The Mid-South Coliseum: Memphis' Legendary Arena

In Memphis, the Mid-South Coliseum was the room where everything happened. For four decades, if it was big enough to matter in Memphis, it happened at the Coliseum.

The Building

The Mid-South Coliseum opened in 1964 on the Mid-South Fairgrounds, seating around 12,000 and serving as the city's primary indoor venue for sports, concerts, and events. It was home to the Memphis Tams of the ABA, the Memphis Sounds, and various other sports franchises over the years. But it was the concerts and the wrestling that made the Coliseum legendary.

Elvis

Elvis Presley performed at the Mid-South Coliseum multiple times, including some of his final concerts before his death in 1977. For Memphis — Elvis's hometown, the city where he was buried — those performances carried a weight that no other venue could replicate. The Coliseum was where Memphis got to claim its most famous son, where the city and its greatest star shared the same room.

Championship Wrestling

The Mid-South Coliseum was also one of the great wrestling venues in America. Jerry "The King" Lawler, one of the most beloved figures in Memphis sports history, made the Coliseum his kingdom. The Monday night wrestling cards at the Coliseum were a Memphis institution — raucous, passionate, and unlike anything happening anywhere else in American sports entertainment.

The Legacy

The Mid-South Coliseum closed in 2006 and has sat largely vacant since, the subject of ongoing preservation debates. It remains one of Memphis' most significant — and most at-risk — historic landmarks. For Memphians who saw Elvis there, who watched Lawler defend his crown there, who attended concerts and games and events there across four decades, the building is irreplaceable.

The Mid-South Coliseum Memphis Retro T-shirt is for everyone who was there. Find it in the Memphis collection.