Heritage Bank Center

Heritage Bank Center
Company type	Indoor arena
Industry	Entertainment, Sports venue
Predecessor	Riverfront Coliseum, The Crown, Firstar Center, U.S. Bank Arena
Founded	September 1975; 51 years ago
Headquarters	Cincinnati, United States
Area served	Greater Cincinnati region
Key people	Doug Kirchhofer (owner of Cincinnati Cyclones, involved in 1997 renovation)
Products	Hosting sports events, concerts, political events, wrestling, hockey, basketball
Owner	Nederlander Entertainment (2001–present), Anschutz Entertainment Group (2011–present)

Heritage Bank Center is an indoor arena situated in downtown Cincinnati, positioned next to Great American Ball Park. The facility opened in September 1975 and was initially called Riverfront Coliseum, reflecting its proximity to Riverfront Stadium. It was renamed The Crown in 1997, followed by Firstar Center in 1999 after Firstar Bank secured the naming rights. After Firstar merged with U.S. Bank in 2002, the arena adopted the name U.S. Bank Arena until 2019.

Boasting a seating capacity of 17,556, it stands as the largest indoor venue within the Greater Cincinnati region, encompassing of space. The arena experienced a $14 million refurbishment in 1997. Its main occupant is the Cincinnati Cyclones of the ECHL.

History

From 1975 to 1979, the arena served as home ice for the Cincinnati Stingers of the World Hockey Association. Over the years, it has hosted a variety of events including minor league hockey matches, concerts, political gatherings, tennis competitions, figure skating shows, professional wrestling events, as well as circus and rodeo performances. The longest-standing tenant was the Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team from the University of Cincinnati, which played there until 1987 before relocating first to Cincinnati Gardens and subsequently to the on-campus Fifth Third Arena.

Prior to the inauguration of Fifth Third Arena and Truist Arena at Northern Kentucky University, both institutions held their graduation ceremonies at Heritage Bank Center. Efforts have been made locally to attract a major league sports franchise—potentially from the NBA or NHL—to this venue. The last NBA franchise based in Cincinnati was the Cincinnati Royals, who moved away in 1972. Additionally, the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers have occasionally hosted preseason games at this location.

In August 2019, it was announced that U.S. Bank would not extend its naming rights agreement that had been in place since 2002. Subsequently, Heritage Bank, headquartered in Kentucky, took over naming rights on November 4, 2019.

Owners

Brian and Albert Heekin (1975–1997)
Cincinnati Entertainment Associates (1997–2001)
Nederlander Entertainment (2001–present)
Anschutz Entertainment Group (2011–present)

Renovations

Following its acquisition by a group led by Doug Kirchhofer—owner of the Cincinnati Cyclones—the arena underwent a $14 million upgrade in 1997. This renovation introduced new seating arrangements, improved concourses and restroom facilities, enlarged concession areas, and installed a center-hung video scoreboard. At this time, the venue was rebranded as "The Crown," coinciding with the Cyclones’ move from the Cincinnati Gardens while competing in the International Hockey League.

In 2015, Nederlander Entertainment together with AEG Facilities proposed a $200 million overhaul aimed at modernizing seating options, increasing capacity to 18,500 spectators, adding luxury suites and premium seating sections, refreshing the exterior design, outfitting new video boards, and renovating concourse areas. This plan followed Cincinnati’s unsuccessful attempt to host the 2016 Republican National Convention, which was hindered by inadequate hotel availability and infrastructure constraints nearby.

By 2017, Nederlander Entertainment was considering completely demolishing and reconstructing the arena contingent upon securing public funding, citing limited expansion possibilities and an outdated design dating back to the 1970s. Although selected as a site for the 2022 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, pending upgrades, delays in renovation efforts led to the event being reassigned by the NCAA to Indianapolis toward the end of 2019.

Basketball

During the 1975–1976 season, the Kentucky Colonels of the American Basketball Association played eight games at the newly inaugurated arena before ceasing operations following the ABA–NBA merger.

From 1976 until 1987, the Cincinnati Bearcats men's basketball team designated Riverfront Coliseum as their home venue. The arena was the site for the 1978 and 1983 Metro Conference men's basketball tournament, as well as hosting the championship rounds of the 1981 Midwestern City Conference men's basketball tournament and the full 1992 Midwestern Collegiate Conference men's basketball tournament. Subsequently, it accommodated the 2005 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament and 2006 Atlantic 10 men's basketball tournament, with Xavier acting as host.

Additionally, the facility was the venue for the 2002 Conference USA men's basketball tournament and 2004 Conference USA men's basketball tournament, both hosted by Cincinnati. It functioned as a regional location for the 1979 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and 1987 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, while also serving as a first and second round site during the 1988 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and 1992 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. Moreover, it was selected to host the Final Four of the 1997 NCAA Division I women's basketball tournament.

In response to the 2011 Crosstown Shootout brawl, Cincinnati and Xavier opted to relocate the Crosstown Shootout to this arena for two seasons before resuming games on their respective campuses.

Regular season college basketball games

Heritage Bank Center has frequently been utilized as a neutral ground for various college basketball matchups. The teams with the highest number of appearances include Xavier (21 games), Cincinnati (15), Kentucky (11), Miami (OH) (9), Louisville (6), and Dayton (4).

Note: This table does not account for Cincinnati’s regular season home games from 1976 through 1987.

... [table continues with similar entries] ...

College basketball games held at the arena
Date	Home Team	Opponent	Score	Attendance
January 17, 1980	Xavier	Marquette	62–76	--
February 20, 1980	Xavier	No. 10 Notre Dame	72–85	--
December 13, 1980	Xavier	Miami (OH)	73–74	--
January 10, 1981	Xavier	Dayton	72–74	3,602

Hockey

The arena’s inaugural tenant was the Cincinnati Stingers, an expansion franchise in the World Hockey Association that operated from 1975 to 1979. Despite achieving moderate success, the Stingers disbanded following the NHL–WHA merger in 1979. Since then, several minor league hockey teams have called the venue home, with the Cincinnati Cyclones standing out as both the longest-tenured and most accomplished occupant. As of 2020, the Cyclones remain the only active tenant at this location.

The venue has also hosted significant collegiate hockey competitions, including the Frozen Four segment of the 1996 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, which was won by Michigan. Furthermore, it served as a regional host for games during the 2014, 2016, and 2017 NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament, with hosting duties assigned to Miami (OH).

Concerts

The venue's debut event was a rock concert held on September 9, 1975, featuring The Allman Brothers Band with special guest Muddy Waters, attracting an audience of 16,721.

On June 25, 1977, Elvis Presley delivered one of his final live performances before a crowd numbering 17,140.

In 1979, the Bee Gees achieved sold-out status for two consecutive shows during their Spirits Having Flown Tour.

Recent noteworthy concerts include Taylor Swift’s fully booked Fearless Tour performance on March 28, 2010; Twenty One Pilots appearing on both their Bandito Fall Tour (October 22, 2019) and The Icy Tour (August 21, 2022); and Canadian vocalist Celine Dion’s Courage World Tour concert held on October 24, 2019. Dion also appeared at the venue in 1998 during her Let's Talk About Love Tour, back when it was called "The Crown."

On August 24, 2022, My Chemical Romance performed a sold-out show as part of their Reunion Tour.

Other distinguished performers who have appeared at the arena include Paul McCartney, The Eagles, Elton John, gospel singer Ron Kenoly, as well as multiple stagings of Handel's Messiah.

1979 The Who concert fatalities

On December 3, 1979, a tragic crowd crush at a sold-out concert by English rock group The Who resulted in the deaths of 11 teenagers and young adults due to compressive asphyxia, with an additional 26 individuals injured. The event attracted 18,348 ticket holders, including 14,770 in general admission under festival seating, where seating was allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Outside the venue, fans mistook a delayed sound-check for the concert’s start and surged toward locked entrances. The limited access points combined with management restrictions contributed to the fatal crowd pressure.

In response to this disaster, the remaining concerts that year by Blue Öyster Cult and Aerosmith were canceled. Across North America, venues transitioned to reserved seating or modified festival seating policies. Cincinnati promptly prohibited festival seating and established a crowd control task force led by mayor Ken Blackwell. The first concert after the incident was held by ZZ Top with the Rockets on March 21, 1980.

On August 4, 2004, Cincinnati’s City Council unanimously rescinded the festival seating ban to improve its ability to attract concerts, recognizing that the restriction placed it at a disadvantage. Festival seating continues to be favored by many artists for its ability to heighten audience enthusiasm, as demonstrated by a previous one-time exemption granted for Bruce Springsteen in 2002. For some time, Cincinnati remained unique among U.S. cities in completely banning festival seating.

Other events

The arena served as the host for the World Figure Skating Championships in 1987.

It has also been the site of two major professional wrestling pay-per-view events: WCW's Souled Out in the year 2000 and WWE's Cyber Sunday in 2006.

On October 20, 2007, the arena hosted UFC 77, headlined by local athlete Rich Franklin. The UFC returned on May 10, 2014, with the event titled UFC Fight Night: Brown vs. Silva. Additionally, it hosted the Strikeforce World Grand Prix: Barnett vs. Kharitonov event on September 10, 2011.

Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's pay-per-view event Lockdown took place here on April 17, 2011.

The opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 World Choir Games, held in Cincinnati, were conducted at this arena.

In 2016, it was the venue for Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions.

On August 1, 2019, then-President Donald Trump held a rally at this location.

More recently, on October 18, 2022, the arena hosted All Elite Wrestling's event titled Title Tuesday.

External links

Event schedule at CincyMusic