Pete Mathews Coliseum is a 3,500-seat multi-purpose arena in Jacksonville, Alabama. It is home to the Jacksonville State University Gamecocks men's and women's basketball teams as well as the women's volleyball team. It also hosts the annual Calhoun County High School Basketball Tournament held each January, in which all high school basketball teams in Calhoun County, Alabama compete. The arena has been the annual host for this event since the early 1990s. Prior to that time, the event was held in different facilities around Calhoun County . The venue opened in 1974 when the basketball team moved there from Stephenson Hall. In addition to the arena, the coliseum also houses an indoor swimming pool. Prior to the 2015 renovation, a concourse that was used as a jogging track circled the basketball court.Other InformationThe facility also includes classroom areas for HPER instruction and also has a large storage area on the lowest level beneath the classroom/swimming pool area.The original seating capacity was 5,500 but due to several renovations since its construction has seen a slight decline in seating capacity to 5,300. Following renovations during the summer of 2015, the seating capacity declined to 3,500. Before that renovation, most of the seating was of the wooden bleacher variety (entire upper deck and end zone lower deck). The remaining seats were of red cloth seats with seat backs which were used primarily by season ticket holders. Those seats were replaced with plastic chair-back seating along both sides and permanent bleachers in both endzones. A new wooden floor was installed as well.
