The Hollywood Sportatorium was an indoor arena in Pembroke Pines, Florida (originally Hollywood), located at 17171 Pines Boulevard (originally 16661 West Hollywood Boulevard). The Sportatorium was from downtown Miami and from downtown Fort Lauderdale. During its 18 years of operation, it was the only venue of its kind in heavily populated South Florida.
History
The Sportatorium was built beginning in September 1968 by Stephen Calder and Norman Johnson. Calder would also build the Calder Race Course shortly thereafter. It stood adjacent to the Miami-Hollywood Motorsports Park, which Calder and Johnson had constructed four years earlier. Among the plans for the Sportatorium were sports events, ice follies programs, auto and boat shows, and eventually a "Gold Coast State Fair". The Sportatorium was constructed as a hangar-like facility constructed out of concrete, a steel roof, an asphalt floor, and no air conditioning. Originally designed to seat 18,000 for stage events and 15,000 for arena events, it opened in December 1969 with only 6,000 seats.
"The idea was to have a facility which could have entertainment and events out of weather," said Bruce Johnson, Norman Johnson's son, who managed the arena until 1980. At first, it hosted indoor rodeos, indoor motocross events, wrestling, boxing, and some concerts. At the time, what is now the six- to eight-lane Pines Boulevard was a two-lane road in a thinly populated area of unincorporated Broward County.
The first event held in the Sportatorium was the Miami Rock Festival on December 27–29, 1969. While the seating capacity did eventually increase, by 1974, the Sportatorium still lacked permanent seating, air conditioning, an enclosed roof, and good traffic access. The land on which the arena stood was annexed to Pembroke Pines in 1980.
Home of the phantom sports franchise The Sportatorium was often floated as the home of a professional basketball or hockey franchise. As originally built, however, it did not have permanent seating or air conditioning. Additionally, the arena was only accessible from the then two-lane Hollywood Boulevard, resulting in massive traffic jams whenever events there attracted decent-sized crowds. Consequently, for a time there was little serious interest in the Sportatorium for a sports franchise. Even so, as early as 1969, there were inquiries to the Eastern Hockey League and the National Hockey League about the possibility of landing a hockey franchise.
In 1972, the World Hockey Association awarded a franchise to South Florida called the Miami Screaming Eagles. Herb Martin, the owner, had been rebuffed in his efforts to build his own arena in Miami and considered playing at the Sportatorium instead. However, he ultimately concluded that the arena was unsuitable even as a temporary facility and sold the franchise before playing a single game.
Two years later, Calder twice put off an announcement that he would acquire an expansion franchise from the WHA. Miami builder Robert Blum also hoped to get a WHA franchise, but wanted the team to play at the Miami Beach Convention Center (which had fewer than 3,000 seats). Concerning Calder's Sportatorium, Blum said: "I don't even know why they built it. It is a Tinker Toy arena. It's dumb, it's not even good for rock concerts. If they could get good crowds, they couldn't handle them, so even if they succeeded it would be self-defeating."
Calder renovated the arena in 1975 in large part to help bring a professional basketball or hockey team to the arena. Four million dollars were spent renovating the arena and installing air conditioning, new and expanded seating upstairs, and pipes under the floor to make ice. After the renovation, the arena had a seating capacity of 15,532 seats. However, while four different teams were set to move into the Sportatorium in the first year following the renovations, none of them actually did:
The first attempt to import a team in 1976 was in February, when former Philadelphia Flyers part-owner Bill Putnam attempted to bring the WHA's Minnesota Fighting Saints to the Sportatorium; however, the league's board of trustees voted to suspend the franchise rather than award it to the Florida group headed by Putnam. The second attempt was in June 1976, when Diplomat Hotel owner Irving Cowan obtained an option to purchase the Buffalo Braves of the NBA for $6.1 million, and planned to bring them to South Florida and the Sportatorium. Pledges of more than 8,000 season tickets were received. However, the city of Buffalo sued the Braves for breach of contract and sought a restraining order preventing the move. Although Cowan claimed the move would still take place, the effort nonetheless failed due to the lawsuit. The Braves signed a new, conditional lease with the city of Buffalo, and ended up moving to San Diego two years later, where they became the San Diego (now Los Angeles) Clippers. The third attempt came just a month later, when Putnam managed to conclude a deal to purchase another WHA club, the Cleveland Crusaders, with the first game scheduled for October 15 at the Sportatorium. The deal failed, however, and the Crusaders ended up moving to Saint Paul to become the second incarnation of the Minnesota Fighting Saints (not to be confused with the original Fighting Saints team that Putnam tried to buy five months earlier). Having already accepted deposits for season tickets, Putnam immediately sought to bring the San Diego Mariners to town, to become the Florida Breakers in time for the 1976–77 season. However, this deal failed as well, and ticket depositors who tried to get their money back found the Breakers' Hollywood Boulevard office closed and the phone disconnected. Putnam eventually filed for bankruptcy. (Had the move taken place, it would have been the franchise's fifth identity in four years, having previously played as the New York Raiders, New York Golden Blades and Jersey Knights before shifting to San Diego.) The fourth and final attempt was at the end of the WHA's 1976–77 season. Miami resident Jerry Saperstein, son of Harlem Globetrotters founder Abe Saperstein, agreed to purchase the same San Diego Mariners club that Bill Putnam tried to buy from owner Ray Kroc; pending approval from the WHA board of trustees, the renamed Florida Icegators would've come to the Sportatorium in time for 1977–78 season, . (As noted above, the move would have marked a return to the east coast for the Mariners franchise, originally the New York Golden Blades.) However, the WHA sought to merge with the National Hockey League that year, and the Mariners were not among the four WHA clubs that ultimately joined the older league in 1979.
While the arena never did attract a truly permanent sports franchise, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League played at the Sportatorium for one NASL indoor season in 1980–81. (The season was a disaster for the Strikers, with a 1–17 record and drawing only 1,590 fans per game, worst in the league.) In addition, the Sportatorium did host one preseason NBA matchup when the New Orleans Jazz defeated the Atlanta Hawks, 113–104, in front of 6,068 fans on October 7, 1977.
The Rock Mecca of South Florida Despite the Sportatorium's lack of success in attracting a sports franchise, it thrived as a concert arena. The largest concert venue at the time was a small outdoor amphitheater at Pirates World in Dania. Outdoor concerts were also held at Miami Stadium. But the biggest concern with those outdoor facilities was the frequent showers that would often washout concerts. The Sportatorium had a roof, and much more available seating. Although there were various problems with the facility, it quickly became the focal point for the big-name rock music scene in the 1970s and 1980s. Virtually every well-known rock band touring during that period performed on the stage of the Sporto.
In 1971, the Sportatorium began a summer series of weekly rock concerts every Sunday at 2:00 p.m. The first truly big-name rock act to play the Sportatorium was Emerson, Lake & Palmer, on August 10, 1971. Less than a month later, on September 1, 1971, Led Zeppelin stopped at the Sportatorium on its North American tour. The remainder of 1971 saw MC5 and Alice Cooper on September 12, Grand Funk Railroad on October 15, and Fleetwood Mac on November 6. In December, the Sportatorium saw appearances by Spirit, The Amboy Dukes, Teagarden & Van Winkle, Bob Seger, Crabby Appleton, The James Gang (Joe Walsh of The Eagles) and Rain.
Deep Purple, with Uriah Heep as the opening act, performed the first concert of 1972 at the Sportatorium on January 13. The Allman Brothers Band played at the arena on January 22, just three months following the death of Duane Allman. Uriah Heep returned as a headliner in February, with Cactus as the opening act. In April, The Byrds, The Moody Blues, and Pink Floyd played concerts at the Sporto. On April 21 Creedence Clearwater Revival, with opening acts Freddie King and Tony Joe White, performed for the last time in Florida before the breakup of CCR. Following yet another visit mid-summer by Uriah Heep, Yes performed in September with the Eagles as the opening act. Beck, Bogert & Appice, Poco, and John Mayall played in October, and the year closed out in December with a visit from Humble Pie and return visits from the Allman Brothers Band and Fleetwood Mac.
1973 saw concerts from John Martyn, Uriah Heep with Spooky Tooth, Frank Zappa with Foghat, Pink Floyd, Focus, Elton John, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Chicago with Gentle Giant opening for them. On February 17 Free played their final show at the venue before breaking up for good.
In 1974, there were concerts from Johnny Winter with Brownsville Station, Bob Dylan & The Band, New Riders of the Purple Sage with Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, The Beach Boys, King Crimson with Poco, The Guess Who, and Uriah Heep with Babe Ruth and Manfred Mann's Earth Band.
The Doobie Brothers, with the Ozark Mountain Daredevils and Lynyrd Skynyrd as the opening acts, and Baker Gurvitz Army played the Sportatorium in 1975, shortly before renovations began on the arena.
Following the 1975–1976 renovation, the Eagles performed in July 1976, followed by ZZ Top and Chicago in October, Eric Clapton in November and Kiss in December. 1977 opened with a January concert by The Beach Boys, followed by a notable February 12 concert by Elvis Presley on what would turn out to be one of his last tours before his death that August. Queen and Thin Lizzy played the Sportatorium a week after Elvis, with Blue Öyster Cult following in March. A concert by Jethro Tull took place in April, and the Grateful Dead played in May. Concerts by Bad Company, AC/DC, and Johnny Winter took place during the summer, followed by a Patti Smith concert in September. On October 15, 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd played one of its last concerts at the Sportatorium; five days later, three members of the group were killed in a plane crash. The remainder of 1977 saw concerts from Santana, The Doobie Brothers with Pablo Cruise, Kansas, Rush, Rod Stewart, and Robin Trower.
In 1978, there were concerts from Kiss, Rush with Pat Travers and Head East, John Denver, the Grateful Dead, Journey and Van Halen with Montrose, Blue Öyster Cult, The Isley Brothers, Aerosmith with Mahogany Rush, Foghat, Sweet, Genesis, Queen, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, Bob Dylan, and Ambrosia.
1979 saw visits to the Sporto from Boston, Styx, Rush with UFO, The Moody Blues, Kiss, Yes, Mick Ronson with Blue Öyster Cult, Jethro Tull, and Kansas.