Worst stadium in the NBA

[HotelVitale]

The worst one I've been to is Philly (Xfinity Mobile Arena)

I've been to:

Golden 1 Center (Kings)
Crypto.com Arena (Lakers)
TD Garden (Celtics)
Little Caesers Arena (Pistons)
Fiserv Forum (Bucks)
United Center (Bulls)
Target Center (Timberwolves)
Kaseya Arena (Heat)
PHX Arena (Suns)
Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse (Cavaliers)
Ball Arena (Nuggets)
Toyota Center (Rockets)
Capital One Arena (Wizards)
Xfinity Mobile Arena (76ers)

Curious why Philly's your least favorite. Just cuz kinda bland/nothing stands out? (No argument about that, it's pretty old and outdated ish)

[PlatinumState]

Capital One Arena: where dreams go to die under fluorescent lighting. Smack in the middle of Chinatown in downtown DC, it’s surrounded by chain restaurants no one admits to liking and dive bars that smell like regret. Inside, it’s sticky, cramped, and somehow always feels like a Greyhound bus terminal during a snowstorm.

Parking costs more than your ticket, and concessions? Enjoy a 30-minute wait for $40 chicken tenders that taste like they’ve been on sabbatical under a heat lamp since the Clinton administration. The only real upgrade they’ve made in 25 years is perfecting the art of charging $19 for a Bud Light.

Honestly, the best game plan is to show up already drunk and pray you blackout before halftime. Even worse, you're more likely to get tetanus than the Wiz to win the game you're attending.

Theyre making big renovations so it'll get better. I think the location is a plus
As far as worst, from what Ive seen the Toyota Center is horrendous, the cherry on top is all the seats are dirty. Also Fed Ex forum and Smoothie King seem ripe for demolishing

[GoBobs]

Stadium are a relic from a time before tv cameras. The nba doesn't need them anymore. They just keep building them the same way because they are stealing public money.

Most of the money generated is from the courtside seats and the area right around the lower bowl. If an arena has maybe 18,000 seats, most of the revenue is generated by the best 4000 seats.

The upper bowl is the most expensive to build (by far) and generates the least revenue per seat by far. These seats also give a worse view than watching on tv.

If you are watching a game on tv, it doesn't matter if the crowd is 5,000 people or 20,000.

If these owners were spending thier own money to build the areans maybe that would think about costs of building differently.

A 5,000 seat arena, where every one of those seats is a great one, and offers the kind of fan experience that someone paying that money expects is what the NBA needs.

Seating should be spacious. Bathrooms should be plentiful. Food should be quaility and reasonably priced. Treat the customer good and the ticket prices will reflect the value of the experience.

[infinite11285]

Capital One Arena: where dreams go to die under fluorescent lighting. Smack in the middle of Chinatown in downtown DC, it’s surrounded by chain restaurants no one admits to liking and dive bars that smell like regret. Inside, it’s sticky, cramped, and somehow always feels like a Greyhound bus terminal during a snowstorm.

Parking costs more than your ticket, and concessions? Enjoy a 30-minute wait for $40 chicken tenders that taste like they’ve been on sabbatical under a heat lamp since the Clinton administration. The only real upgrade they’ve made in 25 years is perfecting the art of charging $19 for a Bud Light.

Honestly, the best game plan is to show up already drunk and pray you blackout before halftime. Even worse, you're more likely to get tetanus than the Wiz to win the game you're attending.

are these really the prices on every arena? That's criminal. How much is parking?

At the arena? $35-50 easy. If a good team is in town, prices can go beyond $75.

[KingFox]

Glad my Kings no longer qualify in this category. The previous arena was hot garbage though the homecourt advantage was nice with just 17,317 seats lol

[Karate Diop]

MSG has a great location, but that's it. The arena itself is outdated and unimpressive.

[Calvin Klein]

Stadium are a relic from a time before tv cameras. The nba doesn't need them anymore. They just keep building them the same way because they are stealing public money.

Most of the money generated is from the courtside seats and the area right around the lower bowl. If an arena has maybe 18,000 seats, most of the revenue is generated by the best 4000 seats.

The upper bowl is the most expensive to build (by far) and generates the least revenue per seat by far. These seats also give a worse view than watching on tv.

If you are watching a game on tv, it doesn't matter if the crowd is 5,000 people or 20,000.

If these owners were spending thier own money to build the areans maybe that would think about costs of building differently.

A 5,000 seat arena, where every one of those seats is a great one, and offers the kind of fan experience that someone paying that money expects is what the NBA needs.

Seating should be spacious. Bathrooms should be plentiful. Food should be quaility and reasonably priced. Treat the customer good and the ticket prices will reflect the value of the experience.

and only ultra rich people would be able to afford that...

[monopoman]

Stadium are a relic from a time before tv cameras. The nba doesn't need them anymore. They just keep building them the same way because they are stealing public money.

Most of the money generated is from the courtside seats and the area right around the lower bowl. If an arena has maybe 18,000 seats, most of the revenue is generated by the best 4000 seats.

The upper bowl is the most expensive to build (by far) and generates the least revenue per seat by far. These seats also give a worse view than watching on tv.

If you are watching a game on tv, it doesn't matter if the crowd is 5,000 people or 20,000.

If these owners were spending thier own money to build the areans maybe that would think about costs of building differently.

A 5,000 seat arena, where every one of those seats is a great one, and offers the kind of fan experience that someone paying that money expects is what the NBA needs.

Seating should be spacious. Bathrooms should be plentiful. Food should be quaility and reasonably priced. Treat the customer good and the ticket prices will reflect the value of the experience.

I had the worst seats in the building nearly for game 5 where Dame hit his big shot to win against OKC, it's still one of my all time favorite games I have ever been too.

What you talk about may be true, but those upper seats are great and some of the most die-hard fans are up there. This is even more true for teams like the Lakers or Warriors where ticket prices are far higher in general, you are basically saying **** everyone that can't afford at least a $1000 ticket. That $1000 might also be extreme low-balling a big enough game say a deep playoff game or a NBA finals game.

[TroubleS0me]

Grizzlies, Pelicans, and Grizzlies
in terms of court appearance/design are the worst

[UcanUwill]

Well, New Orleans in general is a complete ****hole. So, singling out one specific part of it is kind of overkill.

I have never been to US, I do not know much about it, I wouldn't want to live there, but if I had to choose where to live there if I had to, I feel New Orleans would be one of my first options. It seems cool and distinct, but this all could be in my head, IDK.

It is cool and distinct, but it's also a strange place with a limited economy that mostly gets by because it's interesting and pretty. It's the smallest NBA market I believe, and it's also quite poor relative to other cities.

Part of that is just being a city in the deep south--the poorest metro areas in the country are mostly in the deep south, since the economy as a whole there just didn't jump to industry and then to service like most of the rest of the US. And part is that, unlike some other cities that were its size around the country, it didn't develop as a center for a newer 20th/21st century industry (e.g. Seattle, Austin, Raleigh-Durham, etc). So it's remained smaller and less wealthy than other US cities, and still has a major reliance on tourism and its culture industry. But yeah it's pretty cool.

Thanks, cool, like to learn something new. To me tho still, it is appealing city to live in, at least looks like it from first glance. I am Lithuanian, so even poor US economy looks very high level to me, also, I do not really want to live in big city, but even the smallest NBA market to me is huge, I never really understood the complaint of ''small markets'', all these NBA cities are metropolies, it is a city of 400k population according to wiki, not massive don't get me wrong, but what would be missing in 400k city, do these players really need to live in Hollywood to be happy? I lived all my live in a town that does not even have a cinema or like Phone repair spot, that sucks, so to me New Orleans would be sweet. I personally do not find places like NY appealing, you basically living squeezed like a can of fish, too many people, traffic seems awful, beside novelty of being very famous, I do not get perks of cities like that.

The only downside of deep south to me is politics, because I really hate American republican party, it evolved into basically 1930s Germany Neo Conservatism nowadays. I wouldn't like to live in very red state, but thats manageable I think.

[KingFox]

I wish the Warriors or Kings had stayed in their old, outdated arenas. Parking was easier, there weren't screens in every nook and cranny distracting from the game, and the fans actually mattered when there wasn't noise being blasted throughout the game. The best games I ever went to were at the old Oakland Coliseum before the renovation. The arena didn't even have replay but it didn't matter because you felt like you were a part of the game. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to pick up some more Geritol as I'm running low.

No the hell it wasn't It's SUPER easy to get in and out in Sacramento now, for the most part and especially in comparison to the arena of old. It was a lot cheaper but damn near impossible to find your car because it was just one huge lot and if you didn't remember "northeast" vs "southwest" or whatever random door to exit out of, you'd be searching for your car for an hour or more. Hell no.

[PlatinumState]

Grizzlies, Pelicans, and Grizzlies
in terms of court appearance/design are the worst

Grizzlies so bad you had to name them twice

[zeebneeb]

Stadium are a relic from a time before tv cameras. The nba doesn't need them anymore. They just keep building them the same way because they are stealing public money.

Most of the money generated is from the courtside seats and the area right around the lower bowl. If an arena has maybe 18,000 seats, most of the revenue is generated by the best 4000 seats.

The upper bowl is the most expensive to build (by far) and generates the least revenue per seat by far. These seats also give a worse view than watching on tv.

If you are watching a game on tv, it doesn't matter if the crowd is 5,000 people or 20,000.

If these owners were spending thier own money to build the areans maybe that would think about costs of building differently.

A 5,000 seat arena, where every one of those seats is a great one, and offers the kind of fan experience that someone paying that money expects is what the NBA needs.

Seating should be spacious. Bathrooms should be plentiful. Food should be quaility and reasonably priced. Treat the customer good and the ticket prices will reflect the value of the experience.

This is an excellent point, one that may go over a ton of peoples heads, especially the younger crowd.

A perfect example of this, is the modern movie theater. Emagine theaters are absolutely fantastic. Spacious, heated/Cooled seats, leather recliners, 5 feet of room in front of you, food brought to you during the movie. Back in the day, a completely different experience was to be had.

Horrendous seating, no arm rests, jammed together like an airliner, basic soda/popcorn or 100 year old snow caps that you could shingle a roof with, bathrooms that were a war crime by modern standards, and the theaters, were absolutely filthy.

The whole arena concept needs to be re-imagined from the ground up.

[HotelVitale]

I have never been to US, I do not know much about it, I wouldn't want to live there, but if I had to choose where to live there if I had to, I feel New Orleans would be one of my first options. It seems cool and distinct, but this all could be in my head, IDK.

It is cool and distinct, but it's also a strange place with a limited economy that mostly gets by because it's interesting and pretty. It's the smallest NBA market I believe, and it's also quite poor relative to other cities.

Part of that is just being a city in the deep south--the poorest metro areas in the country are mostly in the deep south, since the economy as a whole there just didn't jump to industry and then to service like most of the rest of the US. And part is that, unlike some other cities that were its size around the country, it didn't develop as a center for a newer 20th/21st century industry (e.g. Seattle, Austin, Raleigh-Durham, etc). So it's remained smaller and less wealthy than other US cities, and still has a major reliance on tourism and its culture industry. But yeah it's pretty cool.

Thanks, cool, like to learn something new. To me tho still, it is appealing city to live in, at least looks like it from first glance. I am Lithuanian, so even poor US economy looks very high level to me, also, I do not really want to live in big city, but even the smallest NBA market to me is huge, I never really understood the complaint of ''small markets'', all these NBA cities are metropolies, it is a city of 400k population according to wiki, not massive don't get me wrong, but what would be missing in 400k city, do these players really need to live in Hollywood to be happy? I lived all my live in a town that does not even have a cinema or like Phone repair spot, that sucks, so to me New Orleans would be sweet. I personally do not find places like NY appealing, you basically living squeezed like a can of fish, too many people, traffic seems awful, beside novelty of being very famous, I do not get perks of cities like that.

The only downside of deep south to me is politics, because I really hate American republican party, it evolved into basically 1930s Germany Neo Conservatism nowadays. I wouldn't like to live in very red state, but thats manageable I think.

A few more things to add then, I’ve traveled everywhere in the us and lived abroad a few times so always fun to talk about this to outsiders. I think the first thing you’d notice about New Orleans (and much of the Deep South) is the racial wealth disparity, the south has a lot of black people who have been in poverty for generations, dating back to slavery and then tenant farming. White people aren’t all wealthy of course but you’d feel the gap in economy and culture right away if you came from the outside. It’s one of the defining features of southern cities.

Also interesting thing about New Orleans is that it used to be quite wealthy in the 19th century, and part of why it feels so haunted is that sense of past wealth and complicated/dark/exciting history that’s now gone. It’s been cleaned up a lot in the past 20 years since hurricane Katrina but there used to be a ton of abandoned buildings and infrastructure, and not a lot of money around to fix it up and gentrify it.

Also there are a lot of American cities that look big on paper (ie millions of people in the area) but don’t feel anything like a big city like NY or Chicago (or Philly where I live). Many American cities were built mostly in the 20th century and mostly for cars, so they are very sprawling and spread out. What makes that even more intense is that most American cities tore down huge parts of their older areas to make way for highways and parking lots and things like that, kinda went nuts and broke up the old fabric of cities (a lot of the motive for that was just to clear out poor or dilipidated areas). There really aren’t too many cities that have more than a few neighborhoods that look like NYC does or have that sense of density and history. In most us cities there’s a smallish downtown, then a few old neighborhoods around it (sometimes quite rich people live there and sometimes quite poor, rarely in between), then the vast majority of people live in more suburban areas outside of that.

[cupcakesnake]

Also there are a lot of American cities that look big on paper (ie millions of people in the area) but don’t feel anything like a big city like NY or Chicago (or Philly where I live). Many American cities were built mostly in the 20th century and mostly for cars, so they are very sprawling and spread out. What makes that even more intense is that most American cities tore down huge parts of their older areas to make way for highways and parking lots and things like that, they really went nuts and kind of broke up the old fabric of cities (a lot of the motive for that was just to clear out poor or dilipidated areas). There really aren’t too many cities that have more than a few neighborhoods that look like NYC does or have that sense of density and history. In most us cities there’s a smallish downtown, then a few old neighborhoods around it (sometimes quite rich people live there and sometimes quite poor, rarely in between), then the vast majority of people live in more suburban areas outside of that.

This was always something that surprised me/disapointed me. Coming from Canada, where we have relatively few large urban areas, I always wanted to travel around the States and see more of the cities. Once I started doing it though, I quickly learned what you're describing above. I spent more time at gas stations and strip malls than I did exploring interesting downtown areas.

I know that there are corporate and political motivations that propel cities in this direction. Canada isn't immune to them at all, but I was shocked at how far along that process was in the States. I haven't travelled around that much yet, mostly East Coast, Great Lakes, and Rust Belt, but man... my little childhood road trips dreams are dead!

[PhilBlackson]

MSG has a great location, but that's it. The arena itself is outdated and unimpressive.

Yeah it's the location, lighting and of course crowd that make it what it is.

[UcanUwill]

It is cool and distinct, but it's also a strange place with a limited economy that mostly gets by because it's interesting and pretty. It's the smallest NBA market I believe, and it's also quite poor relative to other cities.

Part of that is just being a city in the deep south--the poorest metro areas in the country are mostly in the deep south, since the economy as a whole there just didn't jump to industry and then to service like most of the rest of the US. And part is that, unlike some other cities that were its size around the country, it didn't develop as a center for a newer 20th/21st century industry (e.g. Seattle, Austin, Raleigh-Durham, etc). So it's remained smaller and less wealthy than other US cities, and still has a major reliance on tourism and its culture industry. But yeah it's pretty cool.

Thanks, cool, like to learn something new. To me tho still, it is appealing city to live in, at least looks like it from first glance. I am Lithuanian, so even poor US economy looks very high level to me, also, I do not really want to live in big city, but even the smallest NBA market to me is huge, I never really understood the complaint of ''small markets'', all these NBA cities are metropolies, it is a city of 400k population according to wiki, not massive don't get me wrong, but what would be missing in 400k city, do these players really need to live in Hollywood to be happy? I lived all my live in a town that does not even have a cinema or like Phone repair spot, that sucks, so to me New Orleans would be sweet. I personally do not find places like NY appealing, you basically living squeezed like a can of fish, too many people, traffic seems awful, beside novelty of being very famous, I do not get perks of cities like that.

The only downside of deep south to me is politics, because I really hate American republican party, it evolved into basically 1930s Germany Neo Conservatism nowadays. I wouldn't like to live in very red state, but thats manageable I think.

A few more things to add then, I’ve traveled everywhere in the us and lived abroad a few times so always fun to talk about this to outsiders. I think the first thing you’d notice about New Orleans (and much of the Deep South) is the racial wealth disparity, the south has a lot of black people who have been in poverty for generations, dating back to slavery and then tenant farming. White people aren’t all wealthy of course but you’d feel the gap in economy and culture right away if you came from the outside. It’s one of the deceiving features of southern cities.

Also interesting thing about New Orleans is that it used to be quite wealthy in the 19th century, and part of why it feels so haunted is that sense of past wealth and complicated/dark/exciting history that’s now gone. It’s been cleaned up a lot in the past 20 years since hurricane Katrina but there used to be a ton of abandoned buildings and infrastructure, and not a lot of money around to fix it up and gentrify it.

Also there are a lot of American cities that look big on paper (ie millions of people in the area) but don’t feel anything like a big city like NY or Chicago (or Philly where I live). Many American cities were built mostly in the 20th century and mostly for cars, so they are very sprawling and spread out. What makes that even more intense is that most American cities tore down huge parts of their older areas to make way for highways and parking lots and things like that, they really went nuts and kind of broke up the old fabric of cities (a lot of the motive for that was just to clear out poor or dilipidated areas). There really aren’t too many cities that have more than a few neighborhoods that look like NYC does or have that sense of density and history. In most us cities there’s a smallish downtown, then a few old neighborhoods around it (sometimes quite rich people live there and sometimes quite poor, rarely in between), then the vast majority of people live in more suburban areas outside of that.

Yeah, I imagine some cities are very spread out. I remember watching a show on Jasikevičius when he played for the Pacers, and he was complaining how he needs to drive 60 minutes to work, and he says people in US are just used to that, he says its like 2 hours of my day gone every day....

And dont get me wrong, some people in Lithuania drive one hour to work, but thats probably mean that you work and live in different cities and pass like 10 tows while driving to work. You probably got a job in a Capital and you just do it cause it pays way better. I mean Vilnius is pretty big city to our stnadards at least, you can probably spend +30 minutes driving in just Vilnius to work, but usually, people here live very close to their work, and to everything, like if you spend 10 minutes driving to somewhere uninterrupted, thats kinda long trip. I jsut watched American player's vlog who just signed with Lithuanian team, and he said the best part is that everyhting is very close, if he needs to go to supermarket, it is just few minutes away and it is like that for everything.

[GoBobs]

Stadium are a relic from a time before tv cameras. The nba doesn't need them anymore. They just keep building them the same way because they are stealing public money.

Most of the money generated is from the courtside seats and the area right around the lower bowl. If an arena has maybe 18,000 seats, most of the revenue is generated by the best 4000 seats.

The upper bowl is the most expensive to build (by far) and generates the least revenue per seat by far. These seats also give a worse view than watching on tv.

If you are watching a game on tv, it doesn't matter if the crowd is 5,000 people or 20,000.

If these owners were spending thier own money to build the areans maybe that would think about costs of building differently.

A 5,000 seat arena, where every one of those seats is a great one, and offers the kind of fan experience that someone paying that money expects is what the NBA needs.

Seating should be spacious. Bathrooms should be plentiful. Food should be quaility and reasonably priced. Treat the customer good and the ticket prices will reflect the value of the experience.

I had the worst seats in the building nearly for game 5 where Dame hit his big shot to win against OKC, it's still one of my all time favorite games I have ever been too.

What you talk about may be true, but those upper seats are great and some of the most die-hard fans are up there. This is even more true for teams like the Lakers or Warriors where ticket prices are far higher in general, you are basically saying **** everyone that can't afford at least a $1000 ticket. That $1000 might also be extreme low-balling a big enough game say a deep playoff game or a NBA finals game.

I am just saying unless you can afford that premium ticket, the experience is better watching it on tv. Even if you don't agree and you think the stands are better, TV is pretty good as an option. You probably would have enjoyed that game if you watched it with a bunch of die hard fans on TV as well.

Keep in mind that most games are not great games. Stadium food is terrible, terrible for you, and very very overpriced. The seats are cramped. You are required to squeeze past strangers to get to your seat or from your seat to the bathroom. The experience is trash.

A lot of NBA stadiums are mostly empty, most nights for this reason. If the experience was good they would be less empty. The experience can be good in a smaller space and the stadium would be much cheaper to build. The NBA could easily afford to build it's own stadiums without begging the goverment for money.

Why should a private orginazation with billionare owners and mulitmillionare employees get public money to build thier buildings? Does the govt pay the rent where you work?

[Hoop Hunter]

According to a bunch of reports.. people complain about Memphis a whole lot and players hate the practice facility as it feels like a dungeon (no windows).

San Antonio might be up there but it's a hush hush type of town where they don't want to besmerich their city in any way. Even the controversies of that organization doesn't get talked enough and would be the laughing stock of the league if it made it to mainstream headlines.

That is crazy. Because even the LA Sparks is building a modern, glamorous, practice facility.

Wow, if it ends up looking like that, it'll be a work of art.

[Karate Diop]

MSG has a great location, but that's it. The arena itself is outdated and unimpressive.

Yeah it's the location, lighting and of course crowd that make it what it is.

Eh the crowd in the lower levels is almost 100% corporate... Again really not that noteworthy. Philly has a more lovely crowd, Detroit fans are easily more passionate, the list goes on...