When the popular Art Metal band Tool performs in Cincinnati Tuesday, it will be the first event at the riverfront venue formerly known as U.S. Bank Arena since its new name was announced.
It was revealed today (Nov. 4) at a press conference that the 44-year-old structure will now be called the Heritage Bank Center.
"...it's a proud heritage, it's a tradition to build on..." pic.twitter.com/hz63l6KvUf
— Heritage Bank Center (@HeritageBankCtr) November 4, 2019
The facility has been called U.S. Bank Arena since the early ’00s, but it was announced this summer that the banking company was not re-upping its naming rights for the venue. U.S. Bank signage was removed shortly after and great confusion over what to call the arena until a new name was announced ensued.
The Heritage Bank Center originally opened in 1975 as Riverfront Coliseum. In its earliest years, it was home to the World Hockey Association team the Cincinnati Stingers and hosted University of Cincinnati men's basketball games. It was also the site of a 1979 concert by the Rock band The Who at which 11 fans were killed in the push to get into the venue before the show; the event led to widespread safety changes in the concert industry.
Over the years the venue has hosted concerts by everyone from Elvis Presley (who played his penultimate show at the venue in 1977, less than two months before his death) and Frank Sinatra to Prince and Pearl Jam, as well as events like monster truck rallies, the WWE, Harlem Globetrotters, gymnastics exhibitions, pro boxing matches, Cirque du Soleil and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.
The arena — which has a capacity of 17,090 — was also home to sports teams like the Cincinnati Kids (of the Major Indoor Soccer League), the Cincinnati Rockers (Arena Football League), the Cincinnati Stuff (International Basketball League) and the Cincinnati Cyclones, the ECHL team that has played hockey there since 1997, when the arena was briefly called "The Crown."
It became the Firstar Center in 1999. In 2002, after the Firstar banking company merged with U.S. Bancorp/U.S. Bank, the venue became U.S. Bank Arena. Cincinnati-based live events booking/promotions company Nederlander Entertainment is the majority owner of the facility.
“We are proud to partner with Heritage Bank to create new memories together for the Cincinnati market,” Nederlander Entertainment COO Ray Harris said in a press release. “As Heritage Bank continues to grow and increase the prosperity of the communities where they operate, we look forward to introducing the bank to more people who call Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky home. We were thrilled to find such an engaged and complementary fit for our naming rights and will work with them to achieve unique and integrated activations throughout our facility. We are excited to begin this new era of Cincinnati entertainment as Heritage Bank Center.”
“As a locally owned and operated independent community bank committed to the development of this region, Heritage Bank understands the unique history and location of this facility,” Heritage Bank Chairman Chris Caddell said in the release. “We also believe in its future. As communities along both banks of the Ohio River continue to invest in the development of a dynamic entertainment and cultural core, look for the Heritage Bank Center to be front and center, attracting the widest variety of events with the power to draw people from this region and beyond.”
The Heritage Bank Center has a freshened-up web presence. Visit heritagebankcenter.com for more info.
The first post-name-change concert to be announced? Cher and Niles Rodgers & Chic will play the Heritage Bank Center on April 7.
