Visited Matthews Arena on Friday - UConn Arena concept

[brasssbonanzaa]

WBA was rarely packed in Boston U.s heyday (1978 to mid 1990s). They have more fans now. 4k average ina down year? That is really really good for them.

I last went to Matthews Arena over 25 years ago, so i don't know about their renovations, but I do remember loving the arena. That's because the old Boston Garden and Matthews share the exact same footprint. I've never been to a better arena than the old Boston Garden (which had many obstructed views as well) for any sport. Sitting in the balcony with a bird's eye view of everything was always a treat. I can't think of any other venue that put you closer to the action.

Yes, since HAA opened, we've easily been averaging 5K a year, it wasn't until the abomination of a season we had this year that numbers dipped significantly. And that's with the most expensive ticket prices in HE.

Matthews "looks" nice and has all of the history stuff, but from a fan viewing experience perspective, it's among the worst in the conference. If you're not in the front row of the balcony, your view is obstructed because the pitch is not steep enough to see over the railing to the ice below on your side, much less when there's someone sitting in the row(s) below. Down below, if you're in the back, you have a massive overhang and can't see a scoreboard anywhere. The pressbox now juts out in the middle of one side of the rink obstructing the views of many seats in adjacent sections.

UConn needs to shoot for the same size and concept ND did - 5K. Anything below that and it'll be another B1G obstacle as Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan likely would complain about having to fly east to play in a tiny barn - bad for their program. ND's rink only cost ~$90 million? That place has loads of perks and whistles that UConn's wouldn't need, including an enormous restaurant, connected youth rink facility, many, many suites and what not, a balcony seating level, etc. A simple and well done 5K bowl would be quite sufficient for the long term health of the program.