TD Coliseum

History

Hamilton lacked a large ice hockey venue after the Barton Street Arena was demolished in 1977, as that arena had a small seating capacity by modern standards. Construction on the new site began in 1983 and finished two years later at a cost of $33.5 million, with an additional $2.3 million spent on a parking garage; the project was overseen by Hamiltonian Joseph Pigott. The arena was originally named Copps Coliseum after long-time mayor Victor Copps, patriarch of a Hamilton political family that includes his daughter, former Member of Parliament of Canada and Member of Provincial Parliament of Ontario Sheila Copps, and wife Geraldine, who was a long-time councillor. The first scoreboard was purchased from the Winnipeg Arena for $214,000; that original Day Signs/Naden scoreboard, built in Toronto, was replaced in the early 1990s by a centre-hung scoreboard with an electronic message centre on each side, which was in turn replaced by the current scoreboard built in Hamilton by Media Resources, featuring an LED video board on each side. The arena hosted many teams and events: the Hamilton Steelhawks of the Ontario Hockey League began play there in 1985; the 1986 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships were held in Southern Ontario with Copps Coliseum as the primary venue, where the undefeated Soviet Union handed Canada its first loss 4–1; Copps was the primary host for the 1987 Canada Cup and site of the Gretzky to Lemieux goal that beat the Soviets 6–5 in the final; the Dukes of Hamilton replaced the Steelhawks as the city's OHL team and played there from 1989 to 1991; the arena hosted the 1990 Memorial Cup and set the single game attendance record on May 13, 1990, with 17,383 spectators watching the Oshawa Generals defeat the Kitchener Rangers 4–3 in double overtime on a Bill Armstrong goal; and it hosted games in the 1991 Canada Cup, including the finals when Canada defeated the United States. The first WWF Royal Rumble, shown on the USA Network, was held in the arena on January 24, 1988; Copps hosted the WWF pay-per-view Breakdown: In Your House on September 27, 1998, and the Billy Graham crusade that year, attended by 19,000 spectators each night; the Grateful Dead played the Coliseum on four occasions, with two dates in 1990 and two dates in 1992.