Capital Centre

Capital Centre
Construction
Cap Centre The Cap
The Capital Centre in April 2002.
Former names	Capital Centre (1973-1993; 1998-2002) USAir Arena (1993–1996) US Airways Arena (1996-1997)
Location	1 Harry S. Truman Drive Landover, Maryland 20785
Coordinates	38°54′9″N 76°50′49″W / 38.90250°N 76.84694°W / 38.90250; -76.84694Coordinates: 38°54′9″N 76°50′49″W / 38.90250°N 76.84694°W / 38.90250; -76.84694
Owner	Washington Sports & Entertainment (Abe Pollin)
Operator	Washington Sports & Entertainment (Abe Pollin)
Capacity	Basketball: 19,035 (1974–1989), 18,756 (1989–1997) Ice hockey: 18,130
Surface	Multi-surface
Broke ground	August 1972
Opened	December 2, 1973
Closed	1999
Demolished	December 15, 2002
Construction cost	$18 million^[1] ($102 million in 2016 dollars^[2])
Architect	Shaver Partnership^[3]
Structural engineer	Geiger-Berger and Associates^[3]
General contractor	George Hyman Construction Co.^[4]
Tenants
Capital/Washington Bullets (NBA) (1973–1997) Washington Capitals (NHL) (1974–1997) Georgetown Hoyas (NCAA) (1980–1997) Washington Warthogs (CISL) (1994–1997) Washington/Maryland Commandos (AFL) (1987, 1989) Washington Wave (MILL) (1987–1989)

The Capital Centre (later known as USAir Arena) was an indoor arena located in Landover, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. Completed in 1973, the arena sat 18,756 for basketball and 18,130 for hockey. The arena was the primary home for the Washington Bullets of the National Basketball Association, who had moved to the Washington area from Baltimore, Maryland, and the Washington Capitals of the National Hockey League.

In 1993, the air carrier USAir purchased the naming rights for the building and the arena became known as USAir Arena. When the airline went through its 1996 rebranding and became US Airways, the name of the arena changed as well.

In 1997, US Airways' naming rights deal came to an end after the now-Wizards and Capitals moved to the MCI Center in downtown Washington, and the arena once again became known as Capital Centre. Most TV and radio crews broadcasting from the venue referred to it by its nickname "Cap Centre". The venue was demolished in December 2002, though its name lives on in a shopping complex located on the former site of stadium as The Boulevard at the Capital Centre.

As a sports venue

The arena was the home of the Washington Bullets of the NBA from 1973 to 1997, the Washington Capitals of the NHL from 1974 to 1997 and the Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball team from 1980 to 1997. The Washington Wizards were known as the Bullets until 1997, and played the first 5 games of the 1997–98 NBA season at the old arena. All three teams departed for the MCI Center (now Verizon Center) just north of The Mall in D.C. when it opened on December 2, 1997. The Capital Centre hosted its first NBA game exactly 24 years earlier on December 2, 1973, with the home team, then known as the Capital Bullets, defeating the same visiting team, the Seattle SuperSonics. During November 1973, the Capital Bullets held their home games at nearby Cole Field House on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park.

The arena hosted games of the NBA Finals in 1975 when the Bullets played the Golden State Warriors and again in 1978 and 1979 vs. the Seattle SuperSonics.

The ACC men's basketball tournament was held there in 1976, 1981, and 1987. The 1980 NBA All-Star Game and 1982 NHL All-Star Game were held there, as was the WWF's Survivor Series 1995.

The arena also was home to a few epic NHL Playoff games, including the 1987 Easter Epic.

The Washington/Maryland Commandos of the Arena Football League also called the arena home in 1987 and 1989. The Maryland Arrows, Washington Wave and Washington Power lacrosse teams used the arena, as did The Washington Warthogs professional indoor soccer team.

A boxing World Heavyweight Championship bout took place at the venue on April 30, 1976, with Jimmy Young challenging the champion Muhammad Ali. The fight went the full 15 rounds and was awarded unanimously to Ali.

Footage of past Washington Bullets games held at the Capital Centre was used in the 1979 comedy film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh.

As a concert venue

The first concert ever held at the Capital Centre was the Allman Brothers Band on December 4, 1973. They were backed up by the James Montgomery Blues Band who played from 9 P.M. until Midnight. The Allman Brothers played until 3:30 A.M.

The Who played there on December 6, 1973. It was Festival Seating at the concert and there were no seats on the floor as the venue was newly opened and not finished. This was part of their debut of their rock opera Quadrophenia.^[5]

Elvis Presley performed for two shows there on Sunday June 27, 1976 to a total audience of nearly 38,000. Both shows sold out in one day. Ticket prices were $7.50, $10.00 and $12.50. His last concert at the Capital Centre was on May 22, 1977, during his second to last tour, which included 13 other venues. June 26, 1977 in Indianapolis, would be his final concert performance. His only other concert in the Washington D.C. area was on September 27 & 28, 1974 at nearby University of Maryland's Cole Field House, also in Prince George's County.^[6]

The arena was home to several Toys for Tots concerts in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The last time that Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin sang in concert together was at the arena.

The first two volumes of KISS' retrospective DVD series Kissology included bonus discs of late-1970s shows videotaped at the arena.

Chicago's performance recorded live at Capital Centre, Largo, Maryland, June 24–26, 1975 was released in 2011's Chicago XXXIV: Live in '75. After releasing its eighth consecutive gold album in just six years, Chicago embarked upon a massive stadium tour in 1975 that's considered to be one of its finest.

Concert videos by Van Halen (a popular bootleg recorded on October 12, 1982) and Blue Öyster Cult on December 27, 1976 ("Live 1976" DVD) and on the Some Enchanted Evening Legacy Edition CD) from the arena have also been released.

The Eagles' performance from March 1977 was released in 2013's History of the Eagles.^[7]

Led Zeppelin Sold out every show they ever booked there, first on February 10, 1975 and 2 years later in 1977 they sold out 4 dates: May 25, 26, 28, and 30.

AC/DC performed several concerts of their tours in the arena such as: Let There Be Rock Tour (1977), If You Want Blood Tour (1979), Back in Black Tour (1980), For Those About to Rock Tour (1981), Flick of the Switch Tour (1983), Blow Up Your Video World Tour (1988) and The Razors Edge World Tour (1990). The shows of December 20–21, 1981 were filmed and several tracks from these shows are included in their DVD set, Plug Me In.

A recording of The New Barbarians' concert on May 5, 1979, during the band's only concert tour ever, was released as Buried Alive: Live in Maryland.

The Rolling Stones played three sold-out shows at the arena on December 7–9, 1981 in support of "Tattoo You", the year's highest grossing tour, with tickets sales of $50 million. Their 1982 live album Still Life, included three songs taken from the Largo concerts, "Let Me Go" (December 8), "Twenty Flight Rock" and "Going to a Go-Go" (December 9).

The cult video documentary short Heavy Metal Parking Lot was shot by Jeff Krulik and John Heyn on May 31, 1986, in the arena's parking lot, comically documenting thousands of heavy metal fans as they partied before a Judas Priest concert (with special guests Dokken). (The parking lot itself was divided into four sections, with patriotic emblems, to aid patrons in remembering where they parked after an event: Liberty Bell, Capitol, Eagle and Stars and Stripes.)

The Grateful Dead recorded and released three shows performed at the arena; Dick's Picks Volume 20, on September 25, 1976, Terrapin Station (Limited Edition), on March 15, 1990, which took place on bass guitarist Phil Lesh's 50th birthday and Spring 1990, on March 16, 1990, the next night.

The Smashing Pumpkins played their last concert with late touring keyboardist Jonathan Melvoin at the arena.

Due to their overwhelming popularity in the African-American sections of Maryland and Washington D.C., Parliament-Funkadelic headlined numerous sold out shows at the venue, mainly during the years 1976 to 1983.

Michael Jackson held 4 sold out concerts at the Capital Centre in 1988 during the Bad tour. The dates were October 13, 17, 18 and 19, 1988.^[8]

The arena also hosted family friendly events, such as the Harlem Globetrotters, Circus America and Ice Capades, as well as numerous graduation ceremonies for high schools in Prince George's County.

Demolition

The arena was imploded on December 15, 2002, to make way for The Boulevard at the Capital Centre, a town center-style shopping mall that opened in 2003.

Legacy

The Capital Centre was the first indoor arena to have a video replay screen on its center-hung scoreboard. The four-sided video screen was known as the "Telscreen" (or "Telescreen") and predated the Diamond Vision video screen at Dodger Stadium by seven years. It was also the first arena to be built with luxury boxes and a computerized turnstile system.

The Centre also had one of the NBA's most notorious fans, Robin Ficker, who for 12 seasons sat behind the visiting team's bench and heckled opposing players.

The Centre had the loudest speaker system in an arena at the time.

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Capital Centre.

↑ Roylance, Frank D. (November 30, 1997). "Capital Centre Blown Away". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved March 27, 2012.
↑ "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. Retrieved November 10, 2015.
1 2 http://www.arcaro.org/tension/album/usair.htm
↑ Clark Construction - Sports (archived)
↑ The Washington Post, Friday December 7, 1973, page B1 and B19/
↑ ELVIS, HIS LIFE FROM A TO Z. Wings Books. 1992. pp. 338–340. ISBN 0-517-06634-3.
↑ "History Of The Eagles". Amazon.com. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
↑ http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/michael-in-motion-jackson-dazzles-surprises-at-capital-centre/2013/08/29/d367660a-10c8-11e3-bdf6-e4fc677d94a1_story.html

External links

Events and tenants
Preceded by first venue	Home of the Washington Capitals 1974–1997	Succeeded by Verizon Center
Preceded by The Forum	Host of the NHL All-Star Game 1982	Succeeded by Nassau Coliseum

Georgetown Hoyas men's basketball

Venues	Washington Light Infantry Armory (1906–1907) Convention Hall (1907–1908) Odd Fellows Hall (1908–1911) Arcade Rink (1911–1914, 1927–1928) Ryan Gymnasium (1914–1927) Clendenen Gymnasium (1928–1929) Tech Gymnasium (1929–1940, 1942–1943) Riverside Stadium (1940–1942) Brookland Gymnasium (1945–1946) Uline Arena (1946–1947, 1949–1951) D.C. Armory (1947–1949) McDonough Gymnasium (1951–2009) Capital Centre (1981–1997) Verizon Center (1997–present)

Rivalries	Connecticut

Culture & lore	History Hoya Saxa Jack the Bulldog There Goes Old Georgetown

People	Head coaches NBA draftees

Seasons	1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–15 1915–16 1916–17 1917–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–00 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16

NCAA national championships in bold; NCAA Final Four appearances in italics

Washington Wizards

Formerly the Chicago Packers (1961–1962), the Chicago Zephyrs (1962–1963), the Baltimore Bullets (1963–1973), the Capital Bullets (1973–1974), and the Washington Bullets (1974–1997) Founded in 1961 Based in Washington, D.C.

Franchise	Franchise Expansion Draft All-time roster Draft history Head coaches Seasons Current season

Arenas	International Amphitheatre Chicago Coliseum Baltimore Civic Center Cole Field House Capital Centre/US Airways Arena Verizon Center

General Managers	Ferry Nash Unseld Grunfeld

D-League affiliate	None

Administration	Ted Leonsis (Owner) Ernie Grunfeld (President & GM of Basketball Ops.) Randy Wittman (Head Coach)

Retired Numbers	10 11 25 41

NBA Championships (1)	1978

Conference Championships (4)	1971 1975 1978 1979

Culture and lore	Wes Unseld 1975 championship upset It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings The Big E Abe Pollin Earl the Pearl Agent Zero Robin Ficker

Media	TV WDCW Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic The Comcast Network Radio WJFK-FM Announcers Steve Buckhantz Phil Chenier Dave Johnson Glenn Consor

Washington Capitals

Founded in 1974 Based in Washington, D.C.

Franchise	Team General managers Coaches Players Captains Draft picks Seasons Current season

History	1974 NHL Expansion Draft Records Award winners

Personnel	Owners Monumental Sports & Entertainment (Ted Leonsis, chairman) General manager Brian MacLellan Head coach Barry Trotz Team captain Alexander Ovechkin Current roster

Arenas	Capital Centre Verizon Center Kettler Capitals Iceplex (practice facility)

Rivalries	New York Rangers

Affiliates	AHL Hershey Bears ECHL South Carolina Stingrays

General managers	Schmidt McNab Crozier Poile McPhee MacLellan

Head coaches	Anderson Sullivan Schmidt McVie Belisle Green Crozier B. Murray T. Murray Schoenfeld Wilson Cassidy Hanlon Boudreau Hunter Oates Trotz

Media	TV CSN Mid-Atlantic Radio WFED WJFK

Culture/Lore	Easter Epic 2011 NHL Winter Classic 2015 NHL Winter Classic

Washington Commandos

Formerly the Maryland Commandos
Founded in 1987
Folded in 1990
Based in Landover, Maryland (1987, 1989) and Fairfax, Virginia (1990)

The Franchise

Franchise
Seasons
Players

Arenas

Head Coaches

Hall of Fame Members

Seasons (3)

1980s	1987 1989

1990s	1990

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