FromThisSeat Blog

 

Welcome to the FromThisSeat Blog.

Here our editors will bring you plenty of news coverage on tickets, ballparks, stadiums and arenas as they pertain to the NFL, NHL, MLB and NBA.  If you have any questions or suggestions pertaining to the articles, feel free to 'Contact Us' via the navigation bar.

Exterior photo of the RBC Center in Raleigh, North Carolina. Home of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Image Credit: Chris66ftw - Wikimedia Commons

Like American Airlines, AT&T and Target, PNC Financial now possesses the naming rights to two professional sports venues stadiums. They include PNC Park in Pittsburgh, home of the Pittsburgh Pirates and PNC Arena in Raleigh, home of the Carolina Hurricanes. After spending ten seasons branded as the RBC Center (Royal Bank of Canada), the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes will be playing in freshly named PNC Arena.

Photo of the ice rink at HersheyPark Arena. Home of the Hershey Bears.

Image Credit: Bruce C. Cooper (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Unlike many historical stadiums and arenas, HersheyPark Arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania has been standing vacant for ten years and has yet to meet it's destruction. It is perhaps known more for Wilt Chamberlain's 100 point game than the home of the Amateur Hockey League's Hershey Bears for 66 years. And Hershey, Pennsylvania is perhaps known more for it's chocolate factory than it's hockey team. We're pretty sure Hershey residents prefer to have it it that way anyway.

Photo of downtown Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Image Credit: Daryl Mitchell (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The NHL finally made it's way back to Winnipeg, Manitoba this past season when they inherited the Atlanta Thrashers. The Jets have sold out every single game at their home arena; the MTS Centre.  When will the NHL get smart and discontinue the trend of trying to expand the game into U.S. markets? Well, the case of the Winnipeg Jets may help put an end to U.S. expansions or at least expansions in the southern United States. Attendances for Carolina Hurricanes, Florida Panthers and Arizona Coyotes games have been atrocious. 

Exterior photo of Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Our staff's trip to Nationwide Arena, home of the Columbus Blue Jackets, was our first trip to an NHL game. Though a small market franchise and city, neither disappointed by any means. The Blue Jackets were victorious 3-1 over the Los Angeles Kings. As a kid and young adult, I had only attended minor league hockey games to see teams such as the Knoxville Ice Bears and the old Kentucky Thoroughblades. That's really where my love for the game grew. The play and atmosphere that can be found in hockey arenas is way different than that of Major League Baseball, the NBA and NFL. 

Photo of SoDo in Seattle, Washington. 

Image Credit: Ian Sane (CC BY 2.0)

It's been 88 long years since Seattle was home to an NHL team; the old Seattle Metropolitans. The Metropolitans were the 1917 Stanley Cup Champions. It's also been 4 short years since Seattle was home to an NBA team; the old Seattle Supersonics relocated to Oklahoma City. A group of investors in Seattle are trying to come together to fund a new venue that would bring two professional franchises back to the city.

  Fan Cost Index chart.

Photo Source: CNN.com

The fan cost index (FCI) is a sports statistic that has been around for several years now. Very few sports fans will be able to tell you what the fan cost index entails and how it affects the average sports fan. But don't you worry because our staff is going to break the term down to make it easy to understand. 

 Photo of the field at FirstEnergy Stadium, home of the Cleveland Browns.

Eight Sundays per year, NFL stadiums transform into all day festivals compared to the other three professional sports leagues. There are 41 home games per year in the NBA, 41 home games per year in the NHL and 81 home games per year in Major League Baseball. With less home games, the cost of seeing your favorite NFL team comes with an expensive price tag. We have prepared a list of the four most expensive NFL stadiums to see a game in. It comes as no surprise that the most expensive stadiums to see a game in can be found in some of the country's largest cities. 

 Photo of the national anthem being sung at an NHL game.

For the most part, the National Hockey League is home to very affluent fan bases according to studies. Attendance at NHL games during the most recent recession was just as strong as the years prior. NHL fans are a very dedicated fan base that gladly spends money on the game that they love. Additionally, it's obvious that the largest NHL markets are found primarily in Canada and the northern United States. Here are the attendance numbers for all 30 NHL teams for the 2010-2011 NHL season.

Photo of the court at the TD Garden, home of the Boston Celtics.

NBA teams are showing smaller attendances compared to the league's peak in the 1980's and 1990's. There are many factors contributing to that trend. The high costs of attending an NBA game doesn't help the league's popularity nor does the NBA's 2nd lockout in twelve years. The large TV deals on the horizon for the league will keep even more fans at home. Here are the attendance standings for the 2010-2011 NBA season. See how many fans showed up to see your favorite team.

 

Aside from Paul Brown Stadium (Cincinnati Bengals), no other NFL stadium was at less than 80% capacity during the 2011 NFL season. Of the 32 NFL stadiums, four of them averaged crowds at more than capacity. Here are the 2011 NFL attendance numbers for all 32 teams. How did your favorite team fare in attendance?

 Photo of the playing field at Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox.

In a sport where no revenue is shared, nothing forecasts a team's spending like the number of fans that showed up to games the previous season. Here are the MLB attendance standings for the 2011 Major League Baseball season. How did your favorite team fare in attendance? 

 Photo of Richfield Coliseum from the parking lot.

Before Lebron James and Quicken Loans Arena, the Cleveland Cavaliers called the old Richfield Coliseum home. Richfield Coliseum had a lot of history for an arena located 40 minutes from downtown Cleveland and nicknamed "The Palace on the Prairie". Perhaps the most notable event to take place there was the boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner; a fight that brought the "Rocky" Series to life.

Photo taken from the upper level of American Airlines Arena during a Miami Heat home game.

Image Credit: Bob B. Brown (CC BY-ND 2.0)

American Airlines Arena is located in sunny Miami, Florida which actually seems to hinder the arena's attendance. Though our staff has never attended a game at American Airlines Arena, we often hear statements about why the venue seems to be half-full or lifeless compared to other NBA arenasIt can't be the team; Lebron James and Dwayne Wade are in the Heat lineup and comprise one of the most exciting teams in the NBA. The lack of attendance could actually be the result of a number of factors.

 Photo of the court at KeyArena, home of the Seattle Supersonics.

If you're an NBA fan that has been attending games since the 1980's, you've probably noticed the difference in the atmosphere these days. Not only is the quality of play not what it used to be but the fan experience isn't what it used to be either. Ticket sales are down. Players don't play hard until the playoffs heat up. The Commissioner of the NBA blocks trades. Players only want to stay a year or two in college and are never fully developed. If you're an NBA fan that got to see a game in one of the following three arenas during the league's glory days; consider yourself lucky. 

Photo of the ice at Joe Louis Arena, former home of the Detroit Red Wings.

There are really no modern NHL arenas that can compare to former venues such as Civic Arena (Pittsburgh Penguins), Maple Leaf Gardens (Toronto Maple Leafs) and the Montreal Forum (Montreal Canadiens). All three arenas which are now defunct, exuded character, history and fanfare. Newer NHL arenas such as Bridgestone Arena (Nashville Predators) and Gila River Arena (Arizona Coyotes) are shiny but very corporate. Gone are the days when history meant something; club seating, private suites and bells and whistles seem to be the driving force behind the construction of new NHL arenas. Here are three now defunct NHL arenas that hockey fans truly miss.

Exterior photo of the Astrodome, former home of the Houston Oilers.

Before mega NFL stadiums like AT&T Stadium (Dallas Cowboys) and Metlife Stadium (New York Giants and Jets) were constructed and labeled with tacky corporate names, there were the classic cookie-cutter NFL stadiums. Today, fans know that the Philadelphia Eagles, Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos are franchises with a ton of history. But they know very little about where that history was established. The following three NFL stadiums may be gone but they will never be forgotten. 

Photo of Old Comiskey in Chicago, Illinois during a night game.

Baseball is a game we are first introduced to as children, whether through playing in little league or our parents taking us to the ballpark. Due to the recent pursuit of newer ballparks with all of the latest bells and whistles, many historic baseball shrines have been abandoned. As much as many fans would have loved to have seen ballparks like the old Yankee Stadium preserved as well as Wrigley Field in Chicago or Fenway Park in Boston, it's just not possible. Here are three Major League ballparks baseball fans miss the most.

 Photo of the ice at the BB&T Center, home of the Florida Panthers.

The National Hockey League is a sport that is rapidly growing in popularity in the United States. Our staff decided to compile a list of the ten largest arenas in the National Hockey League. Our list begins with the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri.

Photo of the playing field at Levi's Stadium. Home of the San Francisco 49ers. 

Image Credit: PeakDill - Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

There are no NFL stadiums that seat less than 60,000 people in terms of capacity. However, there are none that seat more than 90,000 people. In college football, 15 venues boast a larger capacity than Metlife Stadium, the NFL's largest stadium (home of the New York Jets and New York Giants). Why such a difference in size? 

Photo of Progressive Field before a World Series game versus the Chicago Cubs. Home of the Cleveland Indians.

Image Credit: Arturo Pardavilla (CC BY 2.0)

If there is one thing we universally know as Major League Baseball fans, it's that every MLB stadium is different than the other. They're different in terms of sight lines, features dimensions and quality. Bigger doesn't always mean better and the behavior of the fan base can greatly contribute to a ballpark's atmosphere. Here are the ten largest stadiums in Major League Baseball and all ten are worth checking out this summer.

Photo of Cedric Benson and other Cincinnati Bengals players before a home game at Paul Brown Stadium.

Image Credit: Matt - Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

It was a much better year for the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals than what many of their fans had anticipated. With a severe lack of experienced veteran players, the Bengals still made it to the NFL playoffs for only the third time in two decades.