Hampton Coliseum is a multi-purpose arena in Hampton, Virginia. Construction began on May 24, 1968.
- Venue
- Hampton Coliseum
- Address
- 1000 Coliseum Drive
- Town
- Hampton, US
- Capacity
- 13,800
Hampton Coliseum is a multi-purpose arena in Hampton, Virginia. Construction began on May 24, 1968. The venue held its first event on December 1, 1969, with the nearby College of William & Mary playing North Carolina State University in a college men's basketball game. On January 31, 1970, the Coliseum formally opened as the first large multi-purpose arena in the Hampton Roads region and the state of Virginia (opening a year before the Norfolk Scope in Norfolk.) With a final estimated cost between $8.5 million to $9 million, the arena was designed by Odell Associates and constructed by McDevitt and Street, of Charlotte, North Carolina. The venue capacity is configurable from 9,800 to 13,800 seats. Fans of the Grateful Dead and Phish have nicknamed the building The Mothership, a term coined by The Virginian-Pilot reporter John Colt in a 1981 Grateful Dead concert review. Hampton Coliseum was one of several former homes of the American Basketball Association Virginia Squires professional basketball franchise. The coliseum was also home to the Virginia Wings in the American Hockey League and Hampton Gulls in the Southern Hockey League and the Hampton Aces of the North Eastern Hockey League and Eastern Hockey League. The coliseum hosted the Division I men's college basketball ECAC South Region tournament, organized by the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), in 1980 and 1981. The 1985 Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Tournament and the 1987, 1988, and 1989 Colonial Athletic Association Men's Basketball Tournaments were held in the coliseum. The Old Dominion Monarchs basketball team played occasional games in the coliseum from 1970 to 1995, usually one game a year, although twice the team played several games in the coliseum, in the 1979-80 and 1984-85 seasons. The Hampton Coliseum is the home of the Virginia Duals annual wrestling tournament, hosting invitational college and high school matches. The National Wrestling Alliance, WCW, WWE and other wrestling pr