Incident Overview · General Admission Crowd Crush
CHECKERDOME
GENERAL ADMISSION CRUSH
On 24 January 1978, Ted Nugent played the Checkerdome in St. Louis during a no-reserved-seat experiment. Later reporting and archive summaries state that about 15 people were treated for injuries before and during the concert, after which venue management said they would not use general admission again.
Core Facts
What Happened
- Date
- 24 January 1978
- Location
- Checkerdome / St. Louis Arena, 5700 Oakland Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri
- Incident name
- Checkerdome General Admission Crush
- Reported injuries
- About 15 people treated / 15 injuries reported
- Reported fatalities
- Not verified
Summary
No-Reserved-Seat Experiment
The strongest source trail supports a Ted Nugent concert at the Checkerdome on 24 January 1978, with the venue using a no-reserved-seat or general-admission arrangement.
Archive snippets from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch state that about 15 people were treated for injuries suffered before and during the concert. The same clipping trail quotes Checkerdome manager Charlie Mancuso saying the venue would never use general admission again.
The venue is identified as the Checkerdome in St. Louis. Supporting venue material links the Checkerdome name to the St. Louis Arena and gives the address as 5700 Oakland Avenue.
Fatalities are not verified on the present source base. Some later preview text appears ambiguous, but no reliable contemporary source reviewed confirms deaths from this specific incident.
View disputed details →Quick View
Incident Highlights
Chronology
Known Sequence
Concert listed for 24 January 1978
Setlist and tour sources place Ted Nugent at the Checkerdome in St. Louis on this date.
No-reserved-seat policy used
Later reporting says Checkerdome officials experimented with a no-reserved-seat policy for the concert.
Crowd trouble before and during show
The Post-Dispatch clipping trail states that injuries occurred before and during the concert.
About 15 treated
The reported injury figure in the accessible clipping trail is about 15 people treated.
General admission rejected afterwards
Manager Charlie Mancuso was quoted saying the Checkerdome would not use general admission again.
Concert listings support 24 January 1978 at the Checkerdome.
The Checkerdome / St. Louis Arena location and address are supported by venue records.
The central operational issue was the no-reserved-seat / general-admission experiment.
About 15 injuries is the supported figure, but exact details remain thin.
Conflicting Information
What Does Not Fully Line Up
Disputed Detail
Fatalities tied to this incident
Reliable contemporary material reviewed for this page supports injuries, not deaths. Some later preview text appears ambiguous, but it was not backed by a verified contemporary article in the source pass.
Editorial note: fatalities are treated as not verified. Do not upgrade ambiguous snippets into confirmed casualty figures.
Disputed Detail
Exact injury count and mechanics
The best available figure is about 15 people treated, but the underlying accessible trail does not provide a full injury ledger or precise crowd-flow description.
Editorial note: the incident should be framed as a general-admission crowd disorder with injuries, not as a fully quantified disaster.
Unverified Details
No fatality count was verified for this specific incident.
The source base supports “about 15” but not a detailed medical breakdown.
The general-admission policy is supported; the exact physical layout and queue mechanics are not fully verified.
A secondary site mentions 17,000, but the underlying newspaper review was not independently verified.
References
Source Cards
Ted Nugent concert gets out of hand
25 January 1978
Search and clipping snippets state that about 15 people were treated for injuries before and during the concert, and quote Checkerdome manager Charlie Mancuso saying the venue would not use general admission again.
Visit Source →Ted Nugent concert gets out of hand
25 January 1978
A second Newspapers.com entry for the same St. Louis Post-Dispatch clipping, repeating the injury-related preview text and article identification.
Visit Source →Jan. 24, 1978: All hell broke loose the night Ted Nugent played the Checkerdome
24 January 2024
Search preview states that Checkerdome officials experimented with a no-reserved-seat policy for the concert and that this was the last time they would try it. The page was paywalled during research.
Visit Source →A trip down memory lane: Magic moments at the St. Louis Arena
31 January 2024
Archive collection preview references the 24 January 1978 Checkerdome / Ted Nugent incident and repeats the no-reserved-seat experiment context. The page was paywalled during research.
Visit Source →Ted Nugent Concert Setlist at Checkerdome, St. Louis on January 24, 1978
No page date stated
Confirms a Ted Nugent concert at Checkerdome, St. Louis, Missouri, on 24 January 1978. Useful for date and venue confirmation only.
Visit Source →GOLDEN EARRING TOURDATES in the Seventies
No page date stated
States that the St. Louis Checkerdome concert with Golden Earring supporting Ted Nugent was postponed to 24 January 1978 and mentions Contemporary Productions and a newspaper review reference.
Visit Source →GOLDEN EARRING HISTORY DAY BY DAY
No page date stated
Repeats that the St. Louis Checkerdome date moved from 13 January 1978 to 24 January 1978 due to Ted Nugent illness, and identifies Golden Earring as special guest.
Visit Source →Arena (St. Louis)
20 September 2007
Venue page stating that St. Louis Arena was also known as the Checkerdome from 1977 to 1983 and giving the street as 5700 Oakland, St. Louis, Missouri.
Visit Source →St. Louis Arena
No page date stated
Entity record identifying the St. Louis Arena / Checkerdome address as 5700 Oakland Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri. Used as a location aid, not as incident evidence.
Visit Source →Source Links
