After reading the other thread, it was clear the OP simply asked the question wrong, and didnt give enough info for us to decide upon. I would really like to know the 'true' answer to this question. Please try to put aside your biases and base your decision on what you have seen, heard, and see below.
What is the best arena in the NHL? THE BUILDING AND FACILITIES, ignore team and location. eg. if you think its xcel energy center in Minnesota, you can pick it up, plop it onto montagne and gauchetiere, and call it Le Centre Bell. You can even color it bleu blanc et rouge. Get it?
I am choosing arenas that have been built most recently and the biggest ones. Dont whine if the arena you think is best isnt here, just pick other and state your reason in a comment please.
Prudential Center
2007, capacity 17,615. Great new arena, a bit small, but i guess it was built based on expected attendance. Would be perfect with the Joe's capacity.
Madison Square Garden IV
1968, capacity 18,200. Most famous arena in the world.
Le Centre Bell
1996, capacity 21,273 Nice from the outside, great atmosphere. From experience, upper bowl sucks, lower bowl is awesome.
Scotiabank Place/Place Banque Scotia
1996, Capacity 20,500 Large, coliseum-shaped, has great light show before the game, cheesey fat actor sometimes included
Air Canada Center
1999, Capacity 18,919 Good atmosphere, best facilities in the league, looks nice from the outside, avg inside
Bank Atlantic Center
1998, capacity 19,250 There is something wrong about palm trees in front of a hockey arena
St. Pete Times Forum
1996, Capacity 19,758 Big arena, dont know much about it, apparently its allways full
United Center
1994, capacity 20,500 looks great from the outside...average inside. Possibly due for a facelift with www gone.
Nationwide Arena
2000, capacity 18,136 State of the art when it opened, still great, nice scoreboard
Joe Louis Arena
1979, capacity 20,666 i never realised how big this is, maybe we should lay off the wings for the empty seats, seeing as there are so many of them
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Last edited by danishh: 07-28-2008 at 07:57 PM.
Reason: typos
Xcel Energy Center
2000, capacity 18,064 Beautiful. The winner IMO.
GM Place
1995, capacity 18,630 Nice location, average inside, crappy logo.
American Airlines Center
2001, capacity 18,584 Just big enough for texas
Jobing.com Arena
2003, capacity 17,799 I've been here, and loved it. In my opinion, this is a sleeper, and the runner up.
Please DONT quote more than 2 arena's in these two posts. If you have a better interior or exterior picture, especially if i have a pic of an old scoreboard, please post the link so i can update.
Strictly judging on the outside appearance of the building, Staples Center is the coolest looking arena in the league.
I don't really care for the inside much, give me the Forum any day. In my opinion the smaller the arena the better. I'm not a fan of going to any triple deck venue. For that reason, the Shark Tank is great for watching games, and the Joe and MSG look pretty awesome too but I've never been.
My vote goes to the Xcel Energy Center. The best combination of awesome sightlines, closeness to the action on the ice and interactions with the fans, and a good combo of comfort and feeling like you're in a rink. Food's awesome. You don't have to waddle around like a penguin because you can move more than 2" per step.
Bell Center = overrated. Atmosphere is it's best quality. Without it, it's just a run of the mill average rink.
The Staples Center from my opinion isn't that great. It's all about box seats there. You don't feel really engaged with the rest of the fans or the play on the ice.
The Staples Center from my opinion isn't that great. It's all about box seats there. You don't feel really engaged with the rest of the fans or the play on the ice.
I agree, the atmosphere is terrible, and the 3 levels of box seats ruin the 3rd deck. The atmosphere will improve when the team does, but I don't enjoy the inside that much either way.
why is msg on this? let me count the horrors. that place is a dump, a joke, and just a terrible place for a hockey game. the facilities are the worst ive ever seen. anymore then 2 people in line at concessions or bathroom causes a problem in the balcony. bathroom is equivalent in size to the back seat of my car. the sightlines from anywhere in the 400s is terrible, not high enough and too far back. the exit staircases are about 2 feet wide, and are dizzying to walk down because they spiral so tight. music is awful, and the children curse at out-of-towners to the pleasure of adults
the only thing its got going for it, is the name, the intermission entertainment, and the fact i can take the train directly to the arena from boston fo' freeeee.
im not going to vote because i havent been to many places, although the excel energy center looks amazing. i was a huge fan of the bell center. i sat in the last row and i felt like i was standing right on top of the action. it is the opposite of msg, steep and high, as opposed to short and wide
HP Pavillion at San Jose is a great place to visit. Fans are close to the action, acoustics are un-beatable & above average looks on the outside. For sure the best of the arenas in Cali.
MSG smells like beef and cheese.... its highly overrated
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why is msg on this? let me count the horrors. that place is a dump, a joke, and just a terrible place for a hockey game. the facilities are the worst ive ever seen. anymore then 2 people in line at concessions or bathroom causes a problem in the balcony. bathroom is equivalent in size to the back seat of my car. the sightlines from anywhere in the 400s is terrible, not high enough and too far back. the exit staircases are about 2 feet wide, and are dizzying to walk down because they spiral so tight. music is awful, and the children curse at out-of-towners to the pleasure of adults
the only thing its got going for it, is the name, the intermission entertainment, and the fact i can take the train directly to the arena from boston fo' freeeee.
im not going to vote because i havent been to many places, although the excel energy center looks amazing. i was a huge fan of the bell center. i sat in the last row and i felt like i was standing right on top of the action. it is the opposite of msg, steep and high, as opposed to short and wide
X2, although I did vote. MSG is the most overrated building in the league, and it's legend is based solely on it's distant past and not the last decade and a half. I've been to about ten different NHL arenas and this one by far has the worst sightlines and angles to view a game and unless it's a major game, the atmosphere isn't much more exciting then their two closet rivals.
Not being a homer or anything, But the prudential center is state of the art new, and it is so easy to get to. It is great on the inside and out, and though it is small, it makes the fans more intimate with the game.
It would be the best atmosphere wise but it's not the case here and Habs fans know this.
The concessions are too small and the bathrooms too. It was build downtown with a lot of seats so they had to cut somewhere..
My vote go to the prudencial center, i never went but saw many pictures and it's awesome. Fire and Ice Lounge bar are great and the concessions too. You can go on their website and watch the sight lines from any seat.
I was at TD Banknorth Garden (back when it was the Fleet Centre) and I wasn't that impressed.
Not a lot of distinguishing features.
I really liked the ACC, although I found the concourse hallways to be fairly narrow.
That goes for most places.
Scotiabank Place is also narrow which makes inter-period traffic jams annoying. Part of the problem is that they've basically filled them with concessions carts, souvenir stands and those annoying MBNA free towel people, which cuts about half of the width.
Of the three, I'd have to go with the ACC for facilities and the SBP for sightlines during the game. There isn't a bad seat in all of SBP. Fleet was fairly unremarkable.
