Norfolk Scope is a multi-function complex in Norfolk, Virginia, comprising the 11,000-seat Scope Arena, a 2,500-seat theater known as Chrysler Hall, a modular exhibition hall, and a 600-car parking garage.
The arena was designed by Italian architect/engineer Pier Luigi Nervi in conjunction with the (now defunct) local firm Williams and Tazewell, which designed the entire complex. Nervi's design for the arena's reinforced concrete dome derived from the PalaLottomatica and the much smaller Palazzetto dello Sport, which were built in the 1950s for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome.
Construction on Scope began in June 1968 at the northern perimeter of Norfolk's downtown and was completed in 1971 at a cost of $35 million. Federal funds covered $23 million of the cost, and when it opened formally on November 12, 1971, the structure was the second-largest public complex in Virginia, behind only the Pentagon.
Featuring the world's largest reinforced thinshell concrete dome
(though eclipsed by the Seattle Kingdome from 1976 to 2000), Scope won the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects Test of Time award in 2003. Wes Lewis, director of Old Dominion University's civil engineering technology program, called it "a beautiful marrying of art and engineering." emphasizes the venue's re-configurability. The facility logo (right), which features a multi-colored, abstracted kaleidoscope image, was designed by Raymond Loewy's firm Loewy/Snaith of New York.
History and design
After watching the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics on television, and seeing the Palazzo dello Sport and Palazzetto dello Sport, Brad Tazewell and Jim Williams, two Norfolk architects, solicited Senator A. Willis Robertson, father of Pat Robertson, to build a sports complex in Norfolk. Subsequently, President Lyndon B. Johnson asked Robertson to support federal funding for a multimillion-dollar cultural center in Colorado, and Robertson said he would if Johnson would support one in Norfolk. In 2018, the city decided to move on from the renovation concept, which would total $200 million. In his 2019 State of the City address, Norfolk mayor Kenny Alexander announced plans to study the possibility of building a new arena, in a not yet named location. In March 2024, the city once again considered renovating Scope and potentially adding more seats.
National Wrestling Alliance, Jim Crockett Promotions, World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment had wrestling shows in Scope many times from the 1970s on, many times as a pay-per-view event. The biggest was Starrcade '88 in December 1988. The venue also hosted WCW's Starrcade 1991 PPV & World War 3 PPV in November 1995 and 1996, featuring the 3 ringed battle royal. On April 27, 1998, during the Monday Night War, professional wrestling stable D-Generation X drove a jeep up to the doors of the venue during an episode of WCW Monday Nitro.
The arena has hosted the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) men's and women's basketball conference championship tournaments since 2013.