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.

Photo of the William Hill Sports Lounge at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.

The New Jersey Devils have launched the William Hill Sports Lounge at the Prudential Center where fans will be able to bet on sports via the William Hill smartphone app. New Jersey recently became one of the few states in the U.S. to offer legalized sports betting; Nevada being the first. The New Jersey Devils are expected to generate more than $5M in sports betting related partnerships during the 2018-2019 NHL season alone.

Exterior photo of Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan.

Image Credit: Diana Ringle Potts

The Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons will no longer be accepting tickets from fans that have been printed at home. Both teams have introduced mobile ticketing at Little Caesars Arena to better protect fans from counterfeit and fraudulent tickets. All fans will now be required to use a mobile device to gain entry to Red Wings and Pistons home games.The mobile ticketing technology they’ll be using was created by Ticketmaster.

Photo of the outfield seats at Safeco Field during a Seattle Mariners game.

Image Credit: David Herrera (CC BY 2.0)

The Seattle Mariners have signed a 25-year naming rights agreement with mobile telecommunications giant T-Mobile. The team’s home stadium will change its name from Safeco Field to T-Mobile Park effective January 1, 2019. According to Forbes, the new naming rights agreement will pay the Seattle Mariners $87.5M or $3.5M per season.

Photo of Paul Brown Stadium from across the Ohio River in Covington, Kentucky.

Image Credit: Todd Evans (CC BY 2.0)

The Cincinnati Bengals have been playing their home games at Paul Brown Stadium on Cincinnati’s riverfront since 2000. Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown and family have agreed to several provisions to the team’s original lease for Hamilton County-owned Paul Brown Stadium. The changes to the Bengals’ lease with Paul Brown Stadium will include the following.

Photo showing the seats down the 1st base side of Wrigley Field. Home of the Chicago Cubs.

Image Credit: Andy Rusch (CC BY 2.0)

The Chicago Cubs announced last week that they will be renumbering every seat at Wrigley Field as part of the 1060 Project. For fans that have been to Wrigley Field for a game, you’ve noticed how unorthodox the seating arrangements are compared to other Major League Baseball stadiums. “Aisles” at Wrigley Field will now be called “sections”. For Chicago Cubs season ticket holders, the only thing that will change is the seat number on your ticket.

Photo of a Detroit Lions game at Ford Field on Thanksgiving Day. 

Image Credit: Dave Hogg (CC BY 2.0)

You can’t always count on the Detroit Lions making the NFL playoffs. However, you can guarantee that every Thanksgiving Day, they’ll be playing on national television. The Detroit Lions have been playing a home game on Thanksgiving Day every season since 1934. How did this tradition begin?

Photo taken from the lower level of Oracle Arena during a Golden State Warriors game.

Image Credit: Jon Evans (CC BY 2.0)

If you thought things in California couldn’t get any wackier, you were wrong. The Golden State Warriors have launched the “In The Building Pass” that will provide basketball fans with admission to every Warriors home game at Oracle Arena for $100 per month. The catch? The monthly pass does not provide fans with a seat inside the arena or access to a standing room only area. This sad attempt at generating additional revenue for Oracle Arena is modeled after Major League Baseball’s “Ballpark Pass” which provides baseball fans with a standing room only ticket for every home at a low monthly price.

Photo of the home run sculpture at Marlins Park. Home of the Miami Marlins.

Image Credit: Dan Lundberg (CC BY-SA 2.0)

When Marlins Park (home of the Miami Marlins) first opened in 2012, baseball fans were irked by the colorful home run sculpture in left center field. The colorful sculpture is nicknamed “Homer” and was designed by Red Grooms, a New York City artist. However, Miami Marlins CEO Derek Jeter has been critical of the 73-foot prop since taking over the reigns of the Miami Marlins. The Miami Marlins front office have now collectively decided to move the sculpture to the exterior of Marlins Park.

Photo of Lebron James shooting a jumpshot at Quicken Loans Arena versus the Los Angeles Lakers.

Image Credit: Erik Drost (CC BY 2.0)

Lebron James’ departure from the Cleveland Cavaliers was guaranteed to have an effect on the team’s ticket sales and attendance. It was inevitable. However, many basketball fans didn’t expect his departure to resort to the Cleveland Cavaliers offering upper level tickets for a mere $2. The story made national headlines after TMZ took a snapshot of the ticket listings for an upcoming game vs. the Brooklyn Nets on Flash Seats, a popular digital ticketing system.

Photo of the visiting team's bullpen at Fenway Park. Home of the Boston Red Sox.

Image Credit: Eric Savage (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Fenway Park is one of the most intimate ballparks in Major League Baseball. However, its intimacy was a little too much to bear for Rick Honeycutt, pitching coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers. When conversing with Sports Illustrated’s Tom Verducci after Game 1 of the World Series, Honeycutt expressed his anger over the verbal abuse Los Angeles Dodgers pitchers received from Boston Red Sox fans. As Honeycutt put it, the verbal abuse was "brutal". Honeycutt also wonders why Major League Baseball allows fans to get so close to pitchers in the bullpen, period. Fans are only three feet from the visiting team’s bullpen at Fenway Park.

Photo of the Dallas, Texas downtown skyline.

Image Credit: Michael Zanussi (CC BY 2.0)

Populous, the insanely successful architectural firm that specializes in the design of professional sports stadiums and arenas, have opened an office in Dallas, Texas. The Dallas office will employ 8 people. Populous is headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri and has opened regional offices in New York City, San Francisco, Boston, and Pittsburgh. The state of Texas has been on Populous’ radar for several years now with its low taxes and booming economy.

Photo of the main entrance at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Home of the Los Angeles Angels.

Image Credit: SteveKC/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

The Los Angeles Angels have played their home games at Angel Stadium of Anaheim since 1966, making it the fourth oldest ballpark in Major League Baseball. That era could be coming to an end, however, after the Los Angeles Angels decided to opt out of their lease with the city of Anaheim earlier this week. As Angels owner Arte Moreno put it, the Los Angeles Angels are looking for a stadium that delivers a fan experience that Angel Stadium of Anaheim does not offer. This bad news follows Angels manager Mike Scioscia announcing he would not be returning to manage the team in 2019.

Photo of the shade being cast on Levi's Stadium. Home of the San Francisco 49ers. 

Image Credit: Chris Martin (CC BY 2.0)

The east side of Levi’s Stadium has long been known as a sauna and stares directly at the California sun. Just ask any San Francisco 49ers fan that has sat there during a 49ers home game in September. After many complaints from fans, the 49ers front office looked for a way to provide more shade for fans on that side of the stadium.

Photo of the red seats at Little Caesars Arena.

Image Credit: Mitch Roberts

Little Caesars Arena, home of the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings and the NBA’s Detroit Pistons, will be changing the color of its seats from red to black. The changeover will begin in December and will take several months to complete. Work crews will swap out the seats during days when there are no events; the project will be completed during multiple phases. In the meantime, the red seats will be covered with black seat covers for concerts and games until the project is completed.

Photo of a touchdown catch in an NFL game between the Washington Redskins and Minnesota Vikings. 

Image Credit: KA Sports Photos (CC BY-SA 2.0)

If you’re like us, you become overwhelmed with the number of NFL games played simultaneously on Sundays during the football season. You may want to watch every single game but can only truly focus on one game at a time. Another issue NFL fans face pertains to where they reside. If they live in their favorite team’s television market, they’ll be able to watch every home game on cable television. If they don’t, they’ll either have to purchase the NFL Sunday Ticket via DirecTV, or go to a sports bar that does carry the NFL Sunday Ticket. Luckily, the National Football League has several products that allow fans to watch all games on Sundays but come at a price. NFL Game Pass is the league’s newest product, comes with a free trial for new customers, and allows fans to watch out of market NFL games after they’ve concluded.

Photo of cheerful Oakland Athletics fans at Oakland Coliseum.

Image Credit: DJAnimal/Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

The Oakland Athletics have decided to end their season ticket program for the 2019 Major League Baseball season. The replacement is a more flexible membership program called “A’s Access”. A’s Access will provide baseball fans with a reserved seat plan, benefits that are exclusive to A’s Access members, and admission to all regular season home games in 2019. The membership went on sale to the public in early August.

Exterior photo of Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators.

With the start of the 2018-2019 NHL season underway, the Nashville Predators will reveal several upgrades that were made to Bridgestone Arena during the off-season.

Photo of downtown Buffalo, New York and Lake Erie. 

Image Credit: Ken Lund (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Mark C. Poloncarz, county executive of Erie County, New York, made headlines this week when he revealed that a new Buffalo Bills stadium would cost more than $1B to build. He went on to add that Erie County could not afford to build a new stadium for the team. Buffalo Bills owners Kim and Terry Pegula have also previously stated that they are currently content on the Bills playing their home games at New Era Field (formerly Ralph Wilson Stadium). In the past, there has been speculation that the city would be building a new stadium on the waterfront or as part of a new convention center complex. Those proposals have failed to come to fruition. 

Exterior photo of the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida. Home of the Orlando Magic.

Image Credit: Ray Villalobos

Construction on the long-awaited mixed-use development outside of the Amway Center (home of the Orlando Magic) will begin in 2019. The new development has been more than a decade in the making and will sit within a plot of land surrounded by Church Street, Division, Central, and Hughey Avenues. With the recent addition of Orlando City Stadium, home of the Orlando City soccer team, the development will go a long way towards revitalizing downtown Orlando and the Parramore neighborhood.

Photo of Yawkey Way outside of Fenway Park. Home of the Boston Red Sox.

Image Credit: Joy - Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

Fenway Sports Group, the ownership group of the Boston Red Sox, have announced that they are planning to build a theater behind Fenway Park. The group’s primary goal is to make Fenway Park, Yawkey Way, and the surrounding Fenway neighborhood a destination for tourists year around. The theater is expected to have a capacity of 5,000 and would be located on the corner of Ipswich and Lansdowne.

Exterior photo of Raymond James Stadium. Home of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

Image Credit: Paul Sableman (CC BY 2.0)

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers recently unveiled “Bucs Beach” outside of Raymond James Stadium; a pregame party area for fans. The new addition follows several new upgrades and renovations at Raymond James Stadium. The franchise’s overall goal is to provide a better experience for fans on gameday. Raymond James Stadium also had an inherent need for new upgrades for fans after the Jacksonville Jaguars and Miami Dolphins renovated their home stadiums.