Rate the NBA arenas you've been to

The Game Room
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Inspired by this thread.

Haven’t been to as many of these as ballparks, but since I like to go to games when I travel, I’m curious as to what the Teeming Millions think.

Madison Square Garden–Haven’t been in many years, but my memories of the Garden are very good. Some of the loudest fans in the league, nicely laid out, not too high up in the blue seats compared to some others. My last game was a double-overtime against Denver–one of the best games I’ve ever seen, live or on TV.

Meadowlands/Brendan Byrne/Whatever (NJ)–Cold, stark, lousy food, bad location, nightmare parking.

The Forum–Just beautiful. I found it very accessible for a place you have to drive to. The best part was the fact that, if you sat in the upper seats, you could walk down to the floor level during shootaround and take pictures of the players as long as you didn’t stand in one spot too long.

Orlando Arena–Another very nice place. Designed to provide good visual access from just about anywhere. Prices weren’t too bad, and good effort on the team’s part to get the fans involved.

AT&T Center (San Antonio)–As I said before, I try to go to sports events when I’m on vacation. So, I’m planning this trip to Texas and go to Ticketmaster to buy seats for a Spurs game. Imagine my shock when I found a section in the upper levels where tickets were only $9! OK, I’m there. We get to the arena, and the first thing we encounter is someone giving out cards good for 2 free meals at Rudy’s Barbecue. So far, so good. We find our section and start climbing. And climbing. And climbing–up about the steepest staircase I’ve ever been on. A couple of minutes and two burning calves later, we reach our seats. We are, at this point, high enough off the floor to qualify for flight training. Not only that, but the upper level on that side of the arena sits right behind a concrete buttress, which effectively blocks out the sound of the PA announcer. Not much of a bargain, and Mrs. Know let me know that all the way back to the hotel. If you go, spend a little more on tickets, because it’s really quite a nice place. Parking’s a bitch, though.

US Airways Center (Phoenix)–I’ve saved the best for last. If anyone wants an object lesson in how to run an NBA arena, the Suns have everyone beat. Accessible by car or public transportation, decent parking rates if you don’t mind walking a few blocks, easy entry and exit. One of the most fan-and-family friendly places I’ve ever been to in any sport. I mean, these guys get the fans involved, big time! They do all sorts of promotions and little games during the quarter breaks, the scoreboard graphics are amazing, and they even have an emcee for the break promotions–former Suns great Cedric Ceballos–and let me tell you, can he work a crowd! The concourses are clean and wide, the concessions are many and varied, and the prices are not too bad. Plus, all through the concourses are murals of the players in the Suns Hall of Fame. If anyone knows of a better place to see a game, I’d like to know about it.

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[QUOTE=want2know;10926573Orlando Arena–Another very nice place. Designed to provide good visual access from just about anywhere. Prices weren’t too bad, and good effort on the team’s part to get the fans involved. [/QUOTE]

I’d still have a hard time going to a game at the Amway Arena. I’m sure the facility is nice and I know it has been through a variety of corporate names. But still, Amway?

On to my rankings:

Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis I sure couldn’t find any close parking and I ended up in a rather expensive lot. The facility was excellent and I had great seats for an early season Pacers/Wizards (without Jordan) game a few ago. Not sure of the year, but I’d say around the early 2000s. This was the first NBA game I’d been to in a while and I was glad that at least this arena had cut back on the hip hop music that was so common in the NBA for years. It was a weekend night and I thought it was strange they didn’t have all the concession stands open. I made the mistake of trying to get to one between quarters and ended up having to miss part of the game as well as having to make a bunch of people stand up to let me back into my seat.
American Airlines Center Dallas. Just about perfect. The concourses have both Mavs and Stars displays as they share the building. Still, they do it well and manage to create one of the better hockey atmospheres in the South for NHL games as well as a fantastic NBA atmospheres. The Mavs are very popular in the Dallas area and have a great enthusiastic crowd. Plenty of concession stands and decent arena food. Lots of bathrooms with little to no wait even for a sold out game. All of the concession stands are open for every Mavs games and weekend Stars games. Many people take the DART light rail so there seems to be enough parking. It is also connected to the Trinity Rail Express so those out towards Tarrant County can park at a TRE station and take the train to the arena.

US Airways Arena Phoenix They’ve done a decent job updating the arena since the Coyotes went out to Eastern California. The new Phoenix light rail runs by the arena and there is plenty of parking in various lots and garages in downtown Phoenix. There are a few bars around and you’ll see most fans walking around in orange or purple. The concession people will only sell you a dixie cup sized beer if you’re ordering more than one. Quite annoying as you’re not going to to the concession stand and back between quarters unless it is an ABC televised game. Seating is a bit cramped but I’m usually lucky enough to end up with a kid next to me. The arena has cut way back on the hip hop that was always played during the 1990’s.

Staples Center Los Angeles Parking sucks. Expensive and I didn’t really feel safe in the area. This must be the most unusual arena I’ve ever been to. It really had a business center type of atmosphere. I think this is the only arena that host 3 teams, so I’m sure that contributes to the feeling. It is a new arena so seating was comfortable and not cramped. I know it is common to bash LA fans for not being into the game, but this arena did have the most people on their cell phones that I’ve ever seen. The food had a very chain restaurant type taste, but was decent enough although quite expensive. During NBA games, you’ll have time to hit the concessions between quarters as there are endless commercials and sponsor plugs.

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  1. The Palace of Auburn Hills - egress is bad, but the facility is excellent. Good sight lines and the corporate suites are cut into the slope of the seating bowl in such a way that they aren’t obviously causing the cheap seats to be up in the stratosphere.

  2. Richfield Coliseum (former home of the Cleveland Cavs) - well designed for its time, so that there wasn’t a bad seat in either the lower bowl or the upper bowl. The suites were the worst seats in the house, which led to the construction of no. 5 below. Egress was bad initially, from 1974 to the mid 80s, but then they cut another access road in from the west and that helped tremendously. Now it has been torn down and you’d never know it had been there at all. The site is now a nature preserve.

  3. Chicago Stadium (former home of the Bulls) - a big barn that held the noise very well.

  4. Pontiac Silverdome, former home of the Pistons - it was a great place to see a football game. For basketball, the court was tucked into a corner of the football field and most of the seats were a long long way from the action.

  5. Quicken Loans Arena, formerly known as Gund Arena, current home of the Cavs - 4 out of 10. The pitch for seats in the lower bowl isn’t steep enough, so that a person can’t see very well over the heads of the people in front of him or her. The upper bowl seats are a mile from the court. The mid-level seats aren’t too bad, but the seats in that level along the sidelines are all club seats and thus are not available to the general public, only season ticket holders. Seats in the mid level in the corners aren’t too bad.

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I’ve only ever been to one NBA game, and that was at the old Boston Gardens. I loved the fact that the organist was right there, on the nosebleed seats and you could walk right past him. He was doing some Zeppelin thing when I saw him, if I recall.

I love all those old places; I also saw NHL games at the Boston Gardens, the Montreal Forum, the Detroit Olympia, and Maple Leafs Gardens too: back when corporate sponsorship was not a prerequisite.

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It’s been through three names since you were there!

First it was the Orlando Arena, then the O-rena, then the TD Waterhouse Center, and as of last year it’s Amway (hurk) Arena. It is rather nice. Parking’s shitty, but it’s a nice, airy, clean building.

Not a great sound system, though.

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Not a lot of people agree with me, but I loved the old Omni in Atlanta. There was a good vibe to that place, and it could get rocking in a big hurry. That’s generally the criteria I use in judging an arena.

There’s something about its successor, Philips Arena, that annoys me. My brother says the place is “Too damned Buckhead”, and I think that has something to do with my distaste for the place.

I went to the Capital Centre a few times to see the Bullets play back in the Frank Johnson/Jeff Ruland Era. That place was pretty fun too, if I remember correctly.

The Meadowlands make me yearn for the sweet, peaceful sleep of death. Or maybe its just having to watch the Nets.

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US Air Arena in Landover, Md - Former home of the Bullets / Wizards.

It sucked, of course I hate the NBA so my opinion might be a bit biased.

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Holy crap, this place sounds like the entrance to the center ring of hell. Blurgh…

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From 1961 to 1978 the Pistons played at 13,000 capacity Cobo Arena. The games were sparsely attended and you could buy cheap seats and move down during the game. The viewing was pretty good and you were never very far away. I would rather watch on TV than go to Silverdome. You needed binoculars.