The Virginia Commonwealth University Rams men's basketball team played in the arena until the 7,500-seat Siegel Center opened on the VCU campus in 1999.

The Richmond Coliseum was the former part-time home of the Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association.

The Squires played there in addition to Roanoke Civic Center, Norfolk Scope and Hampton Coliseum (all within the Commonwealth of Virginia) from 1970 until just before the ABA–NBA merger in 1976.

The Colonial Athletic Association men's (NCAA) collegiate basketball tournament has been contested at the Richmond Coliseum from 1990 to 2013.

The Coliseum served as the primary home for the MEAC men's basketball tournament between 1998 and 2005, with some games played at the Arthur Ashe Athletic Center.

Charlotte Smith of North Carolina sank a buzzer-beating three-pointer to defeat Louisiana Tech, 60–59, in the final.

In 1997, a transformer fire caused electrical problems and forced events to be canceled or postponed that year.

From 1997 to 1999, a Bud Light Cup Series event known as the Lane Frost Memorial was held in the Coliseum; the PBR returned in 2007 to host minor-league tour stops sponsored by former bull rider Greg Potter.

The arena closed in February 2019, with the last event having been a Harlem Globetrotters basketball game on December 29, 2018,[6] but it has not been demolished while several proposed redevelopment projects to replace the coliseum are discussed.