, 2019, then again for The Icy Tour on August 21, 2022.
On October 24, 2019, Canadian singer Celine Dion performed a show during her Courage World Tour. She had performed at the venue previously when the facility was named "The Crown", as part of her Let's Talk About Love Tour, on September 19, 1998.
On August 24, 2022, My Chemical Romance performed a sold-out show at the venue as part of their Reunion Tour.