Nassau Coliseum
Indoor arena on Long Island, New York
Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (or simply the Nassau Coliseum) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Uniondale, New York, on Long Island. The venue is situated approximately 7 miles (11 km) east of the eastern limits of the borough of Queens in New York City, adjacent to the Meadowbrook Parkway. It is one of the larger public auditoriums in the New York metropolitan area.
Opened in 1972, the Coliseum occupies 63 acres (25 ha) of Mitchel Field, a former Army airfield, later an Air Force base. The facility is located in the Town of Hempstead, within the Uniondale 11553 ZIP Code. The Coliseum is used for sporting events, concerts, large exhibitions, as well as trade shows—44,000 square feet (4,100 m2) at the main arena, 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) at the Expo Center. In 2015, the arena was closed for a major renovation which was completed in April 2017.
The New York Islanders of the National Hockey League (NHL) played at the Coliseum from 1972 to 2015 before moving to Barclays Center in Brooklyn. After the move was commercially unsuccessful, the team split its home schedule between Barclays and the renovated Coliseum from 2018 to 2020 and played the home portion of their 2020–21 season at the Coliseum, before moving to the new UBS Arena at Belmont Park for the 2021–22 season, which is also on Hempstead Turnpike, 7.7 miles (12.4 km) west of the Coliseum.
It was also the home of the New York Nets (now known as the Brooklyn Nets) of the American Basketball Association (ABA) and National Basketball Association (NBA) from 1972 to 1977 and the New York Riptide of the National Lacrosse League (NLL) from 2020 to 2024.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Nassau Coliseum” is indoor arena on Long Island, New York. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Nassau, Coliseum and Indoor, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “indoor arena on Long Island, New York” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1048921. Authority coordinates are 40.723, -73.591. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1972, 2015, 2017 and 2018.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
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Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Nassau Coliseum”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Nassau Coliseum primary sources, Nassau Coliseum archive and Nassau research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Nassau Coliseum” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.