Coliseum at Richfield - Attendance Hindrances

Attendance Hindrances

Though a large arena at the time of construction, it had only one concourse for both levels, which became crowded during games at which the attendance was anywhere close to capacity. The Coliseum's real drawback was that the luxury suites, which generate much revenue, were at the uppermost level and as such, were the worst seats in the house. Once plans for Gund Arena (now Quicken Loans Arena) in downtown Cleveland were announced in 1991, where the suites were much closer to the playing area, the Coliseum became economically obsolete.

Another hindrance to attendance was the arena's location at the intersection of Interstate 271 and Ohio State Route 303, which was a rural, two-lane highway outside of Richfield. Traffic became an issue with every Coliseum event, especially with lake-effect snow from Lake Erie providing another obstacle to drivers during the winter months.

Many times, fans would be late to sold-out events due to traffic jams created up and down Interstate 271, which was already a very heavily traveled Interstate during Cleveland's rush hours from 3-7:00 pm. As there was really only one true entrance to the arena (directly at the 271/303 interchange), traffic would back up for several miles in all directions for hours whenever an event was even close to a sell out.