The Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, commonly known as Nassau Coliseum (or simply The Coliseum), is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York, on Long Island. The Coliseum is 19 miles (30 km) from New York City. It is home to the New York Islanders of the National Hockey League team and the New York Dragons Arena Football League team.
Opened in 1972, the Coliseum occupies 63 acres (255,000 m²) of Mitchel Field, site of a former Army and Air Force base.
The New York Raiders, intended by the fledging World Hockey Association to be their flagship franchise, was initially slated to play in the brand-new Nassau Coliseum. However, Nassau County didn't consider the WHA a 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 the Madison Square Garden under the shadow of the New York Rangers.
The Coliseum was home of the New York Saints National Lacrosse League team from 1998-2003, but the Saints became an inactive team in 2004. 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 2008, the Titans moved all of their home games to Madison Square Garden.
Earlier, the Coliseum had hosted the New York Arrows and later the New York Express of the original Major Indoor Soccer League. Before that, the Coliseum had been home to the New York Nets basketball team of the American Basketball Association and later the National Basketball Association from 1972-1977. The Coliseum has also hosted first and second round games of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Tournament, most recently in 2001.
The Coliseum is also used for concerts, large exhibitions and shows of various kinds, as well as trade shows (44,000 square feet at the main arena, 60,000 at the Expo Center). Long Island native Billy Joel is one of the Coliseum's most prolific tenants, holding multiple shows at his hometown arena over the course of his tours. For a time in the mid-nineties, he even had his own "retired number" banner, along with those of Islander greats, hanging from the rafters to commemorate his many Coliseum sellouts. New Jersey rocker Bruce Springsteen also played a memorable New Year's Eve concert at The Coliseum in 1980. Certain songs from the concert were used on his 1986 live album Live/1975-85.
The Nassau Coliseum previously hosted minor league hockey prior to the awarding of the Islanders franchise, a gimmick brought back in 2005, when the Islanders-affiliated Bridgeport Sound Tigers (AHL) played two "home games" at the Coliseum in the absence of NHL hockey due to the lockout. It originally had a capacity of 12,000 to 15,000 depending upon the event, but in the early 1980s the maximum capacity was increased to around 18,000. Currently it seats 16,234 for hockey, up to 17,760 for concerts and 17,686 for boxing and wrestling.
Despite the obvious flaws of the outdated facility, the Coliseum is still considered to be one of the toughest arenas for opposing players, primarily because of the intensity of the crowd noise that echoes around the interior. For example, during the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals in 2002, in which the Islanders squared off against the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Islanders won all three games played at home in a series dominated by home-ice advantage, as Toronto won all four of their home games.
