EmKingsFan4
Starter
OKay I'm warning you this article is somewhat of a long read, but gives a good insight into other arenas around the country. PLEASE make sure you check out the link just below for the "interactive graphic" to get the rankings for each arena and the vital stats.
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NBA arenas: Fantastic or not?
By Greg Boeck, USA TODAY
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Boeck sat — and ate — in all 29 NBA venues to find the best place to see a pro game. His pick? Denver. But be sure to check out our interactive graphic to get his thoughts, observations and cash layouts from all 30 games he attended.)
Denver's Pepsi Center tops USA TODAY's list as the NBA's fan-friendliest arena.
By Evan Semon, for USA TODAY
DENVER — The arena lights dimmed, signaling the start of player introductions for another NBA game — this one between the Houston Rockets and hometown Denver Nuggets. I braced for another theatrically produced video-screen display, complete with a slick, ear-piercing soundtrack, maybe even some indoor pyrotechnics.
That's the usual stuff I experienced on visits to all 29 of the NBA's arenas as a fan, not a reporter, in search of the most fan-friendly franchise in a league that bills itself as FAN-tastic.
Only on this night in Denver, the unusual unfolded. A gravelly, growling voice on the public-address system grabbed the crowd's full attention. I looked to the court, and even the players — long immune to such pregame hyperbole — were all ears as Austin Pawelka began to introduce the home team.
Pawelka, who said he wants to be the next Michael Buffer — boxing's booming baritone announcer — dramatically set the table for the most singular night I experienced as a fan in the NBA. All this from a skinny, blondish 10-year-old.
From Pawelka, the kid wonder Nuggets players playfully call "Little Man," to in-your-seat food service even in a non-premium location, Denver is clearly the most fan-friendly place in the NBA, according to a USA TODAY ranking of all 30 teams.
I felt comfortable even before stepping inside Denver's Pepsi Center: Parking was close, a three-minute walk, and reasonably priced at $10. Inside, although the Nuggets weren't very entertaining in a loss to the Rockets, Rocky The Mountain Lion, the mascot who sinks shots from midcourt with his back to the basket, was.
Indiana, with a throwback atmosphere in Conseco Fieldhouse, and Philadelphia, with a roomy, cushioned seat just 11 rows behind one basket, tied for second in the USA TODAY ranking. New Jersey, even with Mrs. Fields Cookies available in an otherwise stale atmosphere, finished dead last.
During a 43,020-mile odyssey by plane and car from November to March — Around the League in 124 Days — my goal was to purchase $50 tickets to each arena, then explore what fans get for their money. While the average ticket I bought cost $51, they ranged from $38.50 to $75.
I rated the fan-friendliness of each arena in five categories. Seating was weighted 40%; parking, fan involvement, entertainment and concessions were 15% each.
"I love this game," the NBA proudly boasts in print and broadcast advertising campaigns. It's a claim largely supported, I found, by the paying customers. I thought fans would feel ripped off by today's ticket prices. Instead, fans who forked over $50 for seats that ranged from New Orleans' prime location to New Jersey's last-row-in-the-nosebleed-section felt they got good value for their money.
The NBA's chest-pounding also is supported in part by record attendance. The league is on pace to top the records for total and average attendance. During the 1995-96 regular season, when Michael Jordan returned to the NBA, 20,513,218 fans attended games, 17,252 per contest. This season, NBA arenas are playing to 90% capacity. Through Monday's games, the average attendance was 17,248.
On the unsettling side, however, fans I sat with appeared far more enamored of the NBA experience — "great theater," Boston Celtics fan Alan Beauchamp called the collision of high-speed sport and high-energy entertainment — than the NBA players. A vocal group of fans felt today's players need an attitude adjustment.
"Spoiled brats," New Jersey Nets fan Bob Martin called them. Too much showboating, some said. Too little professionalism, others piped in. David Thompson, a Charlotte Bobcats fan, said the players "are taking it for granted."
The criticism didn't surprise NBA Commissioner David Stern. "Our players are far better than their reputations," he said. "We have to work together with our players to improve that."
Nuggets once 'very unpopular'
In Denver, club officials aren't taking their fans for granted. It wasn't always like this. When Kiki Vandeweghe became general manager four years ago, he found the team "disenfranchised" from the community.
By Evan Semon, for USA TODAYTen-year-old Austin Pawelka, who announces the starting lineups in Denver with a signature gravelly voice, is one of the Pepsi Center's big attractions.
"Our team was very unpopular," he said. "Honestly, I didn't even like the experience at the game."
The Nuggets have turned their mission statement — "to make the fans proud of our team and the games fun" — into reality. Across the board, Denver scored well in every category — second in seating, fifth in concessions, sixth in parking and fan involvement and 12th in entertainment.
My $55 ticket provided a seat — six rows off the court in the corner of the end zone — that I ranked second only in value and location to the seat I had in New Orleans that cost $51 and was an aisle away from club seats priced at $135.
The Denver location even included a food server, a major bonus for a seat not in the premium sections. I felt like the calendar had been turned back to the 1980s in terms of what I got for my money.
That wasn't the case everywhere I went. The most extreme example came during a visit to the Staples Center, home of the legendary Los Angeles Lakers and often-laughable Los Angeles Clippers.
They share the same arena but little else. On a January Sunday when the Clippers played in the afternoon and the Lakers followed that night, I chose to sit in virtually the same area in the lower concourse to get a comparison of costs, atmosphere and celebrity star power. For the Clippers game, I was in Section 219, Row 3, Seat 3; for the Lakers I was in Section 215, Row 12, Seat 12.
The scorecard:
Clippers ticket: $51.75. Lakers ticket: $75. On a larger budget, flamboyant NBA fan Jim Goldstein owns the same courtside season ticket for both teams. Clippers cost: $750. Lakers: $2,000.
Kenny Loggins sang the national anthem for the Lakers. I'd never heard of the woman who sang for the Clippers.
Fan enthusiasm? Without Shaquille O'Neal, the buzz is missing for the Lakers in Staples, but at least the fans rooted for the home team. Cheers for visiting Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers were heard at the Clippers game, a slap in the face to the home team.
"When you live in L.A., you're a Lakers fan," Lakers fan Steve Galluzzoi told me. "The Clippers are OK, but they are more or less the JV team here."
Ouch.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NBA arenas: Fantastic or not?
By Greg Boeck, USA TODAY
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Boeck sat — and ate — in all 29 NBA venues to find the best place to see a pro game. His pick? Denver. But be sure to check out our interactive graphic to get his thoughts, observations and cash layouts from all 30 games he attended.)
DENVER — The arena lights dimmed, signaling the start of player introductions for another NBA game — this one between the Houston Rockets and hometown Denver Nuggets. I braced for another theatrically produced video-screen display, complete with a slick, ear-piercing soundtrack, maybe even some indoor pyrotechnics.
That's the usual stuff I experienced on visits to all 29 of the NBA's arenas as a fan, not a reporter, in search of the most fan-friendly franchise in a league that bills itself as FAN-tastic.
Only on this night in Denver, the unusual unfolded. A gravelly, growling voice on the public-address system grabbed the crowd's full attention. I looked to the court, and even the players — long immune to such pregame hyperbole — were all ears as Austin Pawelka began to introduce the home team.
Pawelka, who said he wants to be the next Michael Buffer — boxing's booming baritone announcer — dramatically set the table for the most singular night I experienced as a fan in the NBA. All this from a skinny, blondish 10-year-old.
From Pawelka, the kid wonder Nuggets players playfully call "Little Man," to in-your-seat food service even in a non-premium location, Denver is clearly the most fan-friendly place in the NBA, according to a USA TODAY ranking of all 30 teams.
I felt comfortable even before stepping inside Denver's Pepsi Center: Parking was close, a three-minute walk, and reasonably priced at $10. Inside, although the Nuggets weren't very entertaining in a loss to the Rockets, Rocky The Mountain Lion, the mascot who sinks shots from midcourt with his back to the basket, was.
Indiana, with a throwback atmosphere in Conseco Fieldhouse, and Philadelphia, with a roomy, cushioned seat just 11 rows behind one basket, tied for second in the USA TODAY ranking. New Jersey, even with Mrs. Fields Cookies available in an otherwise stale atmosphere, finished dead last.
During a 43,020-mile odyssey by plane and car from November to March — Around the League in 124 Days — my goal was to purchase $50 tickets to each arena, then explore what fans get for their money. While the average ticket I bought cost $51, they ranged from $38.50 to $75.
I rated the fan-friendliness of each arena in five categories. Seating was weighted 40%; parking, fan involvement, entertainment and concessions were 15% each.
"I love this game," the NBA proudly boasts in print and broadcast advertising campaigns. It's a claim largely supported, I found, by the paying customers. I thought fans would feel ripped off by today's ticket prices. Instead, fans who forked over $50 for seats that ranged from New Orleans' prime location to New Jersey's last-row-in-the-nosebleed-section felt they got good value for their money.
The NBA's chest-pounding also is supported in part by record attendance. The league is on pace to top the records for total and average attendance. During the 1995-96 regular season, when Michael Jordan returned to the NBA, 20,513,218 fans attended games, 17,252 per contest. This season, NBA arenas are playing to 90% capacity. Through Monday's games, the average attendance was 17,248.
On the unsettling side, however, fans I sat with appeared far more enamored of the NBA experience — "great theater," Boston Celtics fan Alan Beauchamp called the collision of high-speed sport and high-energy entertainment — than the NBA players. A vocal group of fans felt today's players need an attitude adjustment.
"Spoiled brats," New Jersey Nets fan Bob Martin called them. Too much showboating, some said. Too little professionalism, others piped in. David Thompson, a Charlotte Bobcats fan, said the players "are taking it for granted."
The criticism didn't surprise NBA Commissioner David Stern. "Our players are far better than their reputations," he said. "We have to work together with our players to improve that."
Nuggets once 'very unpopular'
In Denver, club officials aren't taking their fans for granted. It wasn't always like this. When Kiki Vandeweghe became general manager four years ago, he found the team "disenfranchised" from the community.
"Our team was very unpopular," he said. "Honestly, I didn't even like the experience at the game."
The Nuggets have turned their mission statement — "to make the fans proud of our team and the games fun" — into reality. Across the board, Denver scored well in every category — second in seating, fifth in concessions, sixth in parking and fan involvement and 12th in entertainment.
My $55 ticket provided a seat — six rows off the court in the corner of the end zone — that I ranked second only in value and location to the seat I had in New Orleans that cost $51 and was an aisle away from club seats priced at $135.
The Denver location even included a food server, a major bonus for a seat not in the premium sections. I felt like the calendar had been turned back to the 1980s in terms of what I got for my money.
That wasn't the case everywhere I went. The most extreme example came during a visit to the Staples Center, home of the legendary Los Angeles Lakers and often-laughable Los Angeles Clippers.
They share the same arena but little else. On a January Sunday when the Clippers played in the afternoon and the Lakers followed that night, I chose to sit in virtually the same area in the lower concourse to get a comparison of costs, atmosphere and celebrity star power. For the Clippers game, I was in Section 219, Row 3, Seat 3; for the Lakers I was in Section 215, Row 12, Seat 12.
The scorecard:
Clippers ticket: $51.75. Lakers ticket: $75. On a larger budget, flamboyant NBA fan Jim Goldstein owns the same courtside season ticket for both teams. Clippers cost: $750. Lakers: $2,000.
Kenny Loggins sang the national anthem for the Lakers. I'd never heard of the woman who sang for the Clippers.
Fan enthusiasm? Without Shaquille O'Neal, the buzz is missing for the Lakers in Staples, but at least the fans rooted for the home team. Cheers for visiting Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers were heard at the Clippers game, a slap in the face to the home team.
"When you live in L.A., you're a Lakers fan," Lakers fan Steve Galluzzoi told me. "The Clippers are OK, but they are more or less the JV team here."
Ouch.
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