My first reaction is that there are some seriously spoiled UConn fans on this board. A friend and I have gotten full-session tickets to the Big East, now AAC, tourney for years. I live 10 minutes from the XL; he lives in Simsbury. Still, neither of us squawked about going to Mohegan. Everything is close to some people, far from others. Why should we be the privileged ones? (Of course, I'm hoping that after Tulane enters the AAC the tourney will be held at the Smoothie King Center in NOLA, because I could handle an extended weekend there! I'm probably in the minority, though.)
One of the things I observed was that the Friday session was better attended than I recall at the XL. Granted, it was evening-only, but even on Friday evening at the XL it seemed like there were only about 100 fans in the place once you get past the fans of the teams that were actually playing. There appeared to be more at Mohegan.
We were able to get much better seats at Mohegan than at the XL. At the XL, no matter how early I got the tix after they became available, we always were in the 200's. At Mohegan, we were 10 rows up from the floor. (And behind the home bench, where we got great views of Geno and Stef dancing!)
Yes, they need to do a better job of informing people about the non-casino route into the place.
Traffic and parking are much nicer at Mohegan. We used the valet parking, which was handy. Also, walking out of there at 10:30 PM, I didn't feel I needed to constantly glance over my shoulder to see if anyone was sneaking up behind me. (Sorry, Hartford.)
I totally don't get the tablet/Kindle thing. I wasn't even aware of it until I read it here. I had my smartphone the whole time, including on the casino floor. You can't use your phone while sitting at a gambling table, but it's OK to have one. So I'm perplexed by the tablet issue. (I did see people with binoculars.) I also don't understand the prohibition against mobile hot-spots, which was true at the XL, too.
The pat-down was more, um, thorough than any I've ever had at a sporting event. And I have season tickets to the Patriots, so I've experienced my share of security. Weird.
The one-drink-per-customer limit is irritating. At every other venue I've been to it's two, so we can grab a drink for ourselves and a friend.
I didn't miss the ginger announcer either, although the one they had stumbled here and there. (OK, I did kind of miss hearing, "Ssssssshoni Sssssschimmel.")
I, too, was glad to see (and participate in) giving Shoni a good hand. I've really enjoyed watching her over the past few years and hope to see her in the WNBA. I'm going to miss Jeff Walz' team.