📍 Charlotte, North Carolina
🏒 Home of the Charlotte Checkers

Bojangles Coliseum, first opened in 1955 as the original Charlotte Coliseum, has been a prominent landmark along busy Independence Boulevard for decades. Although the white-domed structure has undergone numerous name changes and transformations in its time – hosting sports such as basketball, lacrosse, arena football and even roller derby – it notably persists as the epicenter of hockey in the Queen City. Today, the arena is the cherished home of the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers.

Hockey has long been a part of the Charlotte sports scene, beginning with the Clippers of the Eastern Hockey League. When they moved down from Baltimore in 1956, the Clippers became the first hockey franchise to ever play in the Southeast. Renamed the Checkers in 1960, the team would move to the Southern Hockey League until that circuit folded in 1977. After a brief hiatus, the sport returned to the Coliseum in 1993 in the form of the ECHL’s Checkers, who moved to the newly-opened Charlotte Bobcats Arena – later Time Warner Cable Arena and Spectrum Center – upon its completion in 2005. The uptown venue, although capable of seating thousands more, was a poor hockey facility with tons of obstructed views. Replaced in 2010 by a relocated AHL franchise that took on the same name, the Checkers ultimately returned to the far more comfortable Bojangles Coliseum in 2015, just a decade after they had initially left.

When the Coliseum was built in the early ’50s, it was outfitted with the nation’s first free-spanning dome. This iconic tin roof was also the largest unsupported dome in the world at the time of its construction. Underneath the massive cupola, there’s enough seating for almost 7,000 hockey fans, although capacity had been stretched to nearly 14,000 before renovations reduced that figure. Between the raucous crowd and resonant roof, the Biscuit – as it’s colloquially known – now boasts an intimate and one-of-a-kind acoustic atmosphere.

Aside from the cheers of the passionate Checkers fanbase, one of the most classic gameday sounds at the Coliseum is the organ music of local legend Greasy Keyz, aka Jason Atkins. An extremely talented keyboardist for both the Checkers and baseball’s Kannapolis Cannon Ballers, Atkins has been entertaining fans with his energetic and catchy tunes for more than 25 years and is a staple of the BoCo experience. Another character, the polar bear mascot known as Chubby Checker, also does his part to enhance the already buzzing atmosphere. Chubby is named for the famous R&B singer of the same name, a music icon who was born in nearby South Carolina and is known for his hit cover of “The Twist” and for pioneering the accompanying dance style.

Queen City Outdoor Classic

In 2024, the Checkers hosted the Rochester Americans at Truist Field in uptown Charlotte, the home of MiLB’s Knights, in the first ever outdoor hockey game in the city and the second such event in North Carolina. The game was a successful demonstration of the region’s passion for the sport, with the Checkers winning, 5-2.

Over the years, there’s been plenty for Queen City hockey fans to cheer about. The region’s first franchise – under both the Clippers and Checkers monikers – won five championships, the ECHL club clinched a single Kelly Cup, and the present-day Checkers became keepers of the Calder Cup in dramatic fashion in 2019 with a commanding series win over Chicago Wolves. The team has certainly worked hard to build a loyal following in the city, from their humble beginnings to their current status as an AHL contender, and the Checkers will no doubt continue to deliver exciting games and stellar gameday presentations for years to come.