Omni Coliseum (often called The Omni) was an indoor arena in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Completed in 1972, the arena seated 16,378 for basketball and 15,278 for hockey. It was part of the Omni Complex, now known as the CNN Center. It was the home arena for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association from 1972 until the arena's closure in 1997, and the Atlanta Flames of the National Hockey League from their inception in 1972 until 1980, when the franchise was sold and relocated to Calgary, Alberta. It hosted the 1977 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, the 1988 Democratic National Convention, and the 1996 Summer Olympics indoor volleyball competition. The Omni was closed and demolished in 1997. Its successor, Philips Arena (now State Farm Arena), was constructed on the Omni's site and opened in 1999. History The arena was considered an architectural marvel that combined innovative roof, seating, and structural designs. The logo is based on the unique seating arrangement. The exterior cladding was composed of Cor-Ten weathering steel, which is covered in rust; the idea was that the steel would continue to rust to the point where the rusted exterior would form a protective seal, making a solid steel structure that would last for decades. The Omni was noted for its distinctive space frame roof, often joked about as looking like an egg crate or a rusty waffle iron. Designed by the firm of tvsdesign with structural engineering work by the firm of Prybylowski and Gravino, the roof was technically described as an ortho-quad truss system. Scoreboard The only surviving component of the Omni is its scoreboard, which now hangs in the pavilion of the State Farm Arena. American Sign & Indicator (which became Trans-Lux) built the basketball-specific scoreboard in the early 1980s to replace the original hockey-specific scoreboard that Daktronics maintained during the 1990s. The arena also had four message boards in each end zone, two of which were animation boards. Events Professional wrestling The Omni was a hotbed for professional wrestling. Since its opening, it was considered the home base for the NWA's Georgia Championship Wrestling, Jim Crockett Promotions, and World Championship Wrestling. Many major and historic wrestling events took place at the Omni, including Starrcade (1985, 1986, 1989 and 1992), the first WarGames match during the Great American Bash tour (1987), and the first Slamboree in 1993. The World Wrestling Federation also held