Richfield Coliseum closed for good on September 24, 1994. Its farewell concert — a show by The Who’s Roger Daltrey on September 1, 1994 — was the last official event ever held inside the arena that once sat halfway between Cleveland and Akron, Ohio.
The building’s shutdown didn’t happen all at once. Its main tenant, the Cleveland Cavaliers, had already played their last game there months earlier before decamping for a new downtown arena, leaving the Coliseum to wind down its concert and event calendar before going dark for good in the fall of 1994. Below is the full timeline, the reasons ownership pulled out, the arena’s stats and biggest events, and exactly what stands on the site today — plus how to visit it.
Quick Answer
Richfield Coliseum’s official closing date was September 24, 1994. Its final tenant, the Cleveland Cavaliers, played their last game there on May 3, 1994, before moving to the new Gund Arena in downtown Cleveland; the building itself stayed open for concerts through the summer, with a Roger Daltrey show on September 1, 1994 serving as the arena’s final concert. It sat empty for five years and was demolished in 1999. Today the site is restored grassland inside Cuyahoga Valley National Park, open to the public and free to visit.
The Exact Closing Timeline
The Coliseum’s closure happened in stages, which is why online sources sometimes give conflicting answers. The Cleveland Cavaliers, the arena’s primary tenant for two decades, played their final home game at Richfield on May 3, 1994, as the franchise prepared to relocate to the newly built Gund Arena (now Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse) for the 1994-95 season.
The building itself, however, kept hosting concerts through the summer. The final concert held at Richfield Coliseum was a Roger Daltrey show on September 1, 1994 — a fitting bookend to a venue that had opened twenty years earlier, on October 26, 1974, with a Frank Sinatra performance. The Coliseum’s official closing date came a few weeks later, on September 24, 1994, after which the lights went out on the building for good and it never reopened.
Why Richfield Coliseum Closed
The Cavaliers’ departure was the deciding blow, but it capped years of operational strain that made Richfield Coliseum harder to sustain than its owners had hoped. The site’s single main access road, State Route 303, produced brutal traffic jams before big events, and Northeast Ohio winters made the isolated, highway-adjacent location tough to reach for fans coming from either Cleveland or Akron.
Team ownership also wanted the modern revenue streams that a downtown arena could offer — more luxury suites, closer sightlines, and a location tied into a city’s entertainment district — advantages Richfield’s 1970s suburban design couldn’t match. George and Gordon Gund, who owned the Cavaliers, announced plans for the downtown arena in 1991; once that deal was locked in, Richfield Coliseum lost its only anchor tenant and had no realistic path to staying open on concerts and one-off events alone.
Location, Capacity & Design
Richfield Coliseum stood at 2923 Streetsboro Road in Richfield Township, Ohio, roughly equidistant from downtown Cleveland and downtown Akron — the exact midpoint site that team owner Nick Mileti chose on purpose. The arena was designed by George E. Ross Architects and cost about $36 million to build, a figure that would run into the hundreds of millions in today’s dollars.
It seated 20,273 for basketball and 18,544 for hockey, making it one of the larger arenas in the country when it opened. The building even drew an announced crowd of roughly 20,000 fans on April 6, 1986, when the Cleveland Force hosted Minnesota — long cited as one of the largest crowds in American major indoor soccer history.
A Hub for Cleveland and Akron Sports
Nick Mileti chose Richfield Township precisely because it split the difference between Ohio’s two largest metro areas, a gamble that paid off in attendance figures throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. The arena rotated through a remarkable number of professional tenants: the WHA’s Cleveland Crusaders played there in its early years, the NHL’s Cleveland Barons called it home from 1976 to 1978, and indoor soccer’s Cleveland Force and Cleveland Crunch drew crowds through the 1980s and early 1990s. The IHL’s Cleveland Lumberjacks and AFL’s Cleveland Thunderbolts rounded out a tenant list that few arenas of any era could match.
The Coliseum also hosted the 1981 NBA All-Star Game and two notable heavyweight boxing bouts: Muhammad Ali’s March 24, 1975 fight against Chuck Wepner — a 15-round TKO win for Ali, and the real-life fight that helped inspire the movie Rocky — and a 1983 WBA title bout between Michael Dokes and Gerrie Coetzee.
Concert History and Notable Events
Beyond team sports, the Coliseum earned a reputation as a premier concert venue almost from the start. Its first event was the Sinatra performance in 1974, and its stage went on to host acts whose names read like a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot: Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Queen, KISS, Aerosmith, Van Halen, Fleetwood Mac, and Black Sabbath among them. The Grateful Dead were especially frequent visitors, playing thirteen shows at the Coliseum between September 7, 1990 and March 21, 1994.
WWE also staged multiple Survivor Series pay-per-view events there in 1987, 1988, and 1992, cementing the building’s status as a versatile venue for mass entertainment right up until its 1994 closing.
Demolition and Transformation
After closing in September 1994, the Coliseum sat empty for five years — too remote for a new anchor tenant, and at one point eyed by commercial developers who floated turning the site into a mega-mall. The Trust for Public Land instead acquired the property to keep it out of commercial hands and transferred it to the National Park Service; demolition crews razed the arena between March 30 and May 21, 1999.
What had been a $36 million arena, along with roughly 80 acres of surrounding parking lot, was cleared and regraded into open meadow. The land was absorbed into Cuyahoga Valley National Park, and today the restored grassland supports Eastern meadowlarks, bobolinks, Savannah sparrows, and other grassland birds — habitat rare enough in Ohio that the surrounding park has been named an Important Bird Area by the Audubon Society.
Visiting the Site Today
There’s no arena, plaque-lined walkway, or visitor center marking the spot — the former Coliseum footprint is now indistinguishable from the rest of the meadow around it, and that’s by design; the National Park Service’s goal was full habitat restoration, not a memorial. The site sits inside Cuyahoga Valley National Park off State Route 303 in Richfield Township, between the Cleveland and Akron ends of the park.
Cuyahoga Valley National Park has no entrance fee, so the former Coliseum grounds are free to walk through along with the rest of the park’s trails and meadows; birders in particular visit the restored grassland to look for meadowlarks and bobolinks in spring and summer. Because exact trail access, parking areas, and seasonal conditions can change, check the National Park Service’s official page on the former Coliseum property and the park’s plan-your-visit page before you go.
Richfield Coliseum closing and site today FAQs
When did Richfield Coliseum close?
Richfield Coliseum’s official closing date was September 24, 1994, a few weeks after its final concert — a Roger Daltrey show on September 1, 1994. Its main tenant, the Cleveland Cavaliers, had already played their last game there on May 3, 1994.
Why did Richfield Coliseum close?
The Cleveland Cavaliers’ move to the new Gund Arena in downtown Cleveland for the 1994-95 season took away the Coliseum’s only anchor tenant. Years of traffic problems on its single access road, a remote suburban location, and a 1970s design that couldn’t match a modern downtown arena’s luxury suites and revenue made the building impossible to sustain without its main tenant.
When was Richfield Coliseum demolished?
Demolition crews razed Richfield Coliseum between March 30 and May 21, 1999, roughly five years after it closed. The Trust for Public Land had acquired the site to prevent commercial development and transferred it to the National Park Service.
What is on the Richfield Coliseum site now?
The site is now restored grassland inside Cuyahoga Valley National Park. There’s no trace of the arena itself — the building and roughly 80 acres of surrounding parking lot were cleared and regraded into meadow habitat that today supports Eastern meadowlarks, bobolinks, and other grassland birds.
Can you visit the former Richfield Coliseum site?
Yes. It’s public National Park Service land inside Cuyahoga Valley National Park off State Route 303 in Richfield Township, and the park charges no entrance fee. There’s no marker or memorial at the exact former arena footprint, but the surrounding meadow and trails are open to hikers and birders.
How big was Richfield Coliseum?
Richfield Coliseum seated 20,273 for basketball and 18,544 for hockey, and cost about $36 million to build in the mid-1970s — a figure that would run into the hundreds of millions in today’s dollars.
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