Will arena sizes ever increase?

[Furkmyster]

The big problem you face when adding the final 5000 seats to a 20k arena to make it larger, is that they are all way up top and become low dollar tickets. The revenue from those tickets will not be very high, so why bother. Lower bowl tickets and luxury suites drive the revenues, you want more of those.

 

[17*]

I know some people that went. They said in some seats you had to have your head turned about 45 degrees to be looking at the ice. I'm sure those were in the far off seats though....

The Toronto Raptors began their days playing at skydome. Occasionally they got huge crowds above 30 000. Imagine how difficult it would be watch the game from up in the 500s.

 

[Hockey Team]

There probably is a way to make a 25,000 seat arena without hurting sight lines too much but it would take some very creative engineering to do it.

Once you get to arenas of that size you stop caring about sight lines for the cheaper seats.

Those seats are for people who just want to be there and don't want to pay too much. Think about how great of a view you get sitting in the bleachers or the grandstands at a ballpark. Those people are there to enjoy the atmosphere of being at the game.

Would I ever sit in the grandstands? No, because I'd rather watch it from my couch. There's plenty of people who are like that, but there's plenty of people who like being at the game regardless of how much / little they can actually see

 

[Lard_Lad]

I know some people that went. They said in some seats you had to have your head turned about 45 degrees to be looking at the ice. I'm sure those were in the far off seats though....

Badly obstructed view of the near boards from the upper bowl, too. Watching a game from up there made the terrible seats at the top of the old Winnipeg Arena look good.

 

[Lee Van Cleef*]

in 1901 the height of the average male in Canada was 1.68 meters. today its 1.87 meters.

thats a 9.4% increase in a ~century!

why isn't the puck 10% bigger?

Not at all, "Jumbo". Holland which has the tallest men on the planet average about 184. If USA is any comparison to Canada (they are), they're around 175.

 

[Buck Aki Berg]

Once you get to arenas of that size you stop caring about sight lines for the cheaper seats.

Those seats are for people who just want to be there and don't want to pay too much. Think about how great of a view you get sitting in the bleachers or the grandstands at a ballpark. Those people are there to enjoy the atmosphere of being at the game.

Would I ever sit in the grandstands? No, because I'd rather watch it from my couch. There's plenty of people who are like that, but there's plenty of people who like being at the game regardless of how much / little they can actually see

Problem is that the idea of "I just want to be in the building" is more the exception than the rule. If the barn is hosting game 7 of the SCF, there are plenty of people who would gladly sacrifice body parts just to get in the door. But for a weekday game against a weak opponent, supply would outstrip demand by a country mile. The second scenario happens a lot more than the first.

 

[slimkay]

I seriously doubt they will go beyond ~21,000 - 22,000.... The Habs weren't even selling out the Bell Centre before the lock-out. It took some massive marketing campaign and more importantly a quality product to bring the "fever" back.

This being said, I just don't think it will be feasible to go beyond 25,000 seats without seriously hampering comfort and sight lines. The league has other means and ways to add to its revenue tally... like renegotiating TV contracts, building new/refurbishing key arenas (Joe Louis Arena, Madison Square Garden, Nassau Coliseum, Rexall Place, the Saddledome).

 

[Mr Atoz*]

I think you've got it right here. The 20,000-seat behemoths were a 1990s thing... the pendulum is swinging back in the other direction. In addition to raising the average ticket price, another factor is the increasing number of suites.

Here are the arenas built in the past 15 years, with capacities listed. The decline in capacity is apparent:

Bell Centre - 1996 - 21,273
St. Pete Times Forum - 1996 - 19,758
Wells Fargo Center - 1996 - 19,537
Scotiabank Place - 1996 - 19,153
HSBC Arena - 1996 - 18,690
Bridgestone Arena - 1996 - 17,113
Verizon Center - 1997 - 18,277
BankAtlantic Center - 1998 - 19,250
Air Canada Centre - 1999 - 18,800
RBC Center - 1999 - 18,680
Philips Arena - 1999 - 18,545
Staples Center - 1999 - 18,118
Pepsi Center - 1999 - 18,007
Nationwide Arena - 2000 - 18,144
Xcel Energy Center - 2000 - 18,064
American Airlines Center - 2001 - 18,532
Jobing.com Arena - 2003 - 17,125
Prudential Center - 2007 - 17,625
Consol Energy Center - 2010 - 18,087

Just to round out the list, here are the hockey capacities for new NBA arenas not included above:

Conseco Fieldhouse - 1999 - 18,500
New Orleans Arena - 1999 - 18,000
Oklahoma City Arena - 2002 - 18,036
AT&T Center - 2002 - 13,800
Toyota Center - 2003 - 17,800
FedEx Forum - 2004 - 11,411
Time Warner Cable Arena - 2005 - 14,100
Amway Center - 2010 - 17,200

Personally, I'm thankful for this trend. I usually find the smaller arenas to be much more fun than the mammoth ones.

You know what I don't like? Even though I've been in a few of these buildings with sponsor names on them I have no idea where most of them are.