|
NFL
|
Air This is the first of six instalments of Canadian NHL arenas. Throughout the season, I will be writing a review in each city about the arenas. There are four categories: non-game entertainment with ability to hype the crowd, service, comfort and view, and overall experience. This blog: Air Canada Centre, home of the Toronto Maple Leafs hosting the St. Louis Blues in a rare afternoon game. (For the box score, click here.) The ACC is not only home to the Leafs, but also to the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and NLL’s Toronto Rock. It is a very versatile arena that can also host professional wrestling events and concerts. The
best way to get to the “Hanger” is by public transit due to the high
parking fees and traffic congestion of downtown Toronto. Union station is
the biggest public transit hub in Ontario and the path to the ACC is just
a stone’s throw away. It connects the Toronto Transit Commission, or TTC,
with GO Transit. There is also the Skywalk which will lead you to the CN
Tower and Rogers Centre. Along the way, expect to stop dead in your tracks
to check out some of the exhibits. Non-Game
Entertainment Ford
Motors has been one of the ACC’s main sponsors and has their new vehicles
on display throughout this path and into the arena.
You’ll also run into some target practice on either a hockey or basketball net to get your blood flowing before the game.
There
are also a couple of bars inside the arena, but the one that gives you the
on-ice action without a television is on the second level: Ice
Box.
While
these things do not erase the fact that Leafs fans have almost to nothing
to cheer about this season, it does help in the fans’ mental escape of
that stark reality. However, this stuff reminds me of the water slides at
Chase Field in Arizona. I have always wondered why people would pay money
to go to a professional sports event and not watch the
game. The
intermission entertainment was mediocre and nothing to write home about.
First intermission consisted of three Pro Line players who had to shoot
the puck into the net from centre ice. First shot is on an empty net and a
goal would win $250 CAD. If the puck goes in, the player has a shot at the
other net with a cardboard cut-out of a goalie. A goal there is worth
$1000 CAD. Mildly entertaining. I think I would’ve had more fun standing
in line in front of the washroom. (Oh, wait, I think I did.) Second
intermission was a little bit better. It was a race on the ice between
five remote controlled cars in different colours, and each colour
representing a section of the arena. A random seat in that section would
win a prize (I can’t remember what the prize was). The green car won the
race by employing a very important strategy: the installation of winter
tires for traction for a race on ice. Who’d’ve thunk
it?
One
of the things that make the arena experience better than watching a game
on television was the commercial time-outs. The ACC didn’t really have
anything unique on the Jumbotron that made it stand out compared to the
Rogers Centre across the street, but it did help the minute get by
quickly. For anybody who was ever curious about the procedure, a red light
comes on at the timekeeper’s table to signal a commercial or TV timeout
to the referees. You might be guessing that the refs get their all-clear
to drop the puck when the light goes off...but it’s actually somebody
giving the thumbs up first. Go figure. For
some strange reason, I still don’t see how the Leafs mascot, Carlton the Bear,
is still with the organization. With Maple Leafs Sports &
Entertainment being the sponsor-whore that they are, it looks like Carlton
is the property of Hallmark Cards. It reminds me of the Tennessee
Volunteers in NCAA football. Who names their team the Volunteers? Whatever
happened to fierce names, like Falcons and Eagles, to fire up the team and
the fans? No wonder the Leafs has been dreadful for the past few seasons
and was never able to get far in the playoffs: they have a soft, cute, and
cuddly theme. At least their AHL affiliate has a dog for a mascot. Egg on
a dog and it’ll get mad. Egg on a Hallmark bear and...well, what will happen? He’ll apologize? But
I guess it is still better than some blue Leaf that resembles Towelie from
South
Park. Rating:
6.5/10:
Nothing special, but it does get the job done. Service Another
sign that MLSE is only concerned about the money. As with all other arenas
and stadiums, the food is ridiculously overpriced. With that said, it
obviously won’t be graded; however, when the food tastes like it has been
re-used from the previous game, that’s unforgiveable. Being a former
employee of McDonalds in my teenage years, it is not that difficult to
keep trans-fat-rich foods fresh. While paying almost ten dollars for four
chicken fingers and fries, anybody would expect at least hot food. That’s
just common sense.
For
the first time in my experience at the ACC, the ushers had no idea where
our seats were. We were sent back and forth between sections just a couple
of times, but you would think that seats 13 and 14 were around in the
middle of the aisle and that either section portals can get us there with
the same amount of difficulty. Granted, it was still the beginning of the
season and it was probably the first season of the staff we dealt with.
But in all the times I have been to the ACC that has never happened before
and a bit of an inconvenience. One
of the strange, yet few good, things about Toronto is that almost
everybody can speak hockey. The city is working on the “almost” problem,
but the ACC has fixed it, at least inside the arena. You can talk to
practically anybody on staff about hockey, basketball, or lacrosse and
actually have an intelligent conversation about it. Security
at the ACC was decent. Be forewarned though, if you are planning on
attending with a bag or purse, be prepared to have it searched. No big
deal unless you are going in with the intent to commit a criminal offense
(which I hope you are not), and it is still pretty easy to sneak an
annoyance in, like a laser pointer. ACC’s access control personnel would
take a brief glance inside the carrier to view its contents but cannot
legally move anything around by themselves; they can only ask you to do
so. But, they do not hesitate to keep order to their
house.
I
myself was ejected last season after the 8-0 loss to the Florida Panthers.
What did I do, you ask? During the live LeafsTV post-game show, I was very
loudly (and drunkenly) demanding for the dismissal of MLSE President &
CEO, Richard Peddie for putting profits ahead of putting a winning
product; how much I dislike the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan for being
the majority owners of MLSE; to tank the team for Steven Stampkos at the
draft (which ended up going to the Tampa Bay Lightning); and...the
cheering of the Phoenix Suns. (No excuse for that one.) Suffice it to say,
this was heard on LeafsTV and, after about two minutes of my constant
ranting, three of their security personnel and two police officers walked
to myself and my friend and asked us to leave. Obviously, we complied and
this goes to show that the communication department inside the Hanger was
at the top of their game. No delays and everything flows like water down a
creek in case of emergency. It also shows that the ACC is more reactive in
their security implementations than being proactive and preventing the
problem before it begins. Rating:
7/10. The only thing that gave it such high marks is because of staff
knowledge of their primary product (the game), and, if there is an
emergency, I’m confident enough that it will be rectified quickly and
smoothly. But the lack of quality of their concessions brought that mark
down. Comfort
& View It’s actually pretty good. The cramped space could not be helped due to the Leafs’ fan base and had to have been worked in within the area used between Bay & York Sts. along Lakeshore Blvd. But with bright lights and plenty of memorabilia to check out, you wouldn’t even notice.
The
seating themselves are pretty good. We sat in the nosebleed section, just
two rows below the standing-room-only area. The only other NHL arena I
have been to (thus far) is Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. Again, I had to buy
the cheapest seating tickets in the nosebleeds section (what, you think
sportsviews.net
pays me?) and it was one of the scariest moments of my life up there
because it was missing one important feature: a railing. Trying to make my
way out, I felt like I was going to fall over and down a few rows. The
only thing I can think why that is because ACC occupies more surface area
on its foundation than Scotiabank Place so the designers in Ottawa had to
increase the angle of the rows and making the seating steeper. It was also
cramped; to give you a point of reference, look at the picture below and
imagine that minus half an inch to an inch. The ACC, however, had a little
more space, but still felt fairly cramped. Think of sitting in a movie
theatre, minus another inch in leg space. On a side note, watching a
rather large fellow trying to get out of a row at Scotiabank Place was
like watching a bungee jumper: you just hope that nothing
happens. Hard to tell from this angle and zoom, you are able to see the numbers and names of the players very clearly and that’s key to keeping track of them. Going to the Blues’ end, it can get a little confusing as everybody is bunched up together at the net and very hard to see the puck go into the net. All you are relying on are arms on the blue sweaters going up (you hardly notice the red light going on). But coming to the Leafs’ end, it is picture perfect. Very easy to see how they set up offensively and defensively and you really couldn’t ask for a better view on the goals.
Rating:
9/10. The cramped space really could not be helped. The Rogers Centre,
home of MLB’s Toronto Blue Jays, has the same claustrophobic feeling in
the seats. Even their $165 luxury box seats had little leg space! However,
compared to other stadiums and arenas, the ACC is at the top of their
game. Overall
Experience:
8/10 All in all, my time there was very enjoyable. The main attraction was obviously watching hockey, but it was also fun to participate in all the other exhibits and take in the atmosphere before the game. Unless you’re sitting right next to the glass, it really would not be worth the ticket price of at least a hundred Canadian dollars to see the game in the mid-levels. At least there, the spectators are the closest they can be to the players. At the nosebleeds, where the ticket prices ranged from $40-$60 CAD, it was a little more manageable to the average person while getting the same view of the action at the mid-levels and take in the environment. If you are lucky enough to score the rare tickets from the ACC box office for regular price and not the over-inflated prices from online scalpers, take them and go. It’s a guarantee that it will take you away from your worries for a couple of hours and you will have a good time. See you in Vancouver! Check
out some of 2eighty8's youtube videos!
|
MLB NHL NCAA Basketball
|
© Sportsviews.net All rights Reserved contact us
