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.

Opened in 1972,[5] the Coliseum occupies 63 acres (25 ha) of Mitchel Field, a former Army airfield, later an Air Force base.

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.

[7] The New York Raiders, intended by the fledgling World Hockey Association to be their flagship franchise, were slated to play in the new Nassau Coliseum in 1972–73.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, the Islanders played at Scotiabank Arena and Rogers Place during the 2020 playoffs, and then opened up the 2020–21 season at the Coliseum with no fans.

[15] However, the Islanders lost game 7, thus making game 6 the last major league sporting event held there, and Beauvillier scored the last NHL goal in this arena,[16] and his team achieved a rare feat as a consolation prize: they became the third team (after the 1982–83 Calgary Flames and 1994–95 Quebec Nordiques) to end their arena's history with a playoff victory.

[30] The short-lived New York Express played part of the 1986–87 season, ending operations before the All-Star break with financial troubles and a 3–23 record.

[31] The New York Sets of World Team Tennis played their first match at Nassau Coliseum on May 7, 1974, and won the WTT championships in 1976.

[32] The team changed its name to the New York Apples for the 1977 season, and played 12 of its 22 home matches at Madison Square Garden and the Felt Forum, repeating as champions.

[33] Prior to the 1978 season, the Apples announced that they would leave the Coliseum and play all their home matches in the Madison Square Garden complex.

[36] In 2000, 2005 and 2017, the Professional Bull Riders brought their Built Ford Tough Series (originally Bud Light Cup) to the Coliseum.

The seating capacity for hockey during the life of the arena has been: Elvis Presley performed four sold-out concerts at the Nassau Coliseum on June 22, 23 & 24, 1973.

[54][55] The 1987 home video Cliff 'Em All features a rendition of the song "Master of Puppets" by Metallica, filmed at Nassau Coliseum on April 28, 1986 (while the band was opening a show for Ozzy Osbourne).

On December 14, 2024, Saturday Night's Main Event returned to the Coliseum for the premiere of its second revival as an NBC prime time special.

As part of an ambitious plan to host WrestleMania from three separate venues (alongside the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago and the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena), 16,585 fans saw 4 live matches at the Coliseum with the rest of the event shown to the audience by closed-circuit television.

The main event at the Nassau leg was a boxing match between Rowdy Roddy Piper and tough-guy actor Mr. T.[61] The Coliseum hosted its first AEW pay-per-view, Worlds End on December 30, 2023.

[67] On August 14, 2007, Islanders owner Charles Wang and the Lighthouse Development Group partnered with Rexcorp to create a new plan.

[75] On July 12, 2010, Town Supervisor Kate Murray (R-Hempstead) announced an "alternate zone" for the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum property that downsized the Lighthouse Project to half its proposed size and made the project, according to Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and the developers, "economically unviable for both the developer and owner of the site."

[14] Not long after the Islanders announced their move to Brooklyn, Forest City Enterprises, the owner of Barclays Center, was chosen to perform a study on development possibilities for the Nassau Coliseum site.

[79] A request for proposal was issued as a result of this study to transform the arena into a smaller sized venue and its surrounding parking lot into an entertainment hub with theaters, sports bars, and retail.

Four competing proposals were submitted in May 2013,[80] and Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano selected two finalists in July 2013, including one from a group led by Forest City Ratner.

Other acts that performed during the new Coliseum's opening week include Stevie Nicks, The Pretenders, Idina Menzel, Lionel Richie, Mariah Carey, and Marc Anthony.

In late January 2017, Bloomberg News reported via internal sources that Barclays Center was considering dropping the Islanders due to poor attendance and their effects on the venue's profits.

[28][29] These reports were further elaborated by Long Island Association president Kevin Law in April 2017, who stated that Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment (who manages both venues) was preparing to offer a relocation plan to the team.

[94][95][96] As such, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman felt that returning was not a "viable option" for the Islanders, but noted that the team was "in the process of evaluating what makes the most sense for the franchise and particularly for their fans.

[97][98] In January 2018, Islanders owner Jon Ledecky revealed on WFAN's Boomer and Gio that he had toured the renovated Coliseum with Bettman and other senior NHL officials.

They assessed that the Islanders could play a limited schedule of home games at the Coliseum, but that it would not be sustainable as a full-time venue because of its capacity and diminished amenities (such as few corporate suites) over other newly built arenas.

[95] On June 21, 2018, it was announced that the Islanders would play a portion of their home schedule at the Coliseum until the completion of the new arena, with 12 games moved in the 2018–19 season.

[107] In June 2020, Mikhail Prokhorov, whose company ran the Nassau Coliseum, announced that the arena would be closed indefinitely while it sought new investors to take it over and assume the remaining debt[108] as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[114] Since the announcement, parts of the local community surrounding the Coliseum has spoken out against it, citing a potential increase of traffic and congestion in the area.