Chicago Stadium The Chicago Stadium was an indoor sports arena and theater in Chicago . It opened in 1929 , and closed in 1994 . History . The Stadium hosted the Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL from 1929 – 1994 and the Chicago Bulls of the NBA from 1967 – 1994 . The arena was the site of the first NFL playoff game in 1932 , the 1932 , 1940 , and 1944 Democratic National Convention s , and the 1932 and 1944 Republican National Convention s , as well as numerous concerts , rodeo competitions , boxing matches , political rallies , and plays . The stadium was first proposed by Chicago sports promoter Paddy Harmon . Harmon wanted to bring an NHL team to Chicago , but he lost out to Col . Frederic McLaughlin . This team would soon be known as the Chicago Black Hawks ( later ' Blackhawks ' ) . Harmon then went on to at least try to get some control over the team by building a stadium for the Blackhawks to play in . He spent $ 2 . 5 million and borrowed more funds from friends , including James E . Norris in order to build the stadium . Completed on March 28 , 1929 at a cost of $ 9 . 5 million ( $ 2 . 5 million was funded by Harmon ) , Chicago Stadium was the largest indoor arena in the world at the time . Detroit ' s Olympia stadium , built two years earlier , was a model for the Chicago stadium and had a capacity of over 15 , 000 people . It was also the first arena with an air conditioning system ( though the system was fairly rudimentary by modern standards , and was memorably given to filling the arena with fog during late - season games ) . The Stadium sat 17 , 317 for hockey at the time of closure . Standees were allowed for many years , and often the official attendance figures in the published game summaries were given in round numbers , such as 18 , 500 or 20 , 000 . The largest recorded crowd for an NHL game at the stadium was 20 , 069 for a playoff game between the Blackhawks and Minnesota North Stars on April 10 , 1982 . " The Madhouse on Madison " . In addition to the close - quartered , triple - tiered , boxy layout of the building , much of the loud , ringing noise of the fans could be attributed to the fabled 3 , 663 - pipe Barton organ that was played during hockey games there , earning it the moniker of " The Madhouse on Madison ( Street ) " . In the Stanley Cup semi - finals in 1971 , when the Blackhawks scored a series - clinching empty - net goal in Game 7 against the New York Rangers , CBS announcer Dan Kelly reported , " I can feel our broadcast booth shaking ! That ' s the kind of place Chicago Stadium is right now ! " The dressing rooms at the Stadium were placed underneath the seats , and the cramped corridor that led to the ice , with its twenty - two steps , became the stuff of legend . It also became traditional for Blackhawk fans to cheer loudly throughout the singing of the national anthems , especially when sung by Chicago favorite Wayne Messmer . Denizens of the second balcony often added sparklers and flags to the occasion . Arguably , the most memorable of these was the singing before the 1991 NHL All - Star Game , which took place during the Gulf War . This tradition has continued at the United Center . In 1992 , both the Blackhawks and the Bulls reached the finals in their respective leagues . The Blackhawks were swept in their finals by the Pittsburgh Penguins , losing at Chicago Stadium , while the Bulls won the second of their first of three straight NBA titles on their home floor against the Portland Trail Blazers . The Bulls did not clinch another championship at home until ( when they did so against the Seattle Supersonics ) , their second season at the new United Center , and the Blackhawks would not reach the Stanley Cup Finals again until ( in which they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers in six games ) , their 16th season in the new building , although they won their first championship since in Philadelphia . It was also the last NHL arena to retain the use of an analog dial - type large four - sided clock for timekeeping in professional hockey games . Boston Garden and the Detroit Olympia ( as well as the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in its pre - NHL days ) had identical scoreboards but replaced them with digital timers in the mid - 1960s , with Boston having their digital four - sided clock in use for the 1969 - 70 NHL season . Built by Bulova and installed in Chicago in 1943 , each side of the clock had a large face that kept the game time and a smaller face on the left and right for penalty times . It was difficult to read how much time was left in a period of play on the large face . Each minute of play was marked by a longer line on each third second increment on the dial . The difficulty was compounded because both a black minute hand and a red second hand were also turning around during play . That clock eventually was replaced by a four - sided scoreboard with a digital clock in 1976 by the Day Sign Company of Toronto , much like the one used at the end of the 1960s to replace the nearly identical dial - type clock in the Boston Garden , and then in 1984 by another , this one with a color electronic message board . That latter scoreboard was built by White Way Sign , which would build scoreboards for the United Center . The Stadium was also one of the last three NHL arenas ( the others being Boston Garden and the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium ) to have a shorter - than - regulation ice surface , as their construction predated the regulation . The distance was taken out of the neutral zone . Demolition . After the Blackhawks and Bulls moved to the United Center , the Chicago Stadium was demolished in 1995 . Its site is now a parking lot for the United Center across the street . CNN televised the demolition , showing devoted Blackhawks and Bulls fans crying as the wrecking ball hit the old building . The console of the Barton organ now resides in the Phil Maloof residence in Las Vegas , Nevada . Also , the center of the Chicago Bulls ' floor resides in Michael Jordan ' s trophy room at his mansion in North Carolina .