For 24 years, a squat concrete arena on Bryant Street was the loudest room in Denver — the place where the Nuggets fought for ABA and NBA relevance, where the Avalanche hosted Stanley Cup Finals games on their way to the franchise’s first title, and where a scrappy new promotion called the Ultimate Fighting Championship staged its very first event. McNichols Sports Arena never had the polish of the glass-and-suite arenas that came after it, but it packed more history into two and a half decades than most venues manage in twice that time.
This guide covers everything worth knowing about McNichols Sports Arena: exactly where it stood, what it cost and looked like, every major tenant and record it hosted, why it was demolished at just 24 years old, and what occupies the site today.
Quick Answer
McNichols Sports Arena was an indoor arena at 1635 Bryant Street in Denver, Colorado, open from August 22, 1975 to September 29, 1999. It was home to the Denver Nuggets (ABA/NBA), the NHL’s Colorado Rockies and Colorado Avalanche, and hosted UFC 1 in 1993 and the NBA’s highest-scoring game ever in 1983. It was demolished in 2000 to make way for parking around what is now Empower Field at Mile High.
Where McNichols Sports Arena Was Located
The arena sat at 1635 Bryant Street in Denver’s Sun Valley neighborhood, immediately adjacent to the old Mile High Stadium (the Broncos’ home before Empower Field replaced it). The two venues shared a footprint west of downtown Denver, near the South Platte River and I-25.
Nothing of McNichols remains on-site today. After demolition in 2000, the land was absorbed into the surface parking lots that surround Empower Field at Mile High, and it now serves gameday parking rather than any standing structure. The Nuggets and Avalanche’s current home, Ball Arena (originally Pepsi Center), sits about a mile away in the Ball Arena/Auraria district.
Construction and Opening Night
Groundbreaking took place on August 8, 1973, and the arena opened just over two years later, on August 22, 1975. It was designed by Charles S. Sink & Associates and built for $16 million — roughly $115–120 million in today’s dollars, a fraction of what modern arenas cost. The very first event held there wasn’t a game at all: bandleader Lawrence Welk played the opening concert.
A 1986 renovation added the arena’s only luxury suites — 27 of them — along with an upgraded color video scoreboard, but the building’s basic bones stayed the same from 1975 until its final night in 1999.
Teams That Called McNichols Home
The Denver Nuggets played all 24 of the arena’s years there, spanning their final ABA seasons and their entire NBA tenure through 1999. On the hockey side, the NHL’s Colorado Rockies used it as their home rink from 1976 to 1982 before relocating to become the New Jersey Devils, and the Colorado Avalanche played there from their arrival in Denver in 1995 until the move to the Pepsi Center in 1999.
Shorter-term tenants included the Denver Spurs of the World Hockey Association, who played a single 1975–76 season at McNichols, and the Colorado Flames of the Central Hockey League. The building was also a regular stop for the NCAA, the NBA, and touring concerts throughout its life.
Record-Breaking Sports History
McNichols is written into the NBA record book: on December 13, 1983, the Detroit Pistons beat the Denver Nuggets 186–184 in triple overtime, still the highest-scoring game in NBA history. Nuggets forwards Kiki Vandeweghe and Alex English combined for 98 points that night.
The arena also hosted the 1984 NBA All-Star Game and the 1990 NCAA Men’s Basketball Final Four, where UNLV blew out Duke for the national championship. Its biggest hockey moment came during the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals, when the Avalanche hosted Games 1 and 2 of their four-game sweep of the Florida Panthers at McNichols — the Cup itself was clinched on the road in triple overtime at Miami Arena, giving Denver its first major professional sports title since the franchise’s move from Quebec.
UFC 1: Where Mixed Martial Arts Began
On November 12, 1993, McNichols hosted UFC 1: The Beginning, the first-ever Ultimate Fighting Championship event and the birthplace of modern MMA as a televised sport. Organizers picked Denver in large part because Colorado had no state athletic commission at the time, meaning there was no regulatory body that could block the event’s then-controversial no-holds-barred format.
The event drew roughly 8,000 fans in person and almost no local newspaper coverage — Denver’s papers didn’t send reporters — but it went on to become one of the most consequential nights in combat-sports history, launching a promotion now worth billions.
Concerts and Entertainment History
Beyond sports, McNichols was Denver’s main indoor concert venue for most of its existence. Elvis Presley played his final Denver concert there on April 23, 1976, to a sold-out crowd of about 19,000. The Grateful Dead performed at the arena more than a dozen times over the years, and it also hosted major arena tours by acts including U2, Prince, and Michael Jackson.
The arena’s last-ever event, on September 12, 1999, was a concert by ZZ Top — closing out the building’s run just weeks after its final sports tenants had already departed for the Pepsi Center.
Why McNichols Sports Arena Was Demolished
McNichols closed on September 29, 1999, after the Nuggets and Avalanche moved to the newly built Pepsi Center, and it was torn down in 2000 — despite being only 24 years old. The reason wasn’t structural: it was economic. By the late 1990s, team revenue depended heavily on premium seating, and McNichols simply couldn’t compete. It had just 27 luxury suites versus the 200-plus in newer arenas, offered no club seating at all, and its locker rooms and narrow concourses no longer met NBA or NHL standards.
Once both anchor tenants left for a venue built around those revenue streams, McNichols had no path to staying financially viable, and the site’s real value became the parking it could provide for the new Mile High Stadium next door.
Legacy
McNichols Sports Arena is gone, but its imprint on Denver sports is still cited constantly: it’s the answer to trivia questions about the NBA’s highest-scoring game, the birthplace of UFC, and the building where the Avalanche played home games during their run to Colorado’s first major pro championship. For a venue that stood barely a quarter-century, few arenas anywhere packed in as many defining moments.
McNichols Sports Arena FAQs
When did McNichols Sports Arena open and close?
It opened on August 22, 1975, and closed on September 29, 1999, when the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche moved to the newly built Pepsi Center. It was demolished in 2000.
Where exactly was McNichols Sports Arena located?
It stood at 1635 Bryant Street in Denver, directly next to the old Mile High Stadium. The site is now part of the parking lots surrounding Empower Field at Mile High.
Which teams called McNichols Sports Arena home?
The Denver Nuggets (ABA/NBA, 1975–1999) were the primary tenant, along with the NHL’s Colorado Rockies (1976–1982) and Colorado Avalanche (1995–1999). The Denver Spurs of the WHA also played there in 1975–76.
Why was McNichols Sports Arena torn down after only 24 years?
It became economically obsolete rather than structurally unsound. It had just 27 luxury suites versus 200-plus in modern arenas, no club seating, and outdated locker rooms that no longer met NBA or NHL standards, so it couldn’t generate the premium-seat revenue newer arenas could once both tenants left for the Pepsi Center.
Did UFC 1 really take place at McNichols Arena?
Yes. UFC 1: The Beginning was held there on November 12, 1993, the first event in Ultimate Fighting Championship history. Denver was chosen partly because Colorado had no state athletic commission to regulate or block the event.
What is the highest-scoring game in NBA history, and where was it played?
The Detroit Pistons beat the Denver Nuggets 186–184 in triple overtime at McNichols Sports Arena on December 13, 1983 — still the highest-scoring game in NBA history.
Did the Colorado Avalanche clinch the 1996 Stanley Cup at McNichols Sports Arena?
No. The Avalanche hosted Games 1 and 2 of the 1996 Stanley Cup Finals at McNichols, but the series-clinching Game 4 win over the Florida Panthers happened on the road at Miami Arena, where Uwe Krupp scored the Cup-winning goal in triple overtime.
What replaced McNichols Sports Arena?
The Nuggets and Avalanche moved to the Pepsi Center (now Ball Arena) in 1999. McNichols itself was demolished in 2000 and its site became parking for Empower Field at Mile High, next door.
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