NLL Arenas

One of my favourite things about sports is going to different cities, seeing the different venues, tasting the many foods (comparing the nachos) and experiencing the game at every city. I will tackle each sport and their arenas/stadiums in separate posts beginning with this one for the NLL Arenas. Each list will start with my favourite venue and end with my least favourite. I have only been to a handful of venues so far but my mission is to eventually get to them all.

1. HSBC Arena, Buffalo, NY
Date of First Game – January 7, 2005
My first visit to this arena for lacrosse, as a fan of the opposing team, opened my eyes to the way fans should be. Even before the opening face off the crowd was chanting and cheering for the home team, even without prompting from the announcer who, throughout the game, was an active participant in the game by urging the crowd into various cheers. After this first game, I returned to Buffalo whenever Toronto had a game and last year, as my love for the atmosphere at the HSBC peaked, I even attended the NLL championship game there. Besides the atmosphere, I also really enjoy the arena itself. The building is not bad to look at from the outside, has easily accessible parking and plenty of it close by, is easy to get to, is close to the highway, and is very well planned out inside with 3 levels. The club level actually feels like a club level with a nice bar area on the one end with seating overlooking the floor and some food stands that sell real food. The seating in the club level has large seats and plenty of leg room, and a great view of the floor. This all makes for a pleasant experience all around.

2. Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto, ON
Date of First Game – April 23, 1999 (Championship Game)
This arena, soon to be a grocery store, had a nice cozy feeling. It was smaller than the newer arenas but a lot of history was created in it. The small feel forced fans to get into the game and held in a lot of noise when things were going well. The seats were small and there was a lot of stairs to get to the top but it was all worth it. I was only able to get to a few games here before the Rock moved into the ACC but every one of them was enjoyable.

3. Pengrowth Saddledome, Calgary, AB
Date of First Game – April 17, 2005
The only game I attended here was on the first day of my honeymoon so it holds something special for me. A typical big city arena but with the exterior molded to look like a giant saddle. The inside has three levels with enough seat room. The game itself became one-sided for the wrong team but there were some good fights to make up for that, the goalies even scrapped that night.

4. Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
Date of First Game – April 27, 2001 (Championship Game)
My first experience at this arena was at a championship game so the crowd was overly pumped up. The crowd in the lower level does not seem to have much knowledge of lacrosse although there are several fans that really get into the game. The game announcer does not seem to know how to get the crowd going and they like to blast the music way too loud to mask the inadequacies of the announcer. The sound system is not set up properly so it is impossible to understand what the announcer is saying a lot of the time. The food here is also sub-par compared with the other arenas. This is a big city arena that can pack in a ton of people so it can get loud and crazy inside.

5. Blue Cross Arena, Rochester, NY
Date of First Game – April 15, 2006
The biggest downfall of this arena is the size. From the outside it looks like a nice arena but unfortunately, the inside reflects the small city it is situated in and has a reletively small capacity. The crowd really gets into the game and does its best to hide their size but to no avail. The announcing is similar to that of the Saddledome and does try to get the crowd going from time to time. I went to two games here and both games ended with the home team winning so that may have had an impact on this low rating but I don’t see this arena dropping too far if I shall ever make it to any of the other big venus in the NLL.