The six major league arenas turning 20 years old have set some trends and adopted others from newer facilities. Here are some common themes:
LOCAL FOODS
Strong local brands are taking over arerena space. At Moda Center, Sizzle Pie, Killer Burgers and Fire on the
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Goose Island Pub
Photo by: Chase Agnello-Dean / Chicago Blackhawks |
Mountain wings, three popular Portland restaurants, replaced in-house themes. The same is true for Salt & Straw, a fresh ice cream stand. Scottrade Center brought in Ted Drewes Frozen Custard, a 94-year-old sweet delicacy. Quicken Loans Arena features signature items from celebrity chefs Michael Symon, Rocco Whalen and Jon Sawyer, all Clevelanders. This season, United Center rebranded a main concourse bar for Goose Island, a 25-year-old Chicago craft beer company owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev. Chicago-based Sweet Baby Ray’s, a barbecue stand named after the sauce sold nationwide, has become the arena’s most popular food destination.
BIGGER TEAM STORES
TD Garden is building a new 6,000-square-foot pro shop in a partnership with Reebok/Adidas that is expected to open Nov. 28. The store will sell Red Sox and Patriots apparel as well as the Bruins and Celtics. United Center has a concept on the table to build a new team store as part of an expansion wrapping around the Michael Jordan statue outside the arena on the facility’s east side. Fandemonium, the current team store inside the arena, is not accessible to the public on non-game days. Quicken Loans Arena expanded and upgraded its team store a few years ago to resemble more of a Niketown setup.
TECHNOLOGY UPGRADES
As is the case for all sports facilities, regardless of their age, the arenas are improving connectivity for users of
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The new video board at Quicken Loans Arena
Photo by: NBAE / Getty Images |
mobile devices. At TD Garden, 400 new Wi-Fi antennas include hot spots embedded in the dasherboards to boost coverage for season-ticket holders sitting close to the ice. The arena’s 200 new digital menu displays, a Cisco StadiumVision product, pop with bright colors. Quicken Loans Arena invested $5 million in a wireless project while United Center spent $8.5 million to install a distributed-antenna system to augment its Wi-Fi network. Most buildings have replaced their original center-hung video boards as well.
WALL GRAPHICS
Some of the buildings have turned to graphic treatments as an affordable, low-tech option to rebrand their concourses. Quicken Loans Arena has applications produced by Fathead, one of the many companies owned by Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert. United Center’s DiGiorno Pizza stand is decorated with bright red and yellow wall graphics tied to the company’s colors. TD Garden’s concourse renovations include heavy use of graphics, blowing up vintage black-and-white images celebrating the rich history of both the Bruins and the Celtics.
IMPROVED UPPER DECKS
The arenas are paying greater attention to improving the experience for fans sitting in the cheap seats farthest from
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The Pines
Photo by: Portland Trail Blazers |
the action. In some cases, they’re building sitdown bars to replace traditional concession stands. Moda Center’s new upper deck bar, “The Pines,” transformed an old outdoor smoking deck into a destination for all fans. In Chicago, the upper deck was branded as the Madhouse on Madison, a reference to the raucous crowds in the second balcony at the old Chicago Stadium.
