The Araneta Coliseum, also currently known by naming rights sponsorship as Smart Araneta Coliseum, is an indoor multi-purpose sports arena that is part of the Araneta City in the Cubao area of Quezon City, Philippines. Nicknamed as "the Big Dome", it is one of the largest indoor arenas in Asia, and one of the largest clear span domes in the world. The dome measures approximately 108.0 meters (354.3 ft) making it the largest dome in Asia from its opening in 1960 until 2001 when it was surpassed by the Ōita Stadium in Japan with a dome measuring 274.0 meters (899.0 ft).[8]
The Araneta Coliseum was constructed from 1957 to late 1959 and designed and built by Architect Dominador Lacson Lugtu and Engineer Leonardo Onjunco Lugtu. From 1960 to 1963, the Coliseum was recognized as the largest covered coliseum in the world.[13] Today, it remains one of the largest clear span domes in the world with a dome diameter of 108 meters.[citation needed]
The coliseum opened on March 16, 1960, with Gabriel "Flash" Elorde boxing for the World Junior Lightweight crown against Harold Gomes. General admission then was 80 centavos, and the reserve section was five pesos.[7] The total demand for people who wished to enter the coliseum to watch the boxing match live breached its capacity, wherein the total capacity of the coliseum was only 36,000 people, while the total number of people who came to the coliseum totaled to around 50,000 people.[7] The coliseum also featured a swimming pool and a gazebo during its opening, located to the current site of the Araneta City Parking Garage South and the Novotel Manila Araneta City. However, the featured facilities closed down a few years later.[14]
Among the notable events to take place at the arena were the 11th and 34thFAMAS Awards, the 1975 "Thrilla in Manila" boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier, in which the arena was renamed into the "Philippine Coliseum", and the annual Binibining Pilipinas beauty pageant. During the Thrilla in Manila, all of the 36,000 seats to watch the event live were sold.[15] to The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) has played most of their games at the Araneta Coliseum since its creation in 1975.[16] Other basketball events hosted by the arena were the 1978 FIBA World Championship, a game between the 1978 NBA championsWashington Bullets and a PBA selection in 1979, and the 1982 Asian Youth Basketball Championship where the Philippines defeated China in the final.[17]
In the third quarter of 1998, the Aranetas and Pilipinas Shell (local arm of Royal Dutch Shell) started negotiations for a naming rights deal that would have lasted until 2008. The Aranetas, who wanted to retain their name at the arena rejected the proposed name "Shell Coliseum at the Araneta Center". Instead, the parties agreed on a contract where Shell's name and logo will be painted at the arena's basketball court, a move that was almost shelved due to objections from other PBA teams because Shell owned the then-PBA team, the Shell Turbo Chargers.[18]
Araneta Coliseum logo from 1999 to 2011 prior to naming rights deal with Smart Communications.The Araneta Coliseum with the "Big Cube" LED display during a PBA game between the San Miguel Beermen and Barangay Ginebra Kings in 2011. This photo was taken before the naming rights with Smart Communications took effect.
In 1999, the coliseum underwent its first major renovation at the cost of ₱200 million.[19] The major changes include the renovation of the lower box area, replacement of seats for the patron and lower box sections, and installation of a four-sided center-hung scoreboard. The section names were also given numerical designations: 100 for Patron section, 200 for Lower Box, 300 for Upper Box A, and 400 for Upper Box B. In 2006, an LED display was added to the scoreboard.
From 2001 to 2008, the highest-grossing event at the arena is the Pacquiao vs. Larios boxing fight between Manny Pacquiao and Óscar Larios, earning 96.2 million Philippine pesos. A concert by Westlife was attended by 17,887 people and earned ₱18.5 million, while a Cliff Richard concert earned ₱17.2 million despite being watched by 5,647 spectators.[17]
Prior to the Ultimate All-Star Weekend in July 2011, it was announced that the Aranetas entered into a naming rights deal with mobile network operatorSmart Communications, Inc. (a subsidiary of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company), renaming the arena into "Smart Araneta Coliseum". The 5-year naming rights deal includes improvements and renovations to the arena such as the installation of curved escalators to improve access in the upper box and general admission areas (the plan was subsequently cancelled due to undisclosed reasons), and the construction of a parking lot that can accommodate up to 2,000 cars. The overall renovation project of the coliseum costed ₱1 billion.[18]
Additional improvements for the renovation of the coliseum were made in 2012, including the renovation of the Red Gate entrance and the Green Gate side facade, landscaped surroundings, and the replacement of Upper Box level seats, thus increasing its seating capacity.[20] The Lower Box and Patron sections were combined to make a new Patron section (100 and 200 level seats). A pathway between the former Patron and Lower Box sections was also made. The former Upper Box A section (300 level seats) was renamed as Box section and the former Upper Box B section (400 level seats) is now referred to as the "Upper Box" section. The renovation project of the coliseum was completed in June 2014.
On January 7, 2015, the Hydra-Rib basketball backboards first used in 1995 were replaced with Spalding ones. The backboards were first used in Game 1 of the 2014–15 PBA Philippine Cup Finals. On June 9, 2017, the OES SHOTS-14G7 shot clocks were replaced. The newer clocks were first used in Game 3 of the 2017 PBA Commissioner's Cup Quarterfinals match between the TNT Katropa and Meralco Bolts.
Ahead of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup, the Araneta Coliseum underwent renovation. Renovation works included the replacement of the previous "Big Cube" LED video board with a slightly larger one, as well as the refurbishment of seating areas and renovation of team dugouts.[21]
Architecture and design
The Araneta Coliseum is an indoor arena designed by Dominador Lacson Lugtu. The sports venue has a large span dome with a diameter of 108 meters (354 ft) as its roof.[13] The dome is 37 meters (121 ft) high at its highest point.[22] The structure is supported by 48 concrete columns and 48 metal ribs.[23] It has a floor area of 2,300 square meters (25,000 sq ft).[13]
Richard de Leon of Atlantic, Gulf and Pacific did the steel framework of the venue – 4,965 aluminum sheets of gauge measuring 7.3 by 1.2 by 2.4 metres (24 ft × 4 ft × 8 ft) was devised. Steam-treated wood from a variety of Philippine hardwood such as apitong, tanguile and narra fitted using tongue and groove was also used as support.[23]
The first FIBA Basketball World Cup (previously called FIBA World Championship) held in Asia was the 1978 FIBA World Championship in the Philippines on October 1 to 14, 1978. The arena was one of the two venues, alongside Rizal Memorial Coliseum, and was the venue for the final round.
It is also one of the venues for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup which is being hosted by the Philippines on August 25 to September 10, 2023, with co-hosts Japan and Indonesia. The tournament's final draw was held at the arena on April 29, 2023.[24] The arena hosted the first and 17th–32nd classification rounds.
The arena, which was temporarily renamed to "Philippine Coliseum" for the event, was the venue of the infamous Thrilla in Manila, the 1975 World Heavyweight Championship boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. It was the third and final match of the three-bout rivalry between the two boxers and was held on October 1, 1975.
Ali won by corner retirement (RTD) after Frazier's chief second asked the referee to stop the fight after the 14th round. The bout is universally regarded as one of the best and most brutal fights in boxing history. It was reportedly watched by a total of 1 billion viewers, and by 50,000 people inside the arena, breaching the venue's total design capacity of 36,000 people.
The coliseum also hosts other type of events including concerts, graduation ceremonies, seminars, ice shows, circuses, and beauty pageants.
From 1990 until 2016, the coliseum hosted Disney on Ice productions during the holiday season; since 2016, the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay began hosting these productions.[25]
The coliseum also housed K-pop artists like Super Junior's Super Show-the first Korean to perform in the arena, 2NE1, SS501, CNBLUE, Beast and EXO.[36][37]K-Pop group U-KISS also had their concert at the big dome and later released into a concert DVD dubbed as U-KISS 1st Kiss Tour in Manila DVD.[38] It was the first time that an international artist released a concert DVD featuring the coliseum. GOT7's first fan meeting in Manila was also held in the Coliseum last November 14, 2015.
On April 14, 2018, Sarah Geronimo held her 15th showbiz anniversary concert called "This Is Me" stylized as "This 15 Me" at the Araneta Coliseum. The sold-out concert was reported as the "Highest Grossing Local Concert of All-time." Netflix acquired the rights to stream the concert film starting in August 2019 making Geronimo the first Southeast Asian artist to have a concert film on the said platform.
At the turn of the new millennium, Regine Velasquez held her iconic two-night sold-out concert entitled R2K: The Concert, in support of her album R2K, on April 7 and 8, 2000. R2K The Concert became the most attended concert at the coliseum with over 37,000 attendees, was center staged and has used the seating capacity to its 360-degree maximum.
Filipina female supergroup DIVAS, which is composed of Kyla, Yeng Constantino, KZ Tandingan and Angeline Quinto staged two concerts at the Araneta, their first concert titled DIVAS Live in Manila, and another one in 2018 with Boyz II Men titled Boyz II Men with DIVAS.
To date, the TNT BOYS are the youngest performers to stage a concert in the Coliseum between the ages of 12 and 14 with their Listen: The Big Shot Concert held on November 30, 2018.
Pageants
The arena has been the venue of the Binibining Pilipinas pageants annually since its inception in 1964. Mister World 2019 was also held on August 23, 2019, at the arena, the first time the Philippines hosted the pageant.
Other entertainment events
Noontime show Eat Bulaga! also used the coliseum for some special events such as its TV special Eat... Bulaga!: Moving On on February 18, 1989, and its 10th anniversary on September 23, 1989, in ABS-CBN and Eat...Bulaga!: The Moving held on January 28, 1995, on its new home, GMA Network.
The Coliseum is also home to the annual ABS-CBN Christmas special since 2008, which is typically held on the second Tuesday of December, except in 2014 (due to Typhoon Ruby) and 2020, 2021 and 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Philippines.
The Coliseum was used as a Mega Vaccination Center for the rollout of the Quezon City Vaccination Drive against the COVID-19 pandemic, capable of vaccinating 1,000 to 1,500 people daily. The vaccination center began its operations on May 15, 2021, and it is also one of the largest vaccination sites in the country, following the opening of The Galeón vaccination center, located at the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City.[54][55]
The arena hosted the Philippine Circuit Show 2024 (January 17–21, 2024), Asia's biggest dog show by the Philippine Canine Club, Inc., with 16 judges and 13 bests in show. The club's president Augusto Benedicto Santos III said "around 300 foreign dogs from different countries in Asia and Europe joined the dog show". It also formally introduced the Philippine Forest Dog or "Asong Gubat," (Irog, Mayumi and Muty) which the Club "hoped will be the first dog breed from the Philippines that will be recognized by the Fédération Cynologique Internationale."[56][57][58][59]2024 Philippine Circuit Dog show
Attendance records
During its opening on March 16, 1960, the boxing match between Gabriel "Flash" Elorde and Harold Gomes garnered a full capacity of 36,000 people who viewed the match live, yet the total number of people who visited the coliseum and wanted to purchase tickets totaled to around 50,000 people. The same scenario occurred on October 1, 1975, when the Thrilla in Manila took place. The Coliseum was filled with more than 36,000 people despite the hot & humid temperatures.[7][15]
Later that year and after renovations, the third game of the UAAP Season 77 Men's Basketball Tournament Finals Series between the FEU Tamaraws and NU Bulldogs on October 15, 2014, set the all-time basketball attendance record of 25,138 which broke the previous record last October 8, 2014, the second game of the series (one week before the third game) attendance of 24,896.[61]
The Red Gate facade Araneta Coliseum in 2018, with the construction of the Gateway Mall 2 in the foreground and the Gateway Mall and Gateway Tower at the background
The view of the Shopwise-Smart Araneta Coliseum crossing in 2019
^"Archived copy". pulpmagazinelive.com. Archived from the original on April 25, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2022.((cite web)): CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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