The Sportatorium was a barn-like arena in downtown Dallas, Texas, United States. With a seating capacity of approximately 4,500 it was used primarily for professional wrestling events. The building stood at 1000 S. Industrial Blvd, or the intersection of Industrial Boulevard and Cadiz Street, near the I-30/I-35E Interchange.
Early history
thumb|left|Aerial view of original octagonal Sportatorium, 11 March 1949
Built in 1934 by the Cox Fence Company, the original Dallas Sportatorium was constructed in the shape of an octagon, and seated approximately 10,000. Its inaugural wrestling event, promoted by Burt Willoughby, took place on December 9, 1935. Willoughby promoted wrestling at the Sportatorium until 1940, when the company was bought out by its former concessions manager, Ed McLemore.
From 1948 until 1966, the Sportatorium was also the site of the Big D Jamboree, a weekly country music showcase similar in format to the Grand Ole Opry and Louisiana Hayride; portions of the Jamboree were broadcast nationally on the CBS Radio Network.
The Sportatorium was partially destroyed by fire on May 1, 1953, in what was rumored to be an act of arson by a rival wrestling promoter. It was quickly rebuilt at the same location as a rectangular venue (with a modified octagonal seating configuration similar to the original), and reopened on September 22 of that year, billed as "The Million-Dollar Sportatorium".
The arena also hosted boxing events and concerts featuring up-and-coming rock stars over the years, in a manner similar to the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles during the same era.
In late 1966, promoter Ed McLemore formed a partnership with wrestler Jack Adkisson, better known as Fritz Von Erich, and acquired the Dallas/Fort Worth Wrestling Office, effectively breaking away from Paul Boesch and the Houston Wrestling Office. In January 1968, McLemore began suffering from a series of heart attacks and could no longer manage daily operations; he died on January 9, 1969, leaving Adkisson in control.
Under Adkisson’s leadership, the promotion—renamed World Class Championship Wrestling in the early 1980s—rose to fame, with his sons featured as the top stars. It became the most successful wrestling federation to regularly operate out of the Dallas Sportatorium.thumb|200px|left|WCCW ring announcer [[Gene Summers and referee David Manning at a live event in the Sportatorium, 1981.]]
The arena was configured with several ring aisles with the majority of the seats (mostly bleachers) set up on the east, south and west portions of the building. The north side of the building, best known as "Section D", was used mostly for a small stage and media area for cameras and reporters, but at least 10 rows of seats were also set up between the main stage/ring and the wall. A United States flag was displayed on the wall of section D for most of the arena's existence, and was changed once when the 48-star U.S. flag was replaced with a 50-star U.S. flag in 1960. The flag was moved to the section C area in 1987, then later above section I in the 1990s when the arena was refurbished for the Global Wrestling Federation.
During wrestling matches, the heel wrestlers came out of the northwest aisle, between sections B & C, while the babyfaces came out of the aisle on the southwest corner, or sections J & A. A broadcast studio was set up adjacent to the heel's locker room area; and an overhead section was later added for wrestling announcers to call the match.
On the Industrial Blvd side of the arena was the offices of Big Time Wrestling/World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW). Jack Adkisson and his sons each shared office space in the arena. Others like David Manning, Gary Hart, Ken Mantell, Percy Pringle, Skandor Akbar and Chris Adams would also occupy the front offices of the arena.
Eric Embry, who was the Sportatorium's lead booker, lived inside the arena for a time in 1989.
Decline
After WCCW folded in 1990 due to dwindling attendance, fundamental changes in the wrestling industry and tragedies involving a number of its top stars (including all but one of the Von Erichs, Gino Hernandez, and Bruiser Brody), the Sportatorium served as home base for the Global Wrestling Federation from 1991 to 1994 (billing itself for a time as the GlobalDome). Following the GWF's demise, a succession of smaller promotions (including the NWA between 1995 and 1996) attempted to hold shows in the building, each of them running out of money and closing their doors after only a short time.
However, it did gain one last bit of notoriety in March 1992 when Dallas-based Southwest Airlines held an arm-wrestling match between chairman Herb Kelleher and Kurt Herwald, chairman of Stevens Aviation, resulting from controversy over Southwest's use of the slogan "Just Plane Smart" (Stevens claimed that it infringed on its own "Plane Smart" slogan).