Free Open House at State Farm Arena - Oct. 20th

[JayBirdHawk]

 

I may try and swing by to check out the new digs.

[Dnice]

I'd love to come up there.

[Dnice]

Bumping to remind anyone who'd be interested.

[JayBirdHawk]

 

[Dejay]

The most ironic thing about the renovations is that when all is said and done, the arena will have a capacity of less than a thousand seats more than the Omni did and one of the smallest such capacities in the league. That might be one of the only things they have in common but still...

[Duff_Man]

Looks pretty good. Although I only got to picture #3 before the AJCs diseased ad-ridden page basically killed my browser.

[JayBirdHawk]

@macdaddy. Koonin said on his radio show on Friday that a person with a 300 level ticket will have access to the 'good' restaurants. No limited access to those areas.

[macdaddy]

4 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

@macdaddy. Koonin said on his radio show on Friday that a person with a 300 level ticket will have access to the 'good' restaurants. No limited access to those areas.

Nice.   Did anyone go to the open house?

 

[nathan2331]

@macdaddy. Koonin said on his radio show on Friday that a person with a 300 level ticket will have access to the 'good' restaurants. No limited access to those areas.

That's nice. It's a whole new world when you get into the corporate side of the arena.

[mcleitsy]

24 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Nice.   Did anyone go to the open house?

 

I went, if anyone has interest I can post some pictures. I'm in the players club section, which is very cool. It has an open area that goes to the tunnel where the players enter/exit the locker room. It also has a glassdoor room to the press area, which is all in a private bar that you enter at center court. 

 

The new monitors look great. There is still a lot of mid level seating, and the boxes are still there, just not as many. It's really a 'there's not a bad seat in the house' kind of vibe. I think its really mirroring the aesthetic of Mercedes-Benz, but a lot more polished. I've been to a lot of NBA stadiums, and out side of a couple (mostly for historical reasons) it is pretty frickin cool. 

[macdaddy]

1 minute ago, mcleitsy said:

I went, if anyone has interest I can post some pictures. I'm in the players club section, which is very cool. It has an open area that goes to the tunnel where the players enter/exit the locker room. It also has a glassdoor room to the press area, which is all in a private bar that you enter at center court. 

 

The new monitors look great. There is still a lot of mid level seating, and the boxes are still there, just not as many. It's really a 'there's not a bad seat in the house' kind of vibe. I think its really mirroring the aesthetic of Mercedes-Benz, but a lot more polished. I've been to a lot of NBA stadiums, and out side of a couple (mostly for historical reasons) it is pretty frickin cool. 

So they carved out more seats at the top of where the luxury wall was.  It looks like those are decent but must be really high off the court.  did you notice?

[mcleitsy]

1 minute ago, macdaddy said:

So they carved out more seats at the top of where the luxury wall was.  It looks like those are decent but must be really high off the court.  did you notice?

They're not staggered in a way that made me think it would be a bad view. It's not as steep as they were at the old Phillips or MB. Here's some crummy pics from a couple different angles, main concourse and courtside. 

https://imgur.com/a/GjQE602

https://imgur.com/a/zN5UEBi

[macdaddy]

1 minute ago, mcleitsy said:

They're not staggered in a way that made me think it would be a bad view. It's not as steep as they were at the old Phillips or MB. Here's some crummy pics from a couple different angles, main concourse and courtside. 

https://imgur.com/a/GjQE602

https://imgur.com/a/zN5UEBi

cool. Thanks!   I have upper level seats for wednesday (it's now the 200 level but used to be 300).   The thing i forgot about when i bought them was that they chopped the first 7-10 rows off the old 300 level.  So Row E now is really what would have been like row M.   

[mcleitsy]

1 minute ago, macdaddy said:

cool. Thanks!   I have upper level seats for wednesday (it's now the 200 level but used to be 300).   The thing i forgot about when i bought them was that they chopped the first 7-10 rows off the old 300 level.  So Row E now is really what would have been like row M.   

Yeah....I'm not sure why they numbered the way they did since there are still a lot of old '200' seats. More than what was initially described so part of me thinks there were some changes when it came to removing seats. My old section 221, which i was told was going away, is still there. But worst case scenario you're looking at one of the biggest jumbotrons in the league so yeah. 

[JayBirdHawk]

13 minutes ago, mcleitsy said:

They're not staggered in a way that made me think it would be a bad view. It's not as steep as they were at the old Phillips or MB. Here's some crummy pics from a couple different angles, main concourse and courtside. 

https://imgur.com/a/GjQE602

https://imgur.com/a/zN5UEBi

Nice pics. The jumbotron is well....JUMBO, lol.

[macdaddy]

Is the old Omni scoreboard that was hanging in the concourse gone now?   I hope not.   

[mcleitsy]

8 minutes ago, macdaddy said:

Is the old Omni scoreboard that was hanging in the concourse gone now?   I hope not.   

I....didn't see it. But I also wasn't looking for it. They did turn some of the old court into bars you can sit at, though!

[macdaddy]

One more question if you don't mind.   Do you still get to the upper level the same way, by going to the top and walking down to the seats?  or did they create access from the lower concourse somehow that avoided the 10 minute escalator rides.?

[JayBirdHawk]

Just now, macdaddy said:

One more question if you don't mind.   Do you still get to the upper level the same way, by going to the top and walking down to the seats?  or did they create access from the lower concourse somehow that avoided the 10 minute escalator rides.?

I hate those escalators, and walking down to the seat. My husband said he'll never do that again, felt like he was falling over (plus he hates heights).

[macdaddy]

2 minutes ago, JayBirdHawk said:

I hate those escalators, and walking down to the seat. My husband said he'll never do that again, felt like he was falling over (plus he hates heights).

Same here.   It's a horrible design and honestly super dangerous if there was any kind of need to evacuate.   There isn't a good way to get people down efficiently.   Luckily, there are fewer people up there now.   After game one i probably won't buy any tickets in there.  Instead i'll spring for "Terrace Level"