The venue is situated approximately 7 miles 11 km east of the eastern limits of the borough of Queens in New York City , adjacent to the Meadowbrook Parkway. It is one of the larger public auditoriums in the New York metropolitan area. Opened in , [ 5 ] the Coliseum occupies 63 acres 25 ha of Mitchel Field , a former Army airfield, later an Air Force base. The Coliseum is used for sporting events, concerts, large exhibitions, as well as trade showsβ44, square feet 4, m 2 at the main arena, 60, square feet 5, m 2 at the Expo Center.
In , the arena was closed for a major renovation which was completed in April After the move was commercially unsuccessful, the team split its home schedule between Barclays and the renovated Coliseum from to and played the home portion of their β21 season at the Coliseum, before moving to the new UBS Arena at Belmont Park for the β22 season, which is also on Hempstead Turnpike , 7. Currently, the Nets serve as the building's main tenant. The Coliseum originally had a capacity of 13, to 15, depending on the event, and in the early s the maximum capacity was increased to around 18, Before closing for renovations in the Coliseum seated 16, for hockey, up to 18, for concerts and 17, for boxing.
Those renovations resulted in drastically reduced capacities: 13, for hockey and 14, for basketball. The New York Raiders , intended by the fledgling World Hockey Association to be their flagship franchise, were slated to play in the new Nassau Coliseum in β However, the Nassau County government did not consider the WHA a fully professional league and wanted nothing to do with the Raiders.
Flames forward Morris Stefaniw scored the first NHL goal in the building at of the first period, while Ed Westfall scored the first goal for the Islanders, as the Flames won the game 3β2. The first Islanders' home win at the arena was on October 12, , where they defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3β2.
The Islanders' first playoff win at the arena came on April 20, , where they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4β2. On April 22, , the Islanders earned their first playoff series victory at the arena by defeating the Buffalo Sabres 3β2, and winning the series 4β2. On February 8, , the arena hosted the 35th National Hockey League All-Star Game , during which Wayne Gretzky scored four goals in the third period and was honored as the game's most valuable player.
