Beasley Coliseum is a general-purpose indoor arena in the northwest United States, located on the campus of Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. The home venue for both the Cougars men's and women's basketball teams of the Pac-12 Conference, it opened in 1973, and its current seating capacity is 12,058 for basketball. The arena was renamed in 1981 for Wallis Beasley (1915–2008), a long-time sociology professor and executive vice shortly before his retirement from the university. He was WSU's faculty representative for athletics in the 1960s and also served as interim university For its first eight years, the venue was known as The building used "space frame" construction, relatively novel at the time. The elevation of the court is approximately above sea level. The project was approved by the WSU board of regents in early 1969. First events The building's inaugural event in 1973 was the university's commencement exercises on Its first sporting event was an NBA exhibition game between Seattle and Portland on September 25, 1973. The first major concert was Three Dog Night on Friday, October 5; tickets were five dollars. The first collegiate sporting event was a men's varsity basketball game against LSU on December 1, immediately preceded by a freshman game. The visiting Tigers were led by second-year head coach Dale Brown, previously an assistant at WSU (1971–72). Intercollegiate basketball was formerly played in Bohler Gymnasium, which opened in 1928 and is now home to Cougar volleyball. Friel Court Located on the east side of campus, the building includes the home arena for Cougars men's and women's basketball. It is named Friel Court in honor of the longtime head coach of the WSU men's basketball team, who led the Cougars to 495 victories in 30 seasons. Friel stepped down as head coach in 1958 and five years later became the first commissioner of the Big Sky Conference, originally based in Pullman (from 1963 to 1971), because that's where he lived. The court was named for Friel in late April 1977, announced by President Glenn Terrell at a meeting of the board the dedication ceremony was at halftime on The court surface was tartan (polyurethane) for its first decade; a traditional hardwood floor debuted in the fall NCAA tournament The Coliseum has hosted the sub-regionals of the NCAA men's basketball tournament three times: 1975, 1982, and 1984. The 1975 tournament expanded to 32 teams and the sub-regional