Tingley Coliseum is an 11,571-seat multi-purpose

arena An arena is a large enclosed venue, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, Music, musical performances or Sport, sporting events. It comprises a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for specta ...

Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque ( ; ), also known as ABQ, Burque, the Duke City, and in the past 'the Q', is the List of municipalities in New Mexico, most populous city in the U.S. state of New Mexico, and the county seat of Bernalillo County, New Mexico, Bernal ...

. Originally built as a

rodeo Rodeo () is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqu ...

and

horse show A horse show is a judged exhibition of horses and pony, ponies. Many different horse breeds and equestrianism, equestrian disciplines hold competitions worldwide, from local to the international levels. Most horse shows run from one to three days ...

auditorium, it is located at 300 San Pedro Drive N.E. It was home to the Albuquerque Six-Guns and New Mexico Scorpions

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

teams and the Albuquerque Thunderbirds of the

NBA Development League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is a professional basketball league in North America that serves as the developmental league of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The league comprises 31 teams; as of the 2024–25 season, ...

from 2005 to 2010. The latter two later relocated to the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. It was also home to the New Mexico Slam

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

team from 1999 until they folded in 2001. Tingley Coliseum contains 9,286 permanent seats. Beginning with the 2015 season, Champions Indoor Football added the Duke City Gladiators as an expansion team. They joined the

Indoor Football League The Indoor Football League (IFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional indoor American football league in the United States. The league comprises 14 teams, divided equally between the Eastern Conference (EC) and Western Conference ...

in 2019.https://dukecitygladiators.com/sports/2021/6/8/about-us.aspx
''"''About Us.''"'' Duke City Gladiators. Accessed June 30, 2024. https://dukecitygladiators.com/sports/2021/6/8/a.

History

In 1916, the New Mexico State Fair was not held due to financial difficulties and the lack of a suitable location. Many held out hope, but the state fair was canceled every year for over two decades. It was the end of the state fair until, in 1937, a group of New Mexico businessmen led by

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Clyde Tingley convinced

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

to grant

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

(WPA) funds for the construction of fairground buildings in the middle of Albuquerque, of which Tingley Coliseum would be the center. Over the next several years, more than $500,000 in WPA funds and more than a million adobe bricks were used for the construction of buildings. It took much longer than expected, finishing in 1957, seventeen years after construction began. Though the Coliseum took nearly two decades to complete, the rest of the fairgrounds did not take nearly as long, which enabled the State Fair to reopen in 1938. The Coliseum was dedicated at the opening of the 1957 New Mexico State Fair and was named in honor of Governor Tingley.

Roy Rogers Roy Rogers (born Leonard Franklin Slye; November 5, 1911 – July 6, 1998), nicknamed the King of the Cowboys, was an American singer, actor, television host, and Rodeo, rodeo performer. Following early work under his given name, first as a c ...

and Dale Evans played the entire run of that year's nine-day fair.

Notable events

Tingley Coliseum is used for a myriad of civic gatherings, beyond the State Fair, including concerts, sporting events, and ice shows. Entertainers who have appeared at Tingley include Journey,

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, WWE, UFC,

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, Ronnie James Dio,

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(1998),

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(1982),

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, Rush,

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(1977),

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(1979),

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, Vinnie Vincent Invasion,

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, Eric Church,

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(1971) and

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(1972) among others. The 1966 National AAU Indoor Track and Field Championships were held at Tingley Coliseum. It also hosted the 1987 Miss USA pageant. Michelle Royer won.

Floyd Mayweather Jr. Floyd Joy Mayweather Jr. (né Sinclair; born February 24, 1977) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed between 1996 and 2017. He list of undefeated boxing world champions, retired with an undefeated record a ...

fought the second fight of his undefeated career at the Coliseum. The

Professional Bull Riders The Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR) is an international professional bull riding organization headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, United States. It is the largest bull riding league in the world, sanctioning hundreds of events every yea ...

(PBR) held one of their signature Premier Series events, the Ty Murray Invitational, annually, from 1997 through 2008 at Tingley Coliseum. In 2009, the event was moved to The Pit, on the

University of New Mexico The University of New Mexico (UNM; ) is a public research university in Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. Founded in 1889 by the New Mexico Territorial Legislature, it is the state's second oldest university, a flagship university in th ...

campus.

References

External links

*
Google map of Coliseum location
{{Authority control 1957 establishments in New Mexico Sports venues in Albuquerque, New Mexico Albuquerque Thunderbirds Athletics (track and field) venues in New Mexico Basketball venues in New Mexico Ice hockey venues in the United States Music venues in New Mexico Sports venues completed in 1957 Works Progress Administration in New Mexico