 The Roberto Clemente Coliseum in 2007 | |
 Interactive map of Roberto Clemente Coliseum | |
| Location | Franklin Delano Roosevelt Ave. Oriente, San Juan, Puerto Rico |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 18°24′57″N66°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 1, 1973; 52 years ago (1973-02-01) |
| Tenants | |
| Cangrejeros de Santurce Puerto Rico national basketball team (1973–present) | |
Roberto Clemente Coliseum (Spanish:Coliseo Roberto Clemente) is a sports and concertarena located inSan 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 afterbaseball hall of famerRoberto Clemente,who died in a plane crash offIsla Verde International Airport inCarolina in 1972, while flying with relief articles to be given to victims of theNicaragua earthquake. Construction of the facility began in the late 1960s, it was finished in January 1973, and inaugurated in February of that year by theFania All-Stars.
The coliseum has been host to a variety of events, including world championshipboxing andbasketball, business expos, circus, concerts and other things.
ManyPuerto 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 theirIII Tour on September 20 and December 11, 1998, but the shows were cancelled.
It has been the home of three differentBSN professionalbasketball 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, includingRoberto Durán's world title defense versus MexicanLeoncio Ortiz,Wilfredo Gómez'sknockout win againstCarlos Zarate, many ofSamuel Serrano's title defenses, and the fight whereMuhammad Ali defended his title againstJean 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 aborn-again Christian in one of its dressing rooms) before announcing his first retirement there, andJulio César Chávez had one of his first important fights there, on the undercard ofEdwin Rosario's world Lightweight championship win againstJosé 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 thegolden age ofboxing in Puerto Rico.
The arena also hosted the final phase of the1974World Basketball championship.[3]
The Coliseum has also been the place of large political rallies, and Puerto Rico'selectoral commission uses its facilities to count votes after each election, and also hostedMiss Universe 2002, won byOxana Fedorova ofRussia. 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 | |
| Preceded by | Miss Universe Venue 2002 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | FIBA World Cup Final Venue 1974 | Succeeded by |
Pan American Games venues in basketball | ||
|---|---|---|
|  | |
Authority control databases: Geographic |
|---|
.svg)