Music and Sports Venues

U.S. Bank Arena is located along the Ohio River in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio. This indoor arena has been around for a long time. It opened in 1975 as Riverfront Coliseum and was home to the Cincinnati Stringers of the World Hockey Association from 1975 to 1979. The first event to take place at the arena was an Allman Brothers Band concert with special guest Muddy Waters which took place on September 9, 1975. There were 16,721 in attendance for the concert. Since that opening night there have been thousands of events over the years. The venue has hosted concerts, hockey games, figure skating, political rallies, tennis tournaments, professional wrestling to name a few. It has also hosted regional action of the Men’s NCAA basketball tournament in 1979, 1987, 1988 and 1992.

Over the years, the arena has had four names. It was Riverfront Coliseum from 1975 to 1997, The Crown from 1997 to 1999 and Firstar Center from 1999 to 2002. In 2002 it became U.S. Bank Arena when Firstar acquired U.S. Bancorp and has remained unchanged for over 15 years. The venue seats just over 17,500 for concerts, 17,000 for basketball and just under 14,500 for hockey. The Cincinnati Bearcats (University of Cincinnati) men’s basketball team called the facility home from 1975 to 1987. From there they moved to Cincinnati Gardens and eventually to the Fifth Third Arena which was built on the school campus and opened in 1989.

A tragedy occurred at the arena in 1979 before the start of a Who concert. Eleven people were killed and 26 others were injured when fans rushed the doors to get into the arena. Festival seating was in effect for the concert that night for the majority of the seats meaning they were first come first serve. When the crowd heard the band performing a sound check they thought the concert was starting and began pushing to get in not knowing the doors weren’t open. As a result of the tragedy the city of Cincinnati immediately outlawed festival seating for all events. Other cities across the U.S. either changed the rules for festival seating or switched to reserve seating.

The ban on festival seating began affecting the ability to book concerts because a lot of performers like the fact that festival seating brings the most passionate fans near the stage. They in turn create a high energy atmosphere that spreads throughout the venue. Cincinnati was the only city in the country to completely outlaw festival seating but they ended up repealing the law in 2004.

The arena’s primary tenant is the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL. In 1997 Doug Kirchhofer, the team owner at the time, headed a group that purchased Riverfront Coliseum and spent $14 million in renovations and renamed it The Crown. The renovations included a JumboTron in the center of the coliseum, a new sound system, new seating throughout the venue, the restrooms and concourses were all redone and the concession areas were redesigned and expanded. The outside of the building was also redesigned and the entrance was changed.

Even with the renovations that took place in 1997 the arena lacks a lot of amenities that newer facilities have. Nederlander Entertainment now owns the building and they along with the city of Cincinnati are facing a dilemma. The NCAA has announced that Cincinnati will host the first two rounds of the 2022 men’s basketball tournament under one condition…… they want a better arena. Nederlander wants to completely tear down the current venue and build a new arena with more luxury boxes but they can’t do it without the support of the taxpayers. Cincinnati currently has a quarter-cent sales tax that was used to make renovations to Union Terminal that will expire in 2020. The owners want the city to extend the sales tax for another six years to support the construction of a new arena. The owners believe that other big events would come to Cincinnati if the city had a new modern facility to show off. The plans for the new arena have been put together and the cost is $342 million. It’s going to be interesting to see what happens as time gets closer to the 2022 tournament.

In the meantime if you are going to U.S. Bank Arena you won’t have any trouble getting there. It is located next to Great American Ballpark along the Ohio River. Both I-75 and I-71 pass within a few miles of the arena. There are parking garages close by so you should not have trouble parking. There are also shuttles that run from across the river in Covington and Newport, KY from hotels and major attractions and the cost is only $1.00. There are also shuttles available from different points around Cincinnati. Between Cyclones hockey, concerts and other events there is always something happening at U.S. Bank Arena. Plan to attend an event if you are in Cincinnati. Who knows it might be your last chance to see the arena before it gets demolished to make room for a new one.

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