USA Today: Fan Friendliest NBA Arenas

I looked to see if this had already been posted, but did not see it.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2005-04-12-arenas-cover_x.htm

NBA arenas: Fantastic or not?
By Greg Boeck, USA TODAY
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Boeck sat — and ate — in all 29 NBA venues to find the best place to see a pro game. His pick? Denver. But be sure to check out our interactive graphic to get his thoughts, observations and cash layouts from all 30 games he attended.)

Denver's Pepsi Center tops USA TODAY's list as the NBA's fan-friendliest arena.
By Evan Semon, for USA TODAY

DENVER — The arena lights dimmed, signaling the start of player introductions for another NBA game — this one between the Houston Rockets and hometown Denver Nuggets. I braced for another theatrically produced video-screen display, complete with a slick, ear-piercing soundtrack, maybe even some indoor pyrotechnics.

That's the usual stuff I experienced on visits to all 29 of the NBA's arenas as a fan, not a reporter, in search of the most fan-friendly franchise in a league that bills itself as FAN-tastic.

Only on this night in Denver, the unusual unfolded. A gravelly, growling voice on the public-address system grabbed the crowd's full attention. I looked to the court, and even the players — long immune to such pregame hyperbole — were all ears as Austin Pawelka began to introduce the home team.

Pawelka, who said he wants to be the next Michael Buffer — boxing's booming baritone announcer — dramatically set the table for the most singular night I experienced as a fan in the NBA. All this from a skinny, blondish 10-year-old.

From Pawelka, the kid wonder Nuggets players playfully call "Little Man," to in-your-seat food service even in a non-premium location, Denver is clearly the most fan-friendly place in the NBA, according to a USA TODAY ranking of all 30 teams.

I felt comfortable even before stepping inside Denver's Pepsi Center: Parking was close, a three-minute walk, and reasonably priced at $10. Inside, although the Nuggets weren't very entertaining in a loss to the Rockets, Rocky The Mountain Lion, the mascot who sinks shots from midcourt with his back to the basket, was.

Indiana, with a throwback atmosphere in Conseco Fieldhouse, and Philadelphia, with a roomy, cushioned seat just 11 rows behind one basket, tied for second in the USA TODAY ranking. New Jersey, even with Mrs. Fields Cookies available in an otherwise stale atmosphere, finished dead last.

During a 43,020-mile odyssey by plane and car from November to March — Around the League in 124 Days — my goal was to purchase $50 tickets to each arena, then explore what fans get for their money. While the average ticket I bought cost $51, they ranged from $38.50 to $75.

I rated the fan-friendliness of each arena in five categories. Seating was weighted 40%; parking, fan involvement, entertainment and concessions were 15% each.

"I love this game," the NBA proudly boasts in print and broadcast advertising campaigns. It's a claim largely supported, I found, by the paying customers. I thought fans would feel ripped off by today's ticket prices. Instead, fans who forked over $50 for seats that ranged from New Orleans' prime location to New Jersey's last-row-in-the-nosebleed-section felt they got good value for their money.

The NBA's chest-pounding also is supported in part by record attendance. The league is on pace to top the records for total and average attendance. During the 1995-96 regular season, when Michael Jordan returned to the NBA, 20,513,218 fans attended games, 17,252 per contest. This season, NBA arenas are playing to 90% capacity. Through Monday's games, the average attendance was 17,248.

On the unsettling side, however, fans I sat with appeared far more enamored of the NBA experience — "great theater," Boston Celtics fan Alan Beauchamp called the collision of high-speed sport and high-energy entertainment — than the NBA players. A vocal group of fans felt today's players need an attitude adjustment.

"Spoiled brats," New Jersey Nets fan Bob Martin called them. Too much showboating, some said. Too little professionalism, others piped in. David Thompson, a Charlotte Bobcats fan, said the players "are taking it for granted."

The criticism didn't surprise NBA Commissioner David Stern. "Our players are far better than their reputations," he said. "We have to work together with our players to improve that."

Nuggets once 'very unpopular'

In Denver, club officials aren't taking their fans for granted. It wasn't always like this. When Kiki Vandeweghe became general manager four years ago, he found the team "disenfranchised" from the community.


By Evan Semon, for USA TODAY
Ten-year-old Austin Pawelka, who announces the starting lineups in Denver with a signature gravelly voice, is one of the Pepsi Center's big attractions.



"Our team was very unpopular," he said. "Honestly, I didn't even like the experience at the game."

The Nuggets have turned their mission statement — "to make the fans proud of our team and the games fun" — into reality. Across the board, Denver scored well in every category — second in seating, fifth in concessions, sixth in parking and fan involvement and 12th in entertainment.

My $55 ticket provided a seat — six rows off the court in the corner of the end zone — that I ranked second only in value and location to the seat I had in New Orleans that cost $51 and was an aisle away from club seats priced at $135.

The Denver location even included a food server, a major bonus for a seat not in the premium sections. I felt like the calendar had been turned back to the 1980s in terms of what I got for my money.

That wasn't the case everywhere I went. The most extreme example came during a visit to the Staples Center, home of the legendary Los Angeles Lakers and often-laughable Los Angeles Clippers.

They share the same arena but little else. On a January Sunday when the Clippers played in the afternoon and the Lakers followed that night, I chose to sit in virtually the same area in the lower concourse to get a comparison of costs, atmosphere and celebrity star power. For the Clippers game, I was in Section 219, Row 3, Seat 3; for the Lakers I was in Section 215, Row 12, Seat 12.

The scorecard:

Clippers ticket: $51.75. Lakers ticket: $75. On a larger budget, flamboyant NBA fan Jim Goldstein owns the same courtside season ticket for both teams. Clippers cost: $750. Lakers: $2,000.

Kenny Loggins sang the national anthem for the Lakers. I'd never heard of the woman who sang for the Clippers.

Fan enthusiasm? Without Shaquille O'Neal, the buzz is missing for the Lakers in Staples, but at least the fans rooted for the home team. Cheers for visiting Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers were heard at the Clippers game, a slap in the face to the home team.

"When you live in L.A., you're a Lakers fan," Lakers fan Steve Galluzzoi told me. "The Clippers are OK, but they are more or less the JV team here."

Ouch.

Not many comfortable seats

That was the same feeling I experienced watching a game in Milwaukee. The Bradley Center is out of the 1980s, but the seats feel like they were built in the 1880s. I had an excellent view of the court from my corner end-zone seat, but the skinny seat and cramped legroom made it perhaps the most uncomfortable seat in the league.

Granted, at 6-2½ I didn't find many comfortable seats. The biggest exception: Indiana, where the seats are wider than average.

Most of my seats — 21 of 30 — were in the lower bowl or mezzanine level. Nine were in the nosebleed section, ranging in price from $38.50 in Sacramento to $55 in Boston, the only arena where a fan called the price "highway robbery."

"This seat should cost $25," Beauchamp said.

My most distant view came in New Jersey, where a $45 ticket put me at center court — in the last row of the arena. Up there, the NBA isn't larger than life; it's a small man's game at that altitude. I needed binoculars. Thank goodness for video screens.

My seatmate didn't flinch, however.

"I love my seat," Martin said. "It's center court, straight ahead."

Vaudeville alive and well

Denver is typical of NBA teams — a break in the action rarely means a break in the activity during games. Vaudeville is alive and well in the NBA, which even brings its fans — and, sometimes, its referees — into various acts.

Every team except Boston has a dance team — by design, the old-school Celtics promote basketball first — and every team except the New York Knicks has a mascot. Sorry, Laker Girls, but the Miami Heat dancers are cutting edge, the best-kept secrets in the NBA.

Miami fan Graziella Doino was watching the Heat dancers perform when I asked her what she'd like to change about the NBA. She didn't hesitate: "I'm a woman. Where are the men dancers?"

Why, they're in Phoenix. You have to see the Dancing Dads to believe them — overweight, middle-aged men performing a choreographed (well, almost) routine. They don't appear regularly, but they're quite a contrast to the skimpily clad Suns Dancers.

Mascot Rocky is a huge hit with the younger fans in Denver, especially when he swishes a shot from midcourt with his back to the basket.

Youth, I found, prevails in the league and not just on the court, where teens are bolting from their proms to the pros. Teenage boys and girls dug the NBA perhaps even more than adults, though the music varied from 1960s classics to hip-hop hits.

Beth Hollowed, 16, is typical of the young fans I encountered. "There are not words to explain how much I love NBA games," she said. She makes the trip from her Meeker, Colo., home several times a year to watch the Nuggets.

VENUE RANKINGS
Rank, team Fan-friendly score (scale of 1 to 6, score of 6 being the best)
1. Denver 4.16
2T. Indiana 4.14
2T. Philadelphia 4.14
4. Phoenix 4.11
5. Detroit 4.05
6. New Orleans 3.98
7. Atlanta 3.90
8. Sacramento 3.79
9. Miami 3.77
10T. Cleveland 3.72
10T. Golden State 3.72
12. Houston 3.67
13T. Charlotte 3.65
13T. Seattle 3.65
15T. San Antonio 3.62
15T. Portland 3.62
17. L.A. Lakers 3.57
18. L.A. Clippers 3.54
19. Minnesota 3.51
20. Utah 3.46
21. Memphis 3.42
22. Chicago 3.37
23. Orlando 3.33
24T. Milwaukee 3.28
24T. New York 3.28
24T. Toronto 3.28
27. Dallas 3.24
28. Boston 3.11
29. Washington 2.94
30. New Jersey 2.82




ONE-GAME PRICE TAG
The cost of attending an NBA game is steep for a family of four. Based on a $50 ticket and the USA TODAY-calculated average cost of:
4 tickets $200
2 caps $41.32
4 sodas $20.36
4 hot dogs $14.54
Parking $13.19
2 programs $4.74
TOTAL $294.15






The best mascot in the league? The Phoenix Suns' Gorilla slam dunks off a trampoline and scoots around on a Harley-Davidson on the court.

The Suns also feature one of the best masters of ceremonies. Cedric Ceballos, a former NBA player, conducts contests, oversees promotions and introduces celebs at courtside with a flair unmatched around the league.

During a break at the game I attended, Ceballos coaxed team owner Robert Sarver out of his courtside seat to center court, where he was unceremoniously hurled feet-first, via a giant slingshot, into a set of rubber garbage cans.

That was the most outrageous act I saw on my tour, but the most eye-popping came in Salt Lake City at a Utah Jazz game. Between quarters, a fan was selected to throw footballs at a target high in the lower bowl. The reward: a trip to the Super Bowl. The fan wasn't close on two attempts. Neither was the mascot, the Bear. So he turned to NBA referee Ron Olesiak for help.

Olesiak promptly threw a bull's-eye with a Peyton Manning-like touchdown heave that brought the house down. Turns out the act was staged, and very well, at that; Olesiak, a former semipro football player and minor league baseball player, often is enlisted by the Bear to participate in skits when he comes to town.

"Got lucky," Olesiak said with a laugh when I talked to him later.

Despite Olesiak's efforts, no Super Bowl tickets for the fan.

Love that KissCam

There is a staple of cookie-cutter entertainment promos used widely in the league, but I found one universal truth: Fans love to see themselves on the video screen. Regardless of the promo — the KissCam is the most popular — they smile, wave and mug for all to see.

"It's our 15 seconds of fame," New Orleans Hornets fan Louis Shepard said.

"You've made the big time," Bonnie Wade, a Detroit Pistons fan, told me.

The Nuggets also use their video screen for a bonus I didn't see in any other arenas: When a player leaves the game with an injury, the type of injury is posted — information that is normally shared only with radio and television audiences.

Maybe that's one reason Nuggets fans are into the game; there was a continual buzz in the building during the game I saw — and they lost on this January night 116-98.

However, in terms of intensity, no fans match the frenzy of the Sacramento Kings die-hards.

I felt like I was back at my alma mater, Kentucky, with the roof-raising excitement generated in the older arena. Little wonder. The Kings are the only game in town.

Salad and french fries

I sampled concessions from clam chowder in Boston (average, at best) to Starbucks coffee in Seattle (where else?) to warm beer in New York's Madison Square Garden (politely exchanged by the concessionaire, no questions asked).

The best treat I had, however, came in Houston, where the Crunch Time Salad Bar served up a $6.75 salad mixed while I waited. It was in Charlotte, however, where I enjoyed the best-tasting calories in the league — Bojangle's french fries.

After the brawl in Detroit last November between Pistons fans and Pacers players, I noticed a closer monitoring of alcohol consumption everywhere.

But Boston stood out. The same vendor asked for my ID (I'm 56) both times I appeared for a beer. I even saw a fan busted by security for trying to purchase a third beer after buying the two-beer limit. A guard caught him after he asked a stranger to watch his two beers while he headed back to the beer stand for a third.

That was noteworthy, but outside of Denver's total experience, nothing left a more lasting impression on me than the colorful concourse at the SBC Center in San Antonio. It was a socializing and dining delight, with stops to get a massage, a margarita or even a spit shine. I felt like I was at a sports bar — with live action.

So what's it all mean? The NBA isn't hoops heaven, not when you get stuck in the postgame traffic jam I encountered in New Jersey. Or fork over $22 to park in Boston. Or find they've run out of programs at a Clippers game.

But it's close, especially at Conseco Fieldhouse, home of the Pacers in Indianapolis. Architects nailed a three-pointer combining a cozy, old-school look that takes you back in time with ahead-of-the-curve amenities that include glass tabletops in a bar perched on a rim with a net underneath.

Bottom line: Warts and all, the NBA largely lives up to its fan-friendly boast. NBA fans actually have something to cheer about — besides the home team. Sometimes even in the nosebleed section.

Winners of individual categories
Although Denver was the overall winner, the Nuggets did not finish on top of any category in the USA TODAY search for the most fan-friendly arena. The individual winners, category by category:
Category Team Comment
Seat New Orleans In a $51 seat, you could almost touch the players.
Fan involvement Sacramento Clearly the most rabid fans; the Kings have had 266 consecutive sellouts.
Entertainment Miami Dance team is league's best-kept secret with its glamorous costumes and well-choreographed routines.
Concessions Atlanta Great prices $3.50 32-ounce soda, $125 team jerseys, free but informative programs.
Parking Phoenix Cheap ($7) and, unlike at other venues, you can park less than a three-minute walk from the arena.
How we did it
USA TODAY ranked each franchise in five categories, with 40% weight given to the seat and 15% each to parking, entertainment, fan involvement and concessions. Criteria in each category were rated on a scale of 6 to 1. The scale: 6 wow, 5 superior, 4 above average, 3 average, 2 below average, 1 inferior. The criteria, within each category:

Seat: Cost, location and value; comfort (legroom, cushions, cup holders).
Fan involvement: Basketball enthusiasm and IQ.
Entertainment: Originality and entertainment value of timeout skits, dance team, mascot, scoreboard.
Concessions: Concession stands' availability, service and TV screens; concourse atmosphere; hot dog and soda costs; restroom availability, cleanliness and wait time; program cost and information; cost of authentic NBA jersey and cap; ticket line and speed; demeanor of security personnel.
Parking: Cost, safety, time in and out, distance.




Seems like the only honorable mention we get is our Salad Bar
I mean I know the fans don't get out as much as they should, but geez. Oh well at least we ranked ahead of Dallas and San Antonio.