Gill Coliseum Opened Fifty Years Ago in 1949. Construction of the new Coliseum was completed in late 1949 and the first Oregon State basketball game was held there against the University of Utah on December 16th. At the time, Gill Coliseum was the second largest suspended arch type of structure in the nation and was touted as the "finest basketball plant west of the Rockies". [OSU Archives #23]