Roberto Clemente Coliseum

Roberto Clemente Coliseum

The Roberto Clemente Coliseum in 2007
Location	Franklin Delano Roosevelt Ave. Oriente, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Coordinates	18°24′57″N 66°04′31″W / 18.4159°N 66.0754°W / 18.4159; -66.0754
Owner	San Juan Municipality
Operator	San Juan Municipality
Capacity	12,500[1]
Opened	February 1973
Tenants
Cangrejeros de Santurce Puerto Rico national basketball team (1973–present)

Roberto Clemente Coliseum (Spanish: Coliseo Roberto Clemente) is a sports and concert arena located in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was, for many years, Puerto Rico's largest indoor event facility, and remains one of the largest.

The Coliseum is named after baseball hall of famer Roberto Clemente, who died in a plane crash off Isla Verde International Airport in Carolina in 1972, while flying with relief articles to be given to victims of the Nicaragua earthquake. Construction of the facility began in the early 1970s, it was finished in January 1973, and inaugurated in February of that year by the Fania All-Stars.

The coliseum has been host to a variety of events, including world championship boxing and basketball, business expos, circus, concerts and other things.

Many Puerto Rican and international performers have been at the arena, among others.

Concerts that have been held there include:

Van Halen were scheduled to perform during their III Tour on September 20 and December 11, 1998, but the shows were cancelled.

It has been the home of three different BSN professional basketball teams and the BSN has also used it as a neutral site for their most important games, including game 7 of the championship finals, several times.

The Coliseum has also been used by religious leaders for conferences and religious services.

Most of the world championship boxing bouts fought in Puerto Rico during the late 1970s and early 1980s were fought at the Roberto Clemente coliseum, including Roberto Durán's world title defense versus Mexican Leoncio Ortiz, Wilfredo Gómez's knockout win against Carlos Zarate, many of Samuel Serrano's title defenses, and the fight where Muhammad Ali defended his title against Jean Pierre Coopman, the only time a world Heavyweight championship fight has been held in Puerto Rico. George Foreman had his last fight (and experienced the vision that led him to become a born-again Christian in one of its dressing rooms) before announcing his first retirement there, and Julio César Chávez had one of his first important fights there, on the undercard of Edwin Rosario's world Lightweight championship win against José Luis Ramírez. Because of all the boxing action going on during that era, many observers call the period from the middle 1970s to the middle 1980s as the golden age of boxing in Puerto Rico.

The arena also hosted the final phase of the 1974 World Basketball championship.^[3]

The Coliseum has also been the place of large political rallies, and Puerto Rico's electoral commission uses its facilities to count votes after each election, and also hosted Miss Universe 2002, won by Oxana Fedorova of Russia. The Van Halen concert was cancelled due to a hurricane. Some days later the band sent a cargo plane with care packages.

International basketball matches
Date	Competition	Home	Away	Score	Attendance
June 28, 2018	2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification	Puerto Rico	Cuba	84–80
July 1, 2018	2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification	Puerto Rico	Mexico	84–79
September 14, 2018	2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification	Puerto Rico	Panama	82–73	8,500
February 22, 2019	2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification	Puerto Rico	Argentina	87–86 (OT)	8,000
February 25, 2019	2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup qualification	Puerto Rico	Uruguay	65–61	9,000
February 20, 2020	2022 FIBA AmeriCup qualification	Puerto Rico	United States	70–83
February 19, 2021	2022 FIBA AmeriCup qualification	Puerto Rico	Mexico	90–80
February 20, 2021	2022 FIBA AmeriCup qualification	Puerto Rico	Bahamas	102–97

• List of buildings and structures in Puerto Rico

Preceded by Coliseo Rubén Rodríguez Bayamón	Miss Universe Venue 2002	Succeeded by Figali Convention Center Panama City
Preceded by Dvorana Tivoli Ljubljana	FIBA World Cup Final Venue 1974	Succeeded by Araneta Coliseum Quezon City