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24-602: Commissioned in 1955, the City of Jacksonville approved a new civic auditorium and a municipal coliseum , to help brighten the scenery around the riverfront. In 1957, the site was purchased from the Seaboard Air Line Railroad . At the same time, Mayor W. Haydon Burns successfully lobbied the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad to move its headquarters from North Carolina to Jacksonville. Thus, construction began on

48-711: A lounge, art gallery and lobby. The lobby areas included marble column (dating back to 1913) from the Barnett National Bank Building and art from the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville . The center reopened on February 8, 1997, with a performance by the FSCJ Artist Series . In January 2022, the city-owned concert hall would drop the Times-Union name and would be known as the Jacksonville Center for

72-519: A multitude of spectators. The word derives from Latin harena , a particularly fine-grained sand that covered the floor of ancient arenas such as the Colosseum in Rome , Italy, to absorb blood. The term arena is sometimes used as a synonym for a very large venue such as Pasadena's Rose Bowl , but such a facility is typically called a stadium . The use of one term over the other has mostly to do with

96-421: Is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre , musical performances , and/or sporting events . It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators, and may be covered by a roof. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the lowest point, allowing maximum visibility. Arenas are usually designed to accommodate

120-539: Is a recital hall primary used for poetry readings, dance recitals and comedy shows. The venue seats over 600 guests. It replaced the Little Theater. 30°19′30″N 81°39′44″W  /  30.324990°N 81.662211°W  / 30.324990; -81.662211 Jacksonville Coliseum The Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Coliseum (originally and still commonly known as the Jacksonville Coliseum )

144-728: Is known as a pure concert hall, providing an intimate setting with no stage curtains, orchestra pit, fly space or backstage wings. It houses the Bryan Concert organ, which is a rebuilt Casavant pipe organ. It is the home to the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and the Jacksonville Symphony Youth Orchestra. Seating over 1,700 guests, it also used as an intimate concert venue. It replaced the Exhibition Hall. The C. Herman & Mary Virginia Terry Theater

168-649: The Dixie Chicks . The Coliseum was imploded on June 26, 2003, and replaced with the $ 130 million Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Arena . Extreme care was taken not to damage the black granite Veterans Memorial Wall located just eight feet from the east wall of the building. After the debris was cleared, a 2-acre (8,100 m ) walking park was added to the area around the Memorial. 30°19′29″N 81°38′27″W  /  30.3245961°N 81.640901°W  / 30.3245961; -81.640901 Arena An arena

192-771: The Coliseum home from 2000 to 2002. The WCW events WrestleWar 1992 and WCW Greed (the final pay-per-view before WCW's acquisition by the World Wrestling Federation ) were staged at the coliseum, as well as some episodes of WCW Monday Nitro . Hundreds of thousands of Duval County high school students received their diplomas at ceremonies in the Coliseum, and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus train stopped in Jacksonville for two weeks of shows every January for decades. The fairgrounds were adjacent to

216-842: The Coliseum included the Jacksonville Rockets (1964–1972) of the Eastern Hockey League , the Jacksonville Barons (1973–74), the Jacksonville Bullets (1992–96), and the Jacksonville Lizard Kings (1995–2000). (Fans of the Lizard Kings referred to the coliseum as the "Reptilian Pavilion.") The American Basketball Association franchise known as The Floridians played some of its home games there in 1971 and 1972. The Jacksonville Dolphins utilized

240-460: The Coliseum were The Allman Brothers Band in 1970, Lynyrd Skynyrd in '75, 38 Special in '82, Molly Hatchet in '85, Blackfoot in '80, and also Limp Bizkit played there in 2000. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from Gainesville played there in '87. By the 1990s, it became harder for promoters to fill the seats of the Coliseum. The venue was designed in the late 1950s before the advent of

264-929: The Coliseum, and the Greater Jacksonville Agricultural Fair incorporated the facility into their November event, hosting music concerts, entertainers and exhibitions. Monster truck shows, tractor pulls and motocross events were also very popular over the years. The Coliseum hosted hundreds of concerts and shows during its 43-year history, including Grand Funk Railroad in 1970, Rush , Bob Dylan , Duran Duran , Billy Joel , Black Sabbath , Bon Jovi , Frank Sinatra , Jimi Hendrix , Elvis Presley , New Kids On The Block , The Smashing Pumpkins , David Bowie , Bruce Springsteen , Led Zeppelin , Jacksonville's Lynyrd Skynyrd , Journey , AC/DC , Deep Purple , Wishbone Ash , Grateful Dead , Judas Priest , Three Dog Night , Def Leppard and Iron Maiden . Famous Southern rock bands from Jacksonville that played at

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288-503: The Performing Arts until they secured a new naming sponsor. The Jim & Jan Moran Theater is a theatre and main performance venue of the center. The theater was specifically designed for theatrical and musical performances. All genres from rock to gospel have performed at the theater. Since 2006, the Jim & Jan Moran Theatre has been the home of Extraganza , an annual talent showcase by

312-653: The auditorium and the Atlantic Coastline Building (now CSX Building) both began in 1957. On December 7, 1957, the Seaboard Docks were demolished to make way for the forthcoming auditorium. The site was prepared via bulk heading the shoreline of the St. Johns River . This involved walling out the shoreline and adding fill dirt. The original site of the municipal coliseum (now where the Jacksonville Landing sits)

336-508: The building's poor acoustics and the structure couldn't support the elaborate special effects lighting and sound equipment which rock concerts had come to require. The Eagles , Bon Jovi , Ozzy Osbourne , Dave Matthews and Fleetwood Mac all declined to perform at the Coliseum, although the acts wanted to perform in Jacksonville. The venue was still able to house exhibition shows, special events and several country acts including Alan Jackson , Garth Brooks , Reba McEntire , Wynonna Judd and

360-536: The coliseum for their home basketball games from 1969 to 1999, and it hosted the 1981 Sun Belt Conference and 1999 and 2000 Atlantic Sun Conference men's basketball tournaments. The Jacksonville Tea Men of the NASL played indoor soccer home games at the coliseum during the 1980–81 & 1981–82 seasons. The Jacksonville Tomcats of the af2 , the Arena Football League 's developmental league , called

384-457: The facility is called Cameron Indoor Stadium . Domed stadiums, which, like arenas, are enclosed but have the larger playing surfaces and seating capacities found in stadiums, are generally not referred to as arenas in North America. There is also the sport of indoor American football (one variant of which is explicitly known as arena football), a variant of the outdoor game that is designed for

408-470: The main auditorium, "Exhibition Hall" and the "Little Theater". By the 1990s, the auditorium developed a bad reputation amongst music acts. Like the coliseum, the venue was known for its poor acoustics. This caused many concerts to be moved to Tallahassee or Gainesville . In 1993, Mayor Ed Austin proposed the River City Renaissance Plan . A portion of the $ 235 million bond was allocated to

432-551: The renovation of the facility and the construction of a new convention center, replacing the underused Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center (although this did not come to fruition). Construction began in 1995. It was headed by KBJ Architects , Rothman, Rothman & Heineman, Kirkegaard Associates and Jones & Phillips Associates, Inc. The original auditorium was gutted and divided into three facilities. In 1994, local newspaper, The Florida Times-Union , purchased naming rights for $ 3 million. The renovated facility also included

456-425: The rock concert, and strong bass and drums reverberated off the dome. The facility had not been renovated since its construction in 1960, giving the arena an outdated feel. It looked like a water treatment plant, according to Mayor John Delaney . Considered a mid-sized venue at best against its larger competitors, concert promoters for the most popular acts wanted venues with at least 15,000 seats; performers disliked

480-617: The students of Douglas Anderson School of the Arts . The theater replaced the main auditorium and can seat nearly 3,000. The Robert E. Jacoby Symphony Hall (formerly known as the Robert E. Jacoby Theater) is a concert hall primarily used for orchestral performances. The hall is modeled after the Wiener Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It is designed in a shoebox shape, similar to many European venues. It

504-531: The type of event. Football (be it association , rugby , gridiron , Australian rules , or Gaelic ) is typically played in a stadium, while basketball , volleyball , handball , and ice hockey are typically played in an arena, although many of the larger arenas hold more spectators than do the stadiums of smaller colleges or high schools. There are exceptions. The home of the Duke University men's and women's basketball teams would qualify as an arena, but

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528-489: Was Daniel Construction, and construction took two years and cost $ 3 million. The first event was the first ice hockey game ever played in Jacksonville, featuring the New York Rovers and Charlotte Clippers on November 30. The first events scheduled included an automobile show, a boat show, boxing matches, the circus, an ice skating show, a pro basketball exhibition game and a tennis tournament. Ice hockey teams based in

552-552: Was a multi-purpose arena located in Jacksonville, Florida . Built in 1960 and known as "northern Florida's most historic concert venue", it was home to most of the city's indoor professional sports teams and it hosted various concerts, circuses, and other events . It was demolished in 2003 and replaced with the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena . The Coliseum was dedicated on November 24, 1960. The general contractor

576-456: Was moved further along the riverbank and opened in 1960 along with the Atlantic Coastline Building. The Civic Auditorium was opened on September 16, 1962, with a performance by the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra. The center served as a replacement for the aging Duval County Armory and became the preferred mid-sized concert venue alongside the Florida Theatre . The civic auditorium consisted of

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