Colisée de Québec

Colisée de Québec (later known as Colisée Pepsi) was a multi-purpose arena located in Quebec City, Quebec.[5] It was the home of the Quebec Nordiques from 1972 to 1995, during their time in the World Hockey Association and National Hockey League. It was also the home of the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League from 1999 until its closing in 2015. The Colisée hosted the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament annually in February until its closing in 2015, with almost 2,300 young hockey players from 16 countries participating annually.

For other stadiums to which Pepsi owns naming rights, see Pepsi Arena (disambiguation).
Colisée de Québec
June 2012 view of the Colisée Pepsi
Former namesColisée de Québec (1949–1999)
Address250 Boulevard Wilfrid-Hamel
LocationQuebec City, Quebec
Coordinates46°49′51″N 71°14′47″W
OwnerQuebec City
OperatorExpoCité
Capacity15,176
SurfaceMulti-surface
Construction
Broke groundMay 24, 1949[1]
OpenedDecember 8, 1949[1]
ClosedSeptember 14, 2015
Construction costC$3 million[2]
($32.8 million in 2018 dollars[3])
ArchitectRobert Blatter[4]
Bouchard & Rinfret
Tenants
Quebec Aces (QSHL / AHL) (1950–1971)
Quebec Remparts (QMJHL) (1969–1985, 1999–2015)
Quebec Nordiques (WHA / NHL) (1972–1995)
Quebec Rafales (IHL) (1996–1998)
Quebec Citadelles (AHL) (1999–2002)
Quebec Radio X (LNAH) (2003–2008)

History

The barrel vault arena was originally built in 1949, seating 10,034, to replace a building on the same site that had burned down a year earlier. Built by architects Rinfret and Bouchard with directions from Robert Blatter and F. Caron, the arena was a mix of International Style exterior and Art Deco interior.[6] It was known as "The House that Béliveau Built", as it was often filled to capacity in its earlier years to watch Jean Béliveau star for the Quebec Aces before moving to the NHL and the Montreal Canadiens. Two decades later, sellout crowds came to see Guy Lafleur as a member of the Quebec Remparts before he too would join the Canadiens.

The colisée served as the host facility of the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament from 1960 to 2015, after the tournament originated at the Quebec Arena in Parc Victoria.[7] It was promoted by Gérard Bolduc and Paul Dumont, who also had connections to the Quebec Remparts.[8]

Le Colisée underwent major renovations in 1980. The old entrance was taken down and replaced with a massive glass facade, and the seating capacity was increased to 15,750 to meet NHL standards of that era after the Nordiques made the jump from the WHA to the NHL. PepsiCo bought the naming rights on November 18, 1999, and its final capacity was 15,176. Coincidentally, the former Quebec Nordiques, now known as the Colorado Avalanche, currently play at Pepsi Center in Denver.

The Philadelphia Flyers played the final five "home" games of the 1967-68 season at the Colisée, after the roof blew off their home arena, the Spectrum.[9]

The arena hosted the 1971 Memorial Cup championship series, in which the Remparts defeated the Edmonton Oil Kings two games to none. Since the championship switched to a tournament format, the Coliseum has hosted it in 1991 and 2003 & 2015. Internationally, the first game of the 1974 Summit Series between Canadian WHA all-stars and the Soviet national team was played at the Coliseum, as were one game in each of the 1976 and 1991 Canada Cups. The arena co-hosted the 1978 IIHF World U20 Championship with Montreal and also co-hosted, along with Halifax, the 2008 IIHF World Championships. Rendez-vous '87, a two-game series between the NHL All-Stars and the Soviet national team, was another highlight in the building's history. Colisée Pepsi has also hosted many big concerts.

Quebec City has entertained several proposals in recent years to return NHL ice hockey to the city; prior to the completion of Centre Vidéotron most of these proposals envisioned using the Colisée as a temporary home while the new arena was built next to the existing facility. On October 10, 2009 Quebec city newspapers such as Le Soleil reported that negotiations were held between the city and the NHL concerning the possibility and pertinence of relocating or creating an NHL franchise into the city.

Former Nordiques owner and Canadian Olympic Committee president Marcel Aubut originally said that there were no plans to demolish the Colisée Pepsi even if a new arena was built. Aubut mentioned a prospective future Winter Olympics bid among other justifications for maintaining the existing arena.[10] As part of the agreement constructing the new arena, an additional $7 million was set aside for renovating the Colisée, should the city have landed a potential National Hockey League expansion franchise before the new arena was completed in 2015.[11]

Videotron Centre opened on September 8, 2015; after its final event—a Metallica concert on September 14, 2015 for the Lords of Summer Tour (two days later, the band would also play the first concert at Videotron Centre), the Colisée was closed to the public, with minimal operations and maintenance since.

In September 2019, the Coliseum's neon sign was removed pending an expected demolition.[12] ExpoCité announced plans to sell 4,000 of the arena's wooden seats to the public on the weekend of October 19 and 20, 2019, while the remaining 11,000 plastic seats would be given to municipalities, schools and other institutions.[13] The city aims to have demolition start by Summer 2020 and finish by December 18, 2020.[14]

Seating capacity

The seating capacity for hockey has gone as follows:

  • 10,034 (1949-1973)[15]
  • 10,004 (1973-1976)[16]
  • 10,012 (1976-1981)[17]
  • 15,250 (1981-1984)[18]
  • 15,434 (1984-1987)[19]
  • 15,399 (1987-2009)[20]
  • 15,176 (2009–2015)[21]
  • The scoreboard in 2007
  • Interior of the Colisée seen from the centre
  • Interior of the Colisée taken on December 7, 2008
  • Interior of the Colisée during a hockey game

References
  1. "Histoire et Sociiété: Le Colisée de Québec, 1949 à aujourd'hui". Histoire et Sociiété. October 9, 2010. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
  2. Halpin, Charlie (December 13, 1949). "New $3,000,000 Quebec Coliseum to Be Opened on Thursday Night". Montreal Gazette. p. 16. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
  3. Canadian inflation numbers based on Statistics Canada tables 18-10-0005-01 (formerly CANSIM 326-0021) "Consumer Price Index, annual average, not seasonally adjusted". Statistics Canada. November 15, 2020. Retrieved November 15, 2020. and 18-10-0004-13 "Consumer Price Index by product group, monthly, percentage change, not seasonally adjusted, Canada, provinces, Whitehorse, Yellowknife and Iqaluit". Statistics Canada. Retrieved November 15, 2020.
  4. LaFerrière, Michèle (January 11, 2008). "La Révolution Blatter". La Presse. Montreal. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  5. Kevin McGran (May 29, 2015). "Demise of Colisee signals the end of an era". The Star. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  6. "Ce cher bon vieux Colisée". May 18, 2014. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  7. "Tournoi international de hockey pee-wee - Unique et mystique". Canoe Sports (in French). 2009-10-02. Retrieved 2010-10-03.
  8. "Gérard Bolduc". Réseau des Sports. 2002-05-03. Retrieved 2018-09-19.
  9. "This Date In Flyers History...March 1". NHL. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  10. Brunt, Stephen (February 8, 2012). "Quebec Ready for Nordiques Return". Sportsnet. Archived from the original on February 10, 2012. Retrieved February 8, 2012.
  11. White, Marianne (March 26, 2012). "New Quebec City Arena Gets the Green Light". Edmonton Journal. Retrieved November 21, 2018 – via PressReader.
  12. Koenig-Soutière, Arnaud (September 8, 2019). "Le lettrage du Colisée enlevé". TVA Nouvelles (in French). Retrieved September 8, 2019.
  13. "Seats from Quebec City Colisee to be sold off ahead of arena demolition". National Post. 9 October 2019. Retrieved 12 October 2019.
  14. Lavallée, Jean-Luc (January 15, 2020). "Colisée de Québec: une démolition peut-être plus complexe que prévu". Le Journal de Québec. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  15. McCarthy, Gary (February 7, 1970). "Quebec Peewee Hockey 'Dream' Now Reality". Montreal Gazette. p. 13.
  16. "Soviets Beat Quebec". Regina Leader-Post. Regina: The Canadian Press. December 8, 1973. p. 23.
  17. "Expansion, Merger, Accommodation–Whatever". Calgary Herald. The Canadian Press. June 25, 1977. p. 41.
  18. Wevurski, Pete (November 24, 1981). "Dion Has a Special Goal in Return to Quebec". Pittsburgh Press. p. C–4.
  19. "If You Want to Rendez-vous, You'd Better Have a Ticket". Montreal Gazette. The Canadian Press. December 11, 1986. p. D–3.
  20. Lapointe, Joe (February 26, 1995). "On Pro Hockey; In Quebec, Sale Rumors and an Arena Agenda". The New York Times. Retrieved November 21, 2018.
  21. Hickey, Pat (January 4, 2012). "Canadian Teams Rake in Cash". Montreal Gazette. Archived from the original on February 6, 2015. Retrieved March 18, 2013.
Preceded by
first arena		 Home of the
Quebec Nordiques
1972–1995		 Succeeded by
McNichols Sports Arena (as Colorado Avalanche)
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