U.S. Bank Arena (known originally as the Riverfront Coliseum, and known later as The Crown and the Firstar Center), is an indoor arena located in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio near the Ohio River next to the Great American Ball Park. Completed in 1975, the arena seats 17,556 persons (in the round). It was the home of the Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA from 1975–1979. Since then, the arena has hosted another minor-league hockey team and various concerts, political rallies, tennis tournaments, figure skating, a Billy Graham Crusade, and other events. The facility's longest-serving tenant was the men's basketball program of the University of Cincinnati, which used the arena from its completion until 1987, when U.C. played its games at Cincinnati Gardens (1987–89) until an on-campus facility (Shoemaker Center), now known as Fifth Third Arena, was completed. The arena building was heavily renovated in 1997, and is still in use. The current main tenant is the Cincinnati Cyclones franchise of the East Coast Hockey League. The Cincinnati Jungle Kats of the arenafootball2 league played their one and only season at the U.S. Bank Arena in 2007, posting a record of 1–15. On occasion, there are local pushes for the attraction of another major sports franchise to occupy the arena, possibly an NBA franchise either relocated or expanded, though little has ever come to fruition. The NBA was last played in Cincinnati in 1972, and never at this facility, aside from exhibition games.

On December 3, 1979, eleven fans were killed by compressive asphyxia and several dozen others injured in the rush for seating at the opening of a sold-out concert of 18,348 (3,578 reserved seats, 14,770 general admission seats) people by English rock band The Who. The concert was using "festival seating", (also known as "general seating"), where the best seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Due to the festival seating, many fans arrived early. When the crowds waiting outside heard the band performing a late sound check, they thought that the concert was beginning and tried to rush into the still-closed doors. Some at the front of the crowd were trampled as those pushing from behind were unaware that the doors were still closed. Only a few doors were in operation that night, and there are reports that management did not open more doors due to union restrictions and the concern of people sneaking past the ticket turnstiles.

As a result the remaining concerts of 1979, Blue Oyster Cult on December 14 and Aerosmith on December 21 were cancelled and concert venues across North America switched to assigned seating or changed their rules about festival seating. Cincinnati immediately outlawed festival seating at concerts, although it overturned the ban on August 4, 2004. The ban was making it difficult for Cincinnati to book concerts since many music acts prefer festival seating because it could allow the most enthusiastic fans to get near the stage and generate excitement for the rest of the crowd. Some performers and bands insist on a festival seating area near the stage. The city had made a one-time exception to the ban before August 4, 2004, allowing festival seating for a Bruce Springsteen concert on November 12, 2002. Cincinnati was, at one time, the only city in the United States to outlaw festival seating altogether.