Bruins season ticket holder survey on TD Garden

[Fenway]

This is legit

I wasn't kind in my answers

When you think of TD Garden as a destination, what three words come to mind?

Where, if anyplace, do you usually go before a game/event at TD Garden? Why?

What are you thinking and feeling when you are walking into TD Garden?

When do you usually arrive at TD Garden for a game/event?

More than an hour early
Thirty minutes to an hour early
About fifteen minutes early
Right when the game/event starts
After the game/event starts

What are you thinking and feeling while you are in TD Garden?

How would you rate the overall experience that TD Garden provides for you?
Please select an answer.

Excellent
Good
Average
Fair
Poor

What could TD Garden do to make your pre game/event experience better? Please be specific

What could TD Garden do to make your during game/event experience better? Please be specific.

What could TD Garden do to make your post game/event experience better? Please be specific.

For the following questions, we want you to think about and focus on another destination you really enjoy going to for entertainment. It could be another sports arena/park, amusement park, concert venue, etc.

What entertainment destination are you thinking about? Please be specific.

When you think of that destination, what three words come to mind?

What are you thinking and feeling when you are walking into that destination?

What are you thinking and feeling while you are in that destination?

How would you rate the overall experience that destination provides for you?

Excellent
Good
Average
Fair
Poor

What, if anything, does that destination do better than TD Garden?

What, if anything, does TD Garden do better than that destination?

If you have a question, how do you communicate with the TD Garden?
Select one

Phone
Email
Website
Social Media
Other, please specify


These last questions are for classification purposes only.

Are you...
Select one

Male
Female

Which of the following includes your age?
Select one

Under 18
18-34
35-50
51-69
70+

How long have you been a season ticket holder / Premium Club member?
Select one

Less than a year
1-5 years
6-10 years
11-20 years
More than 20 years

Is your season ticket / Premium Club membership for...
Select one

Bruins
Celtics
Bruins and Celtics

Are you the primary decision maker when it comes to purchasing season tickets or premium seats?
Select one

Yes
No

In the past 12 months how many non-sports related events have you attended at TD Garden?
Select one

None
1-3
4-6
7+

In the NEXT 12 months how many non-sports related events do you plan to attend at TD Garden?
Select one

None
1-3
4-6
7+

Please tell us what you are most excited about when you go to a game at TD Garden by ranking the following from 1 which is most excited to 6 which is least excited.
See my team compete/win
Night out to relax
People watching
Socialize with friends and family
Chance to see a celebrity
Socialize for business reasons

Click to read more...

 

[talkinaway]

Is m********** one word or two?

 

[Seidenbergy]

I've been to lot's of stadiums around the country and really, aside from seating, I don't see much difference from venue to venue in "experience" that a stadium can really control (outside of Fenway, which is full of terrible seating/obstructed view, facing the wrong way, etc). Most of the things that would make it an unpleasant experience aren't venue-specific, but more fan-specific and whether you're there to support the home team or away team. That can make more of a difference.

Maybe it helps that I'm not a very picky person in general and am fairly easy to please, but concession quality, overall feel/comfort, venue aesthetics, atmosphere, whatever....for me, it's all basically the same to me on game day no matter the venue.

 

[BNHL]

I've been to lot's of stadiums around the country and really, aside from seating, I don't see much difference from venue to venue in "experience" that a stadium can really control (outside of Fenway, which is full of terrible seating/obstructed view, facing the wrong way, etc). Most of the things that would make it an unpleasant experience aren't venue-specific, but more fan-specific and whether you're there to support the home team or away team. That can make more of a difference.

Maybe it helps that I'm not a very picky person in general and am fairly easy to please, but concession quality, overall feel/comfort, venue aesthetics, atmosphere, whatever....for me, it's all basically the same to me on game day no matter the venue.

They built a generic building,should have designed out a way to bring the balcony closer.

 

[Seidenbergy]

They built a generic building,should have designed out a way to bring the balcony closer.

IMO hockey arenas are the toughest. It's like designing a 4 door compact sedan. There's only so much funky design you can apply before you either lose customers or the car doesn't run as efficiently as it could.

90% of the hockey arenas out there are basically the same: 16,000-18,000 seats in a bowl with a loge, club level, suites and a balcony all facing as close to center ice as possible. All roughly the same dimensions, seat and row size, etc.

It's not like baseball where you have differing dimensions, angles, etc. and you can really design like crazy and get creative. It is what it is.

 

[the negotiator]

Took the survey last week

What it really brought home is that the Garden is a building ...nothing more ( unlike the old Garden or Fenway which were destinations).


I go for the product on the ice and the surroundings add little if anything to the experience. The building is generic, noisy and without much charm or character. Add in over-priced food and drink and the equation is simple.....horribly loyal to the team and the locale is merely where I go.

There is a major opportunity to add a " wow" factor when they build out the parking lot but seeing what the $70mm refurbishing brought I wouldn't hold my breath.

 

[Fenway]

Took the survey last week

What it really brought home is that the Garden is a building ...nothing more ( unlike the old Garden or Fenway which were destinations).

There is a major opportunity to add a " wow" factor when they build out the parking lot but seeing what the $70mm refurbishing brought I wouldn't hold my breath.

TD is now closed until the first B's preseason game to do Level 7 renovations.

Bob Ryan said at the time the new Garden was the Chevy Chevette of the new buildings.

Montreal and Chicago both have 2 balcony levels and I honestly enjoyed watching games there more. If they can just get rid of the flies in the balcony I will be happy.

 

[Stone Clode]

TD is now closed until the first B's preseason game to do Level 7 renovations.

Bob Ryan said at the time the new Garden was the Chevy Chevette of the new buildings.

Montreal and Chicago both have 2 balcony levels and I honestly enjoyed watching games there more. If they can just get rid of the flies in the balcony I will be happy.

You can call them Habs fans, it's okay.

 

[OldScool]

I unloaded on the survey as well. I am sure the Jacobs family is reading my comments and caring….

 

[Morris Wanchuk]

I liked that the state of MA didnt pay for the arena.

 

[Seidenbergy]

TD is now closed until the first B's preseason game to do Level 7 renovations.

Bob Ryan said at the time the new Garden was the Chevy Chevette of the new buildings.

Montreal and Chicago both have 2 balcony levels and I honestly enjoyed watching games there more. If they can just get rid of the flies in the balcony I will be happy.

Keep in mind that due to space restrictions, that really wasn't an option for the new Garden. They literally used every available inch of space they could when they built it.

 

[Fenway]

Keep in mind that due to space restrictions, that really wasn't an option for the new Garden. They literally used every available inch of space they could when they built it.

I am aware of that.

I can tell you that Level 5 and 6 are as good as any club seating in the NHL as Jacobs knows that is where the big money is to be made.

 

[northeastern]

I basically told them it's a cookie cutter arena and does nothing well isn't special but doesn't really suck. And parking underneath is a joke.

Also *****ed that my ****ing rep won't help me move seats I'm still stuck in the **** corner after 5 years wtf

 

[bruins309]

I've filled out these surveys for years, and the view never changes.

- Once that Celtics fan stabbed the other one last year, it became worse than post-9/11 at the airport getting in. Would literally take 10-15 minutes getting in so they could do pointless pat downs when the real issues come up in the arena itself (i.e. drunks). Once the pro shop moved to level 2, it somehow got worse.

- The concourse in the balcony is laid out so stupidly. I understand the mobile carts, they need to make money. But with the permanent stands: Why can't the line zig-zag Disney-style to save space? If you try to walk the concourse you either have to walk thru the lines or zig zag around them.

- Why did they get rid of the credit card only "side" stand at Sal's pizza stand behind section 308? Ridiculous.

- There are like 2-3 good ushers in the building and the rest are garbage.

- There isn't one thing about this arena that stands out from arenas of its era in any way. Of course that's pretty true of many arenas built in the mid to late 90s.

 

[ODAAT]

Been to plenty of games on many visits and enjoyed the barn very much. It`ll never be the like the good old Garden but the same can be said for every new building which replaced their iconic predecessors

 

[LSCII]

This survey speaks to why this team is heading in the wrong direction, IMO. If you're worried about the fan experience, stop thinking it's related to the building and realize it's about the on ice product. If you have a good team, the experience will generally be positive, even if the building isn't the best p[lace to see a game. If you have a really ****** team, it doesn't matter how great the amenities at the facility are.

 

[Boston BROin]

They built a generic building,should have designed out a way to bring the balcony closer.

IF that's your thing, then try and get down to the Barclay's center for a Bruins v. Islanders game this year. That arena really is something when you're in the upper balcony. It's SO steep up there. I honestly have been a bit afraid a few times walking up to the top. Because it's so steep, when you're in the balcony, it feels like you're very close to the action. With a hockey rink there, it's going to be pretty sweet.

 

[ODAAT]

IF that's your thing, then try and get down to the Barclay's center for a Bruins v. Islanders game this year. That arena really is something when you're in the upper balcony. It's SO steep up there. I honestly have been a bit afraid a few times walking up to the top. Because it's so steep, when you're in the balcony, it feels like you're very close to the action. With a hockey rink there, it's going to be pretty sweet.

or even more frightening

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

I have a feeling the results of these surveys get viewed in very skewed ways by those up top and in charge. As in, the few positives will be emphasized far more than the countless negatives.

As much as I appreciate that Jacobs finally lets the team spend to the max, it's still pretty obvious the guy isn't going to put any sort of money into something that's not going to give him an immediate return on his investment. Not even really "blaming" him, just saying you'll never be that liked as an owner of a sports team if that's the way you go about things.

Not that I can ever afford to sit there, but the seats in the loge section of the Garden are more uncomfortable (and old) than almost any other seat in any other building. Balcony seating is cramped and unbearable when you first sit down, but usually a good game (and a few brews) will help you forget about it.

 

[BNHL]

IF that's your thing, then try and get down to the Barclay's center for a Bruins v. Islanders game this year. That arena really is something when you're in the upper balcony. It's SO steep up there. I honestly have been a bit afraid a few times walking up to the top. Because it's so steep, when you're in the balcony, it feels like you're very close to the action. With a hockey rink there, it's going to be pretty sweet.

The Fleetcenter originally had cupholders on aisle seats in the balcony but they were removed before opening for fear someone would trip and fall over the rail. I don't remember the Garden balcony being as steep as today's Fleetcenter or whatever the eff it's called.

 

[talkinaway]

To be honest, I hate most of the renovations/changes over the past year. Last year, I preferred the look of the balcony concourse to the white sanitized look downstairs. Plus, not that the Sal's Pizza was good to begin with, but now they're making huge, awkwardly sized St. Louis-style cracker-thin "pizza" - and I was at U2 last week, and this worse pizza has creeped upstairs.

The only good change I've noted is no more "Hungry for Hockey". Awful food, and stupid location with respect to the seats. Hopefully they put something in there that's useful - and I specifically exclude anything "interactive" in that descriptive. I don't need to have my #selfie to pop up next to a clickable #map of #TDGarden while I'm in the #XfinityLounge during an #NHLBruins game. I'm thinking hopefully concessions go there.

And speaking of which, I'm pretty sure they raised the price of beer again. I think it was $11.50 for a large 20 oz domestic brew - last year or the year before, I think the prices were $8.50/$10.50 for 16/20 oz. I sincerely hope that JJ takes a hard line in negotiations with his beverage distributor.

Seating's not going to change. Never been to another NHL stadium, but I've poked around and seen some maps occasionally, and the seating looks fairly cookie-cutter and thus must be pretty well optimized - any changes are generally for the worse (cf Barclays Center). As long as little Timmy's not shoving his 10 foot-long and 1 mm thin slice of pizza in my face, the game experience is pretty good. Views everywhere from front row glass to the promenade are good - no unnecessary or unexpected obstructions. Not crazy about SRO SportsDeck, but that may be just me. While I'd love every seat to be padded like in Club 137, or even the seats in the corner/side loge sections above row 21, I know that's a pipe dream, and probably impractical.

I'd love the ribbon to have more stats, but I know that's precious ad space. I've become very good at ignoring said ribbon...but if they were to, say, occasionally flash common line combos up there, my gaze might linger so that I'd actually pay attention to yet another Dunkin' Donuts ad. And I'd love the "around the NHL" scoreboard that they have above sections 5 and 6 to actually use the standard 3 letter NHL abbreviations - nothing irks me more than seeing a score for the CAL/MON game. But maybe that's just me playing for team OCD.

I'd also like them to integrate their tech better with respect to ticketing. Last year, I had three glitches at the Garden: one with getting QR tickets to appear on my phone for preseason B's games (not my fault, TM's fault), one with getting my parking ticket validated for the silly game show thing, and one with a Celtics ticket I bought from Experience. In fairness, they corrected all three of these problems to a tee once I brought them to their attention.

I do enjoy that it's a privately owned and mostly privately funded venue (sorry, Boston 2024) - we fans are lucky enough that we can support the team without the help of the city.

That said, all of this is secondary to the HOCKEY. I'd love fan experience opportunities - meet and greet with the players, autographed opportunities, etc. I know that's tough to arrange, and they do a reasonable job of it at the start of the season with the State of the Bruins. Heck, I'd donate the jersey off my back to the Bruins Foundation if I could get the jersey in my hand autographed.

 

[Seidenbergy]

Not that I can ever afford to sit there, but the seats in the loge section of the Garden are more uncomfortable (and old) than almost any other seat in any other building. Balcony seating is cramped and unbearable when you first sit down, but usually a good game (and a few brews) will help you forget about it.

Huh. Never noticed any discomfort in the loge seats or balcony. Compared to those in Fenway, they feel like heaven to me.

Maybe it's a body type/size thing.

 

[OldScool]

To be honest, I hate most of the renovations/changes over the past year. Last year, I preferred the look of the balcony concourse to the white sanitized look downstairs. Plus, not that the Sal's Pizza was good to begin with, but now they're making huge, awkwardly sized St. Louis-style cracker-thin "pizza" - and I was at U2 last week, and this worse pizza has creeped upstairs.

The only good change I've noted is no more "Hungry for Hockey". Awful food, and stupid location with respect to the seats. Hopefully they put something in there that's useful - and I specifically exclude anything "interactive" in that descriptive. I don't need to have my #selfie to pop up next to a clickable #map of #TDGarden while I'm in the #XfinityLounge during an #NHLBruins game. I'm thinking hopefully concessions go there.

And speaking of which, I'm pretty sure they raised the price of beer again. I think it was $11.50 for a large 20 oz domestic brew - last year or the year before, I think the prices were $8.50/$10.50 for 16/20 oz. I sincerely hope that JJ takes a hard line in negotiations with his beverage distributor.

Seating's not going to change. Never been to another NHL stadium, but I've poked around and seen some maps occasionally, and the seating looks fairly cookie-cutter and thus must be pretty well optimized - any changes are generally for the worse (cf Barclays Center). As long as little Timmy's not shoving his 10 foot-long and 1 mm thin slice of pizza in my face, the game experience is pretty good. Views everywhere from front row glass to the promenade are good - no unnecessary or unexpected obstructions. Not crazy about SRO SportsDeck, but that may be just me. While I'd love every seat to be padded like in Club 137, or even the seats in the corner/side loge sections above row 21, I know that's a pipe dream, and probably impractical.

I'd love the ribbon to have more stats, but I know that's precious ad space. I've become very good at ignoring said ribbon...but if they were to, say, occasionally flash common line combos up there, my gaze might linger so that I'd actually pay attention to yet another Dunkin' Donuts ad. And I'd love the "around the NHL" scoreboard that they have above sections 5 and 6 to actually use the standard 3 letter NHL abbreviations - nothing irks me more than seeing a score for the CAL/MON game. But maybe that's just me playing for team OCD.

I'd also like them to integrate their tech better with respect to ticketing. Last year, I had three glitches at the Garden: one with getting QR tickets to appear on my phone for preseason B's games (not my fault, TM's fault), one with getting my parking ticket validated for the silly game show thing, and one with a Celtics ticket I bought from Experience. In fairness, they corrected all three of these problems to a tee once I brought them to their attention.

I do enjoy that it's a privately owned and mostly privately funded venue (sorry, Boston 2024) - we fans are lucky enough that we can support the team without the help of the city.

That said, all of this is secondary to the HOCKEY. I'd love fan experience opportunities - meet and greet with the players, autographed opportunities, etc. I know that's tough to arrange, and they do a reasonable job of it at the start of the season with the State of the Bruins. Heck, I'd donate the jersey off my back to the Bruins Foundation if I could get the jersey in my hand autographed.

About 10 years ago the Bruins used to do some cool stuff with players like a BBQ, they had a Family Party at Fenway Park - that was when there were roughly 4,000 STH. Now with close to 3 times that the Bruins either don't care or can't logistically figure out how to do stuff now for the STH. Being in the customer service business myself the Bruins are awful at it. When they do events such as family skate would it kill them to have a few players appear? Seriously. Maybe have players meet fans at the gates for once…something. Other things that are my pet peeves:

- Open the gates earlier than 6:00 so the lines don't back up in the hallways.
- Concession prices are a joke. I don't get why they don't sell Pepsis for $3.00 sell twice as much and still profit the same while not FLEECING their customers. Instead they jack up prices to $6.00 and sell much less.
- Parking prices are a joke as well. I love how Jacobs takes over parking garage and prices go way up. Thanks for taking care of your best customers.
- Raising ticket prices when the team misses the playoffs is a joke. Suck it up. Retract price increase and take care of your most loyal customers for once.

 

[GordonHowe]

I liked that the state of MA didnt pay for the arena.

That's probably one of the few things in its favor. At least Mr. Burns paid for the place we lovingly called "The Fleece Center" at the time.

 

[talkinaway]

About 10 years ago the Bruins used to do some cool stuff with players like a BBQ, they had a Family Party at Fenway Park - that was when there were roughly 4,000 STH. Now with close to 3 times that the Bruins either don't care or can't logistically figure out how to do stuff now for the STH. Being in the customer service business myself the Bruins are awful at it. When they do events such as family skate would it kill them to have a few players appear? Seriously. Maybe have players meet fans at the gates for once…something. Other things that are my pet peeves:

- Open the gates earlier than 6:00 so the lines don't back up in the hallways.
- Concession prices are a joke. I don't get why they don't sell Pepsis for $3.00 sell twice as much and still profit the same while not FLEECING their customers. Instead they jack up prices to $6.00 and sell much less.
- Parking prices are a joke as well. I love how Jacobs takes over parking garage and prices go way up. Thanks for taking care of your best customers.
- Raising ticket prices when the team misses the playoffs is a joke. Suck it up. Retract price increase and take care of your most loyal customers for once.

I'm not sure that opening the gates earlier than 6 would help much, especially on a weekday, but *shrug* it couldn't hurt. The problem there is the structure of the Garden. Concession prices are sadly in line with a lot of other NHL stadiums (particularly those served by Delaware North *cough*), but they're still ridiculous.

I'd love the idea of Chara handing me my program. Not sure that it's practical (do other NHL teams do that?), but it'd be a huge step above the Ice Girls. Autographs seem hard to come by - I get that the players don't want to spend half an hour every time they go out eating or shopping, and I get since I'm not a kid, I may fit the "goddamn eBayer" profile. But I'm also suspicious that there may be certain "exclusive agreements" with various memorabilia companies that curtail autographs at, for example, Ristuccia.

Parking is nuts - and they raised it from $42 to $45. I've only parked there once, and that was when it happened to be $10. I did the math - if your alternative is parking at Riverside and taking the T, you need about 10 people in your car to come out ahead by paying tolls and paying for parking in North Station. So, unless you're Bozo....

The ticket price bump was in March IIRC. Not that that excuses it; we were a bubble team at BEST then. I'm not a STH yet, and they only raised my game plan seat by about $1 per seat per game. It would have been more fair to lower my price now that we know the B's are a weaker team, but then that pisses off the STHs, as it rightfully should. So, you can "hope" for another bad year, which will hopefully force their hand to lower prices or lose STHs.

One other thing - last year, the giveaways were usually (at least in name) limited to 5K-10K people (that's a quarter to half of the Garden), and were few and far between. The Blackhawks, who are in a hockey town, won the Stanley Cup three times in very recent history, and are by most metrics at the very least dynasty-esque (if not a full blown dynasty), have WAY more giveaways. And maybe hockey bobbleheads aren't as much of a thing as baseball bobbleheads, but they're a helluva lot better than a rinky dinky LEGO knockoff of a non-player that I still can't figure out how to put together.