U.S. Bank Arena (originally Riverfront Coliseum, formally The Crown and Firstar Center), is an indoor arena, located in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio, along the banks of the Ohio River, next to the Great American Ball Park. Completed in September 1975, the arena seats 17,556 persons (in the round). It is the largest indoor arena in the Greater Cincinnati region.
It was the home of the Cincinnati Stingers, of the WHA, from 1975–1979. Since then, the arena has hosted another minor-league hockey team and various concerts, political rallies, tennis tournaments, figure skating, a Billy Graham Crusade and other events. The facility's longest-serving tenant was the men's basketball program of the University of Cincinnati, which used the arena from its completion until 1987, when U.C. played its games at Cincinnati Gardens (1987–89), until an on-campus facility (Shoemaker Center), now known as Fifth Third Arena, was completed.
The arena building was heavily renovated in 1997 and is still in use. The current main tenant is the Cincinnati Cyclones, of the ECHL. The Cincinnati Jungle Kats, of the arenafootball2 league, played their one and only season at the arena in 2007, posting a record of 1–15.
On occasion, there are local pushes for the attraction of another major sports franchise to occupy the arena, possibly an NBA or NHL franchise either relocated or expanded, though little has ever come to fruition. The NBA was last played in Cincinnati in 1972 and never at this facility, aside from exhibition games.
Until the construction of the University of Cincinnati's Fifth Third Arena and Northern Kentucky University's The Bank of Kentucky Center, commencement ceremonies for these schools were held at the facility.