96 Business View Magazine - July 2016
Mississippi Coast Coliseum
& Convention Center
Still the crowd favorite
In 2005, when Hurricane Katrina slammed up against
the Gulf Coast of the Southern United States, it did a
great deal of damage all the way from Central Flori-
da to Texas. One of the places the storm hit hardest
was the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where the Mississippi
Coast Coliseum & Convention Center sits midway be-
tween Biloxi and Gulfport.
While many places suffered from Katrina’s wrath, the
Coliseum and Convention Center was particularly rav-
aged, according to Matt McDonnell, its Executive Di-
rector, who has spent the last three decades in ser-
vice to the facility. “Everybody read about Hurricane
Katrina hitting New Orleans,” he begins. “New Orleans
certainly took a lot of damage; it was a catastrophic
event for their community and for many of their facili-
