Legacy Arena

The Legacy Arena at the BJCC, formerly called the BJCC Coliseum is a 22,400 square-foot oval-shaped arena anchoring the southwest corner of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex at 9th Avenue North and 19th Street, just north of I-20/59 in downtown Birmingham.

The venue seats about 17,000 for sporting events and up to 19,000 for concerts. The arena floor measures 110' x 220' with its ceiling 75' feet above. A four-sided center-hung scoreboard, designed by Daktronics, measures 18' by 18' on each side. Also on each side is a 7.5'-by-8'8" ProStar 16.5mm video display. Backstage there are 2 locker rooms and 6 dressing rooms as well as a press room and a VIP Reception area. The arena can accommodate 8 trucks backstage, with three at truck docks. The arena also contains several luxury suites and a press box.

In its first years the arena was home ice for the Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Association. It was also the home court for the Samford Bulldogs and UAB Blazers basketball teams before they moved to on-campus arenas. It later served as the home of the Birmingham Steeldogs arena football team. The coliseum also hosts major concert tours, Disney on Ice, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, and other events, including trade shows, conventions and concerts.

The BJCC has hosted four Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournaments between 1979 and 1992 and the 1999 and 2015 Conference USA Men's Basketball Tournaments. It also hosted several NCAA college basketball tournament rounds. It served as a first and second round host in 1984, 1987, 2000, 2003 and 2008. The BJCC has been a regional site five times: 1982, 1985, 1988, 1995, and 1997. It was also the site of WWE Armageddon 2000.

The BJCC was the host of the 2009 Davis Cup first round tie‎ between the United States and Switzerland on March 6, 7, and 8, 2009. The three day attendance total of 45,708 made it the most attended first-round tie in U.S. Davis Cup history.

In the summer of 2009 the BJCC board spent $560,000 to install acoustic panels and screens in the arena to improve sound performance. Later that year the board approved $100,000 to upgrade the structural capacity of the ceiling in order to accommodate a performance by Miley Cyrus, but arena officials worked with the promoter to design an alternative rigging solution that did not require the modifications.

In December 2014 Red Mountain Entertainment brokered a 5-year, $2 million contract between the BJCC and Legacy Community Federal Credit Union for naming rights to the arena.

2019-2021 renovations

Rendering of the proposed renovations to Legacy Arena

The BJCC authority approved a $125 million renovation of the arena to begin in 2020. Populous Architects of Kansas City, Missouri was commissioned as lead architect, with Studio 2H Design and CCR Architecture & Interiors as local associated firms. Other local firms on the design team included Macknally Land Design, MBA Engineers, Engineer Design Technologies, Hyde Engineering, Dynamic Civil Solutions, Walter P. Moore, Schoel Engineering, Howe Engineering, WJHW and The Bigelow Co..

The Birmingham Design Review Committee approved the exterior design and materials on December 11, 2019.

See also

• List of events at the BJCC Coliseum

References

• West, Ty (November 14, 2018) "Several Birmingham firms tapped for design team on $125M Legacy Arena renovation." Birmingham Business Journal