The Heat defeated the Magic 111-103 in overtime on
Sunday in the team's opener at the $203M AmericanAirlines
Arena and in Ft. Lauderdale, Sarah Talalay wrote that Heat
fans "praised the view and the architecture, but grumbled
about their seats and concession and parking prices."
Talalay added that while "some elevators didn't work," fans
"found a much larger and brighter building" than Miami
Arena. Talalay, who called the $5M scoreboard "one of the
big surprises": "The round scoreboard, with its color-
changing tentacles, glowed hot red and yellow, emitted fog
and fireworks and thundered loudly as the Heat players were
announced" (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 1/3). But also in
Ft. Lauderdale, Mike Berardino called the "tentacles" on the
scoreboard "superfluous and disappointing" (SUN-SENTINEL,
1/3). In Palm Beach, Charles Elmore wrote the arena "pulled
down mostly glowing reviews ... with a few quibbles about
construction dust, traffic and too-snug seats" (PALM BEACH
POST, 1/3). In Daytona Beach, Ken Hornack: "There were
plenty of bugs that needed to be worked out; at least one
elevator was out of service, and parking within walking
distance of the arena was hard to find" (DAYTONA BEACH NEWS
JOURNAL, 1/3). Heat coach and President Pat Riley: "It is a
first-class facility and a place for our fans, for our
players and for our city to be proud of" (P.B. POST, 1/3).
PUMP DOWN THE VOLUME: Riley noted that the team will
look to reduce the noise level after the opening game: "As
far as the lights and the pyrotechnics, that's what it's
about. The fans got very excited about that. Now I think
we've got to bring the noise level down a little bit and
just refine it and find out what is classily exciting vs.
something over the top" (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 1/4).
SIXTH SENSE? In Atlanta, Paul Lomartire profiled the
arena, the sixth new arena to open this season, and wrote
that there "are two sets of offices for coaches, one just
for game days, along with a video coaching room." Heat
President of Business Operations Jay Cross: "There is
nothing to compare with this in the NBA." Lomartire added
that the outside of the arena is a "combination of glass and
curved white facades suspended off the ground to create the
look of a ship's sails." The Heat's colors -- red, yellow
and orange -- are the arena's "theme from seats to lights."
Cross, on why the arena "will please fans": "The geometry of
the building is different. It's a much tighter bowl. Most
arenas are built with hockey in mind or ice shows. Ours is
built only for basketball" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 1/2). In
Miami, Jeff Shain wrote that Heat officials "hope additional
sideline seats" in the arena will "produce a more
intimidating atmosphere to visiting teams." Shain added
that all seats are "permanent ... installed at a much
steeper rise," which "allows the higher rows behind the
baseline to be just as close to the court as the same row
along the distance" (MIAMI HERALD, 12/26). In Ft.
Lauderdale, Ira Winderman reported that "among the late
changes was the rejection of management's bid to have
players sit on the bench in the same swivel chairs afforded
to front-row fans" (Ft. Lauderdale SUN-SENTINEL, 1/3).
