Erie County Field House

The Erie County Field House was a multipurpose arena in Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. It was home to the Erie Blades, a North American Hockey League and American Hockey League franchise. The arena was eventually replaced by the Louis J. Tullio Arena in 1983.

Major Events

In 1980 the Erie Blades played the Russian Olympic team in an exhibition game at the fieldhouse. The Blades lost. It was also home to many great concerts of the day, including Alice Cooper, Rush, Heart, Kansas, AC/DC, Van Halen, Black Sabbath, Nazareth, Molly Hatchet, Journey, Kiss, Ted Nugent, Judas Priest, Blue Oyster Cult, Foghat, Barry Manilow, The Bay City Rollers, The Carpenters, Cheap Trick, Peter Frampton, Tom Jones, Johnny Cash, and Santana.^[1]

According to a 1976 promotional flyer for the facility,^{[n 1]} it had 3,750 permanent seats with a maximum capacity of 5,250.

Other events such as boat shows, circuses, the world famous lipizzaner stallions, and Ice Capades occurred there.

The Mace Electronics Spectacular was also held there for several years.

Lou Bizzaro fought Roberto Duran there for the lightweight title in a televised fight.

It was the venue where "Studio Wrestling" was taped in the mid 1970s.

Post-Closure

After closing in 1983, the facility served as an operations plant and warehouse for the Menasha (cardboard) Box Corporation.

In 2011 the facility was purchased by an Erie company and is being used for warehouse space. Part of the building is also being used by Mercyhurst College's maintenance dept.

Paul Gamsby, University of Michigan hockey hall of fame member, was manager of the Fieldhouse for many years.