General James White Memorial Civic Auditorium and Coliseum (usually shortened to Knoxville Civic Coliseum) is a multi-purpose events facility in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...

, owned by the Knoxville city government and managed by SMG. Its components are an auditorium with a maximum seating capacity of 2,500, a multi-purpose arena with a maximum seating capacity of 6,500, an exhibition hall and a reception hall. It was built in 1961. ColiseumPanorama

The arena is home to the

Knoxville Ice Bears The Knoxville Ice Bears are a professional ice hockey team. The team competes in the Southern Professional Hockey League. They play their home games at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Ice Bears have made the playoff ...

, of the SPHL and the University of Tennessee Ice Vols, of the ACHA. In the past, the arena hosted the Knoxville Speed, of the UHL, the Knoxville Cherokees, of the

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 ...

and the Knoxville Knights, of the EHL. It was also the home of the Tennessee ThunderCats/Riverhawks professional indoor football franchise. It was the main home arena for

Smoky Mountain Wrestling Smoky Mountain Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the Appalachian area of the United States from October 1991 to December 1995, when it was run by Jim Cornette. The promotion was based in Knoxville, Tennessee, w ...

, a regional wrestling promotion, run by pro wrestling

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Jim Cornette James Mark "Jim" Cornette (born September 17, 1961) is an American author and podcaster who has previously worked in the professional wrestling industry as an agent, booker, color commentator, manager, promoter, trainer, and occasional prof ...

from 1992 to 1995. Performances hosted in the facility have included

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and unicyclis ...

es, plays and musicals, symphony orchestra concerts, popular music concerts, and comedians. On March 18, 1982, the venue was notable to be the site of Randy Rhoads final show, before his death in a plane crash the very next day.

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

broke the record (at that time) for the fastest sellout to a concert at the Coliseum for their August 26, 1971, performance. KCAC2021

References

External links

Indoor arenas in Tennessee Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States Sports venues in Tennessee Arena football venues Music venues in East Tennessee Sports venues in Knoxville, Tennessee Performing arts centers in Tennessee 1961 establishments in Tennessee Sports venues completed in 1961 College ice hockey venues in the United States {{Tennessee-stadium-stub