Arena Construction - Make pitch for ASG in 22/23. pg 95

[VooDoo7]

[CountMe3Outs]

Our new arena being a “Sprint Center Clone” is NOT a bad thing, in fact it’s probably the best overall design for an all-purpose arena optimized for basketball viewing. The new Las Vegas T-Mobile Arena is probably its closest progenitor. It appears to be the culmination of decades of improvement over older arenas, which were often designed around 200’ by 85’ hockey rinks, with viewing necessarily compromised for smaller 94’ by 50’ basketball courts fit within.

In the 60s, two of the world’s premier arenas, Madison Square Garden and the L.A. Forum, were designed with ‘elliptical’ seating geometry (the improvement was quite shocking over the old Milwaukee Arena on my first Forum visit). One possibly bad aspect to elliptical seating is the sideline seats are curved away from the playing floor.

The Forum’s successor, Staples Center, uses straight sidelines instead, with curved end seating. This places sideline seats closest to the floor while providing viewing relief to those seated in the end-zones. It enables strain-free viewing for both “large floor” events (soccer & hockey) as well as smaller ones (boxing, center-stage concerts). We will be the beneficiaries of this design evolution, with even further improvements.

In our case, basketball viewing is further enhanced over the aforementioned facilities by focusing the end-seats on the center of each baseline, under each basketball goal. Another improvement over Staples is the intimacy provided by almost uninterrupted “top-loaded” seating (except for four lower-bowl vomitories, I assume for club access) . The prime seats in the upper tier are no longer occupied by exits & stairs. Uninterrupted seating might even make the house PA & concert sound intelligible to most.

There appears to be a notable increase in row spacing for both lower & upper levels over the cramped BC. I estimated as much as 2.5 inches and 1.5 inches more, respectively, in the upper & lower bowls. With newer seats than those in the BC, legroom might be further enhanced by that afforded by the increase in row spacing alone.

Kudos to the Bucks ownership & management for the architectural choices thay have made.

[MickeyDavis]

I can't wait to attend games (and other events there).

[Diggr14]

I've always wanted to experience one...just one. I also want to see a tornado from a safe distance.

I guess you get kinda used to it after a while, but it depends on the magnitude as well... some are scarier than others. And louder.

Tornadoes are very rare. The main threat from mother nature is snow/ice in WI.

Gonna get a few Thonnados, Tsunajabaris, and some Gianniscanes.. No rims are safe.

[MickeyDavis]

Uninterrupted seating is going to be a great improvement. I never understood why AA Arena in Dallas had that center court tunnel. Waste of prime seats

[Black_Dragon]

Seeing the progress of the arena (and the other developments) daily is the only thing getting me through this season.

[trwi7]

Uninterrupted seating is going to be a great improvement. I never understood why AA Arena in Dallas had that center court tunnel. Waste of prime seats

It's to get to the benches/locker room for the Stars as you can see in this video at 24 seconds.

Watch on YouTube

Other arenas usually fill places like that in with seating. Don't know why Dallas doesn't. You can see an example of them filling in the seats in this Staples Center change from hockey to basketball.

Watch on YouTube

[CountMe3Outs]

The new arena will be quite intimate, as shown in this Biz Journal preview:

[MickeyDavis]

That looks great

[Black_Dragon]

The new arena will be quite intimate, as shown in this Biz Journal preview:

Link to this article?

[CountMe3Outs]

The URL for the arena preview:
http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2016/06/24/see-inside-a-luxury-suite-planned-for-new.html#g6

[trwi7]

More here

[mlloyd10]

Didn't realize this but should be interesting. - "The upper concourse is located above the upper bowl, which means fans will now walk down rather than up to their seats."

[MadBlueEdwards]

Didn't realize this but should be interesting. - "The upper concourse is located above the upper bowl, which means fans will now walk down rather than up to their seats."

I've heard this mentioned before as a benefit to the new arena. Is it supposed to be better that way? That's the way the lower bowl is at the BC right now and I've never really noticed the difference.

[trwi7]

Didn't realize this but should be interesting. - "The upper concourse is located above the upper bowl, which means fans will now walk down rather than up to their seats."

I've heard this mentioned before as a benefit to the new arena. Is it supposed to be better that way? That's the way the lower bowl is at the BC right now and I've never really noticed the difference.

People would rather walk down stairs than up them.

[Prince12]

Didn't realize this but should be interesting. - "The upper concourse is located above the upper bowl, which means fans will now walk down rather than up to their seats."

I've heard this mentioned before as a benefit to the new arena. Is it supposed to be better that way? That's the way the lower bowl is at the BC right now and I've never really noticed the difference.

People would rather walk down stairs than up them.

Trouble is, they are not living in the arena and at some point in the near future they will have to walk up those damn stairs.

[Black_Dragon]

I've heard this mentioned before as a benefit to the new arena. Is it supposed to be better that way? That's the way the lower bowl is at the BC right now and I've never really noticed the difference.

People would rather walk down stairs than up them.

Trouble is, they are not living in the arena and at some point in the near future they will have to walk up those damn stairs.

I've always enjoyed coming out of the tunnel to a new arena and walking down while taking it all in. Rather than, taking a 5 second look and then turn around and make the trek up only looking at aisle numbers.

[CountMe3Outs]

Top-loaded seating eliminates the "vomitories" (exits) within the seating area, which would otherwise consume space otherwise usable for seating. This allows more spectators to be placed closer to the performance & greater intimacy.

Some planned venues do not necessarily take advantage of this approach:

[HurricaneKid]

I've heard this mentioned before as a benefit to the new arena. Is it supposed to be better that way? That's the way the lower bowl is at the BC right now and I've never really noticed the difference.

People would rather walk down stairs than up them.

Trouble is, they are not living in the arena and at some point in the near future they will have to walk up those damn stairs.

I assume that is what escalators are for.

In the "intimate" pic of the finished arena I'm taken aback at what I consider to be a LOT of unused space immediately off the court. It feels like that is space designed for use for hockey, etc and makes every other seat a little worse than it would otherwise be.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

I've heard this mentioned before as a benefit to the new arena. Is it supposed to be better that way? That's the way the lower bowl is at the BC right now and I've never really noticed the difference.

People would rather walk down stairs than up them.

Trouble is, they are not living in the arena and at some point in the near future they will have to walk up those damn stairs.

I think the thought is you are walking closer to the game when going to the game to give you a boost, instead of walking to the back/upper corner of the arena with your seat. Also, just having something above the seats makes you feel closer to the action. It might actually have a slight advantage of having more seats closer since the tunnels will be filled with more prime seats.