Mississippi Coast Coliseum is an 11,500-seat reserved seating, 15,000 festival seating, multi-purpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

Biloxi, Mississippi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in and one of two county seats of Harrison County, Mississippi, United States (the other being the adjacent city of Gulfport). The 2010 United States Census recorded the population as 44,054 and in 2019 the estimated popu ...

. It was built in 1977. It hosted the

WCW World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nationa ...

Beach Blast in 1993 and the

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

men's basketball tournament in 1992 and 1993. The

Metro Conference The Metropolitan Collegiate Athletic Conference, popularly known as the Metro Conference, was an NCAA Division I athletics conference, so named because its six charter members were all in urban metropolitan areas, though its later members did n ...

men's basketball tournaments were contested there in 1990 and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. In addition, the rematch between legendary

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

former world heavyweight champion

Larry Holmes Larry Holmes (born November 3, 1949) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1973 to 2002 and was world heavyweight champion from 1978 until 1985. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which led to his boxing nickname of the "Eas ...

and his fellow former world heavyweight champion Mike Weaver was held at the Coast Coliseum on November 17, 2000; Holmes winning by sixth-round technical knockout. The first concert held at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum was by Charley Pride on November 18, 1977, while the first rock band to perform was Blue Oyster Cult on April 16, 1978. The Mississippi Coast Coliseum also holds one of the largest crawfish festivals in America. This event is held every year, over two weekends in April.

Ice hockey

It was previously home to the

Mississippi Sea Wolves The Mississippi Sea Wolves are a professional hockey team based in Biloxi, Mississippi, and play in the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. The Sea Wolves are members of the FPHL. They are a revival of a team by the same name that played in the ECHL, ma ...

(

ECHL The ECHL (formerly the East Coast Hockey League) is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Shrewsbury, New Jersey, with teams scattered across the United States and Canada. It is a tier below the American Hockey League (AHL). The E ...

)

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

team. Due to damages to the arena by heavy flooding and winds from

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

in August 2005, the Sea Wolves cancelled their 2005–2006 and 2006–2007 seasons. Repairs are now virtually complete, and the Sea Wolves returned to the ice on October 27, 2007. On March 30, 2009, the Sea Wolves announced they had suspended operations once again. However, the Coliseum was not without ice hockey entirely, as the

Mississippi Surge The Mississippi Surge were a professional hockey team in the Southern Professional Hockey League that began play in the 2009–10 season and folded on May 2, 2014. Playing for five seasons, the Surge was based in Biloxi and home games were played ...

announced its membership in the

Southern Professional Hockey League The Southern Professional Hockey League (SPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league based in Huntersville, North Carolina, with teams located primarily in the southeastern United States as well as Illinois and Indiana in the mid ...

and played at the Coliseum from 2009 to 2014. In 2021, the

Federal Prospects Hockey League The Federal Prospects Hockey League (FPHL) is a professional ice hockey independent minor league with teams in the Midwestern, Southern, and Northeastern United States. The FPHL began operations in November 2010 as the Federal Hockey League. D ...

hosted three neutral site games in Biloxi and an ownership group announced a new Sea Wolves team would begin playing in the 2022–23 season. The new organization gained an approval from the county board of supervisors for a two-year lease, pending league approval of the expansion team.

Basketball

It was home to the

Gulf Coast Bandits The Gulf Coast Bandits were a World Basketball Association franchise in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Bandits sat out the 2006 season due to Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over ...

, a

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team that played in the

World Basketball Association The World Basketball Association (WBA) was a semi-professional men's spring basketball league in the United States. The league suspended operations after the 2013 season. History The WBA was conceived in 2009, with seven teams scheduled to play. ...

(WBA). The Bandits cancelled their 2006 season for the same reasons as the Sea Wolves and didn't return in 2007. The Coliseum also hosted the Mississippi Coast Gamblers of the

United States Basketball League The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

in 1994. On October 13, 2013, the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their hom ...

hosted the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Eastern Conference Southeast Division (NBA), Sou ...

in a preseason

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

game. Nearly 4,000 spectators came to the game, won by the Pelicans. The coliseum hosted the 1990 and 1994

Metro Conference men's basketball tournament The Metro Conference men's basketball tournament was the conference championship tournament in men's basketball for the Metro Conference. The tournament was held annually between 1976 and 1996, when the Metro Conference was absorbed into Conferen ...

Soccer

The

Mississippi Beach Kings The Mississippi Beach Kings were an indoor soccer team based in Biloxi, Mississippi, United States. They played their games in the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. They were members of the Eastern Indoor Soccer League and played only during the 1998 ...

, under the leadership of general manager Roy Turner and coach

Gary Hindley Gary Hindley (born May 8, 1947) is an American soccer coach. He has coached youth soccer, high school, college and professional teams. He won Coach of the Year honors in 1984 in the United Soccer League, 1991 American Professional Soccer League a ...

, went 18–10 during the 1998 season in the

Eastern Indoor Soccer League The Eastern Indoor Soccer League (EISL) was an American professional regional indoor soccer league. The league featured teams from the Southeastern United States. The regular seasons were played from May to August with post-season play in Septem ...

. Hindley was voted coach of the year for the second-place finish. The Beach Kings won their first playoff series over the

Huntsville Fire The Huntsville Fire was an American professional indoor soccer team based in Huntsville, Alabama. The Fire played in the Eastern Indoor Soccer League during both of the league's seasons from 1997 to 1998. They played their home games in the Von ...

, two games to one, and lost the championship game to the regular-season champion

Lafayette Swampcats The Lafayette SwampCats were a professional indoor soccer team based in Lafayette, Louisiana that played in the EISL during both of the leagues seasons from 1997 to 1998. They played their home games in the Cajundome. The SwampCats were champion ...

, 10–9. The EISL folded the next year.

Football

The

Mississippi Fire Dogs The Mississippi Fire Dogs were a professional indoor American football team based in Biloxi, Mississippi. They played their home games at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum. They were a charter member of the Indoor Professional Football League. They p ...

of the

National Indoor Football League The National Indoor Football League (NIFL) was a professional indoor football league in the United States. For their first six years, the league had teams in markets not covered by either the Arena Football League or its developmental league, A ...

also played at the arena, folding in 2003.

Music

It also holds an annual

rock festival A rock festival is an open-air rock concert featuring many different performers, typically spread over two or three days and having a campsite and other amenities and forms of entertainment provided at the venue. Some festivals are singular even ...

, known to the locals as CPR FEST. It is presented by the local radio station 97.9 WCPR-FM. It consists of various popular rock artists. Such bands as

Three Days Grace Three Days Grace is a Canadian Rock music, rock band formed in Norwood, Ontario in 1992 originally as "Groundswell" and played in various local Norwood backyard parties and area establishments before disbanding in 1995 and regrouping in 1997. ...

Hinder Hinder is an American rock band from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, formed in 2001 by lead singer Austin John Winkler, guitarist Joe "Blower" Garvey, and drummer Cody Hanson with bassist Mike Roden and guitarist Mark King joining in 2003, solidifying ...

, and

Staind Staind ( ) is an American rock band from Springfield, Massachusetts, formed in 1995. The original lineup consisted of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Aaron Lewis, lead guitarist Mike Mushok, bassist and backing vocalist Johnny April, and dr ...

have performed at the event. In 2007, Daughtry,

Saliva Saliva (commonly referred to as spit) is an extracellular fluid produced and secreted by salivary glands in the mouth. In humans, saliva is around 99% water, plus electrolytes, mucus, white blood cells, epithelial cells (from which DNA can be ...

, and

Puddle of Mudd Puddle of Mudd is an American rock band formed in Kansas City, Missouri in 1992. To date, the band has sold over seven million albums and has had a string of No. 1 mainstream rock singles in the United States. Their major-label debut '' Co ...

performed. Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue both played here during the height of their success. Depeche Mode have also performed at the venue during their Devotional World Tour.

Miranda Lambert Miranda Leigh Lambert (born November 10, 1983) is an American country singer and guitarist. Born in Longview, Texas, she started out in early 2001 when she released her self-titled debut album independently. In 2003, she finished in third place o ...

has performed in the venue multiple times, most recently being during her

Wildcard Tour The Wildcard Tour was the tenth concert tour by American country music artist Miranda Lambert, in support of her seventh studio album ''Wildcard'' (2019). It began on January 16, 2020, in Tupelo, Mississippi at the BancorpSouth Arena and was sch ...

in early 2020.

Wrestling

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

has held many events, including ''

WWE Smackdown ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...

'' and ''

WWE Raw ''WWE Raw'', also known as ''Monday Night Raw'' or simply ''Raw'', is an American professional wrestling television show, television program produced by WWE that currently airs live every Monday at 8 p.m. Eastern Time Zone, ET on the USA Networ ...

''. It has also held many house shows, and in September 2013, it held ''Monday Night Raw'' for the first time in 8 years. ''SmackDown'' comes about once a year.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Basketball venues in Mississippi Sports venues completed in 1977 Buildings and structures in Biloxi, Mississippi Event venues established in 1977 1977 establishments in Mississippi Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States Soccer venues in Mississippi Tourist attractions in Harrison County, Mississippi 1970s architecture in the United States Continental Basketball Association venues Sports in Biloxi, Mississippi