Hollywood Sportatorium
| The Sporto | |
View of the Hollywood Sportatorium looking west. Pines Boulevard is out of view to the left
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| Location | 17171 Pines Boulevard (State Road 820), Pembroke Pines, Florida 33028 |
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| Coordinates | 26°0′32.47″N 80°22′30.79″W / 26.0090194°N 80.3752194°WCoordinates: 26°0′32.47″N 80°22′30.79″W / 26.0090194°N 80.3752194°W |
| Owner | Stephen A. Calder |
| Capacity | 15,532 |
| Construction | |
| Built | December 1969 |
| Opened | September 1970 |
| Renovated | 1975 |
| Closed | October 21, 1988 |
| Demolished | September–October 1993 |
| Tenants | |
| Fort Lauderdale Strikers (NASL) (1980–81) | |
The Hollywood Sportatorium was an indoor arena in Pembroke Pines, Florida, located at 17171 Pines Boulevard (originally 16661 West Hollywood Boulevard). The Sportatorium was 26 miles (42 km) from downtown Miami and 23 miles (37 km) from downtown Fort Lauderdale. During its 18 years of operation, it was the only venue of its kind in heavily populated South Florida.
The Sportatorium was built beginning in December 1969 by Stephen Calder and Norman Johnson. Calder would also build the Calder Race Course shortly thereafter. Opened in September 1970, it stood adjacent to the Miami-Hollywood Motorsports Park, which Calder and Johnson had constructed four years earlier. At the time, what is now the six- to eight-lane Pines Boulevard was a two-lane road in a thinly populated area of unincorporated Broward County. The land on which the arena stood was annexed to Pembroke Pines in 1980.
Envisioned as a sports arena, the Sportatorium was a hangar-like facility constructed out of concrete, with a steel roof. It originally contained an asphalt floor, three sides of bleacher seating for 14,000 people, and no air conditioning. "The idea was to have a facility which could have entertainment and events out of weather", said Bruce Johnson, Norman Johnson's son, who managed the arena until 1980. At first, it hosted indoor rodeos, indoor motocross events, wrestling, boxing, and some concerts.
The Sportatorium was often floated as the home of a professional basketball or hockey franchise. As originally built, however, it did not have permanent seating or air conditioning. Additionally, the arena was only accessible from the then two-lane Hollywood Boulevard, resulting in massive traffic jams whenever events there attracted decent-sized crowds. Consequently, for a time there was little serious interest in the Sportatorium for a sports franchise.
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