Nashville Municipal Auditorium

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Nashville Municipal Auditorium
NashvilleMunicipalAuditorium.jpg
Location 417 Fourth Avenue North
Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Coordinates 36°10′03.29″N 86°46′56.08″W / 36.1675806°N 86.7822444°W / 36.1675806; -86.7822444Coordinates: 36°10′03.29″N 86°46′56.08″W / 36.1675806°N 86.7822444°W / 36.1675806; -86.7822444
Owner Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County, Tennessee
Operator Metropolitan Government of Nashville & Davidson County, Tennessee
Capacity 9,700 in the round, 8,000 (basketball), 9,432 reserved in the round
Field size Hockey - 85x185 ft
Basketball - 120x60 ft
Surface concrete
Construction
Broke ground 1959
Built 1959–1962
Opened October 7, 1962
Renovated 1993
Construction cost $5 million dollars
Tenants
Nashville Dixie Flyers (EHL) (1962–1971)
Nashville South Stars (CHL) (1981–1983)
Nashville Knights (ECHL) (1989–1996)
Nashville Stars (WBL) (1991)
Nashville Nighthawks/Ice Flyers (CHL) (1996–1998)
Nashville Noise (ABL) (1998)
Belmont Bruins (NCAA) (2001–2003)
Nashville Rollergirls (WFTDA) (2006–present)
Nashville Venom (PIFL) (2014–2015)

The Nashville Municipal Auditorium is an indoor sports and concert venue in Nashville, Tennessee, which also houses the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. Constructed in 1962, the Auditorium was the first public assembly facility in the Mid South with air conditioning.[1]

Concerts[edit]

The venue has hosted performances from genres such as alternative rock, rock 'n' roll, heavy metal, pop, R&B, urban, oldies and Hispanic concerts.

Michael Jackson performed with The Jackson 5 at the NMA on December 29, 1970, January 1 and August 6, 1972, August 8, 1973, and August 31, 1981.[citation needed] Elvis Presley performed two shows at the Nashville Auditorium on July 1, 1973.[citation needed]

In 1967, the auditorium hosted the Country Music Association's first CMA Awards event, before the ceremonies moved to the Ryman Auditorium the following year.

Due to the damage at Grand Ole Opry House due to the May 2010 Tennessee floods, the NMA hosted the June 8, 2010 edition of the Grand Ole Opry.[2] NMA also hosted an Opry show in 1973.

The walls of the upper and lower concourses are decorated with enlarged ticket stubs for events and concerts the auditorium has hosted between the venue's debut in 1962 and 2010.

Religious events[edit]

The Auditorium has also hosted religious events, having hosted Mt. Zion Baptist Church New Day Conference, Teenmania's Acquire the Fire, Dare 2 Share Ministries, and the Tennessee Baptist Convention Youth Evangelism Conference. Its first-ever event was a city-wide Church of Christ gospel meeting.

Sporting events[edit]

Strikeforce Challengers 13, a mixed martial arts event, was held in the building on January 7, 2011.

The NMA hosted the 1994 United States Gymnastic Championships as well as the 1996 Tour of World Figure Skating Championships. The Auditorium has hosted minor league hockey, with the teams known as the Dixie Flyers, South Stars, Knights, Nighthawks, and Nashville Ice Flyers. It has also hosted minor league basketball – the former Nashville Stars and Music City Jammers, and women's professional basketball – the Nashville Noise of the former (Women's) American Basketball League. It was a home court for the Belmont University basketball teams while Striplin Gym was demolished to make way for the Curb Event Center. Additionally, the NMA has hosted several Ohio Valley Conference basketball tournaments, and the Auditorium hosted the OVC again in 2008. From 2011 to 2015, the NMA again hosted the men's and women's OVC basketball tournaments in a new four-day tournament format, subsequently reduced back to a three-day affair featuring only the top eight teams for 2016 and 2017. The capacity is set around 8,000 during these tournaments. It currently hosts the annual Magnet Madness basketball game between rivals Hume-Fogg High School and Martin Luther King Magnet.

Many Professional wrestling events were hosted in the arena including the NWA's Wrestle War 89 which featured a world title change and voted match of the year by PWI, Ric Flair vesus Ricky Steamboat. It also was the home for the World Wrestling Federation's No Holds Barred: The Match/The Movie PPV special held in December 1989 as well as the World Wrestling Federation's second In Your House PPV in 1995. It was a favorite venue over the years for World Championship Wrestling, which hosted its supercard show Starrcade there from 1994 to 1996 and its final Clash of the Champions show there in 1997, as well as its penultimate pay-per-view event, SuperBrawl Revenge, in 2001. Masato Tanaka won his only ECW Heavyweight Championship by defeating Mike Awesome at Municipal at an ECW on TNN taping in December 1999. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling held their first events there June 2002 before moving to the Tennessee State Fairgrounds. The arena also hosted TNA Wrestling's TNA Slammiversary in June 2007 and Lockdown pay-per-view on April 15, 2012.

The Music City Stars, then known as the Nashville Broncs, an American Basketball Association expansion team, began its inaugural season at the NMA in November 2008.

The Professional Bull Riders association hosted a Built Ford Tough Series event at this venue from its inception in 1994 until 2001 (during this era the BFTS was known as the Bud Light Cup). In 2002, the event was moved to the Gaylord Entertainment Center (now the Bridgestone Arena). The NMA hosted Tuff Hedeman's CBR All-Star Shoot-Out on June 10, 2009 and again in 2010.

It is currently home to the Nashville Rollergirls, a flat track roller derby league, and a member of the Women's Flat Track Derby Association.

On November 6, 2013 the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL) announced that an expansion team would bring indoor football back to the Nashville sports market. The Nashville Venom would begin PIFL play for the 2014 season in Municipal Auditorium. On July 12, 2014, the Venom won that year’s PIFL Championship Game defeating the Lehigh Valley Steelhawks 64-43.[3] The team returned for a second season in 2015, after which the entire league folded.

Musicians' Hall of Fame and Museum[edit]

On June 4, 2013, the auditorium began housing the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum. The museum was forced from its previous building as a result of the construction of the Music City Center. The Hall of Fame moved into the exhibition floor of the Nashville Municipal Auditorium, and the official name of the entire building changed to Musicians' Hall of Fame and Museum at Nashville Municipal Auditorium.[4]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Page 2-F of the Sunday Tennessean Oct.7, 1962.
  2. ^ http://search2.opry.com/?view=events
  3. ^ Moore, Lauren (July 13, 2014). "Nashville Venom win first indoor football title". Retrieved July 14, 2014. 
  4. ^ Williams, William (November 7, 2012). "Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum shoots for year-end opening". NashvillePost.com. Retrieved June 14, 2013. 

External links[edit]

Events and tenants
Preceded by
TNA Impact! Zone
Host of Slammiversary
2007
Succeeded by
DeSoto Civic Center
Preceded by
U.S. Bank Arena
Host of Lockdown
2012
Succeeded by
Alamodome