AT&T Center Review

[arenafanatic]

I was directed to post this here. I reviewed the AT&T Center back in April! I was wanting to know if I left anything out that you would put in the review? How would you rank the AT&T Center? I will possibly be moving to the area in January, so I'm sure I will be updating the review as the Spurs add updates. Don't forget to place a vote and take the AT&T Center to the #1 sports venue in the fan rankings.


http://www.arenafanatic.com/att-center-san-antonio-spurs.html



Thanks!

[philldafunk]

I never liked the fact that you can see what any person is doing at any given time in the arena. Bring back the Alamodome!

[hehateme]

They should have just remodeled the Alamodome due to it's location but I suppose politics won on this one. I just hate the neighborhood around the AT&T Center and its lack of surrounding night-life/businesses. Just seems bland to me.

[Juggity]

Ultimately, the Alamodome was just not built for basketball. I agree it has a great location (especially relative to the terrible AT&T Center locale). But frankly...the AT&T Center outclasses it in every respect as a facility and in terms of experience.

To demolish the Alamodome is probably prohibitively expensive, but that's what you would have to do in order to make it a suitable basketball arena now. Maybe when the lease runs out on AT&T (in ten to fifteen years?), they'll consider it.

[TXstbobcat]

I like the arena and enjoy going to games there. The only thing I really don't like is the ghetto area that the arena is located in.

[DesignatedT]

I like the arena just not the location.

[Humberto]

demolish the Alamodome??.. but that is home to the San Antonio Talons!! :rollin

[dbestpro]

The need for after game venues that you can walk to is the biggest drawback. So, in a word location remains the issue.

[ChumpDumper]

The next one should be in the Alamodome parking lot. Can't think of any other space opening up downtown. Doubt the Fox Tech area could handle the traffic.

[arenafanatic]

I agree with all of you, the location is my biggest con!

[Budkin]

Alamodome should have been destroyed. That place sucks. Wasn't it built originally to get a NFL team to San Antonio but they fucked up the specs or something and it instantly put them out of the running? That's what I always heard. Any truth to that? I love everything about the ATT other than the location. It should be downtown.

[Spur|n|Austin]

The next one should be in the Alamodome parking lot. Can't think of any other space opening up downtown. Doubt the Fox Tech area could handle the traffic.

Not a bad idea at all; the only drawback would be the lack of parking if you used the Alamodome parking lot. I'm sure there are a few places they can take down over there for a nice new parking lot/garages.

[Dex]

Nah, it was fine in its time...just out-dated by today's standards. Per the wiki:


Although when the Alamodome was built it was an ideal state-of-the-art NFL stadium, by today's standards the facility would have to undergo renovations and add a considerable number of luxury suites in order to make it a profitable venue for an NFL team. Preliminary estimates put the cost of improvements at $100–150 million.

[ChumpDumper]

Not a bad idea at all; the only drawback would be the lack of parking if you used the Alamodome parking lot. I'm sure there are a few places they can take down over there for a nice new parking lot/garages.They could make the other lots garages. If they want to keep the site for sports, it seems like a way to go without clearing out more occupied space. Might be some ramifications for the rodeo I haven't considered -- hell, they could just leave it out there and let control go back to the county.

[Juggity]

Nah, it was fine in its time...just out-dated by today's standards. Per the wiki:

It was an okay stadium at the time, but the problem was that they built the thing without any guarantee that they'd ever get an NFL team. Seems pretty shortsighted to me that they made such a huge investment based on the hope that an NFL team would suddenly show up.

[elmanutres]

Although I was never old enough to remember a spur game at the alamo dome my dad told me the traffic after a game was worse than the traffic after a game at the at&t center. I love at&t but the things that suck about it is 1. The location 2. That stupid Heb fan zone aside from that its not a bad arena. Sucks that the at&t center is one of the smaller arenas in the Nba. Back in the alamodome days we would top the attendance list because of the size. And when playoffs came we would have like what 36-40 thousand a game.crazy

[crc21209]

Alamodome should have been destroyed. That place sucks. Wasn't it built originally to get a NFL team to San Antonio but they fucked up the specs or something and it instantly put them out of the running? That's what I always heard. Any truth to that? I love everything about the ATT other than the location. It should be downtown.

Unfortunately a new arena will probably never be built downtown. Why? Because of the Alamo. The Alamo can't be outshined by anything.....

[Budkin]

Unfortunately a new arena will probably never be built downtown. Why? Because of the Alamo. The Alamo can't be outshined by anything.....

Hemisfair was downtown though.

[elmanutres]

Unfortunately a new arena will probably never be built downtown. Why? Because of the Alamo. The Alamo can't be outshined by anything.....
well the alamodome was built literally next to downtown :p: i think if we ever have to build a new arena later, it wouldn't be in or near downtown. I mean what are we going to tear down?

[LarryDavid]

demolish the Alamodome??.. but that is home to the San Antonio Talons!! :rollin


And UTSA....

But OT, the location is horrible. And the $2 tickets on Stubhub.

[mosdef17]

When I visited there a couple years ago from Australia I wasn't a fan of the AT&T center. I don't like how much wasted space there is on the lower bowl. It is sectioned off way too much and thus sacrificing the seating capacity. I wanted to sit as close as I could but the lower bowl tickets were $200+ on StubHub which is much higher than all the other small-to-mid market teams/arenas I visited (Phili, Phoenix, Clippers (pre CP), Washinton, NJ Nets). I partially blamed this on inability to accomodate larger numbers in the lower bowl.

[Juggity]

When I visited there a couple years ago from Australia I wasn't a fan of the AT&T center. I don't like how much wasted space there is on the lower bowl. It is sectioned off way too much and thus sacrificing the seating capacity. I wanted to sit as close as I could but the lower bowl tickets were $200+ on StubHub which is much higher than all the other small-to-mid market teams/arenas I visited (Phili, Phoenix, Clippers (pre CP), Washinton, NJ Nets). I partially blamed this on inability to accomodate larger numbers in the lower bowl.

Well, I think you can probably trace the "more expensive" issue to one factor: the spurs are a consistently good team, and all those other teams are not. Rich locals buy season tickets for consistently good teams, thus reducing the supply of available tickets in the lower bowl, thus making it more expensive for you to purchase seats in the lower bowl when you visited.

I feel like the concrete dividers really don't sacrifice that much space in the arena.

[mosdef17]

I underlined the word partially as I thought there were a few contributing factors. Yes, the success of the team helps. But, on that trip I also went to Heat @ Knicks, Lakers @ Celtics and Knicks @ Lakers. The last two games only happen once a year each at the respective arenas. Boston and LA are MAJOR markets.

The difficulty in obtaining good tickets for these games were comparable to the difficulty at AT&T Center. Truthfully, it should much easier as those other games are much more desireable than SAS vs. DEN and DAL which is what I went to...

[mosdef17]

Well, I think you can probably trace the "more expensive" issue to one factor: the spurs are a consistently good team, and all those other teams are not. Rich locals buy season tickets for consistently good teams, thus reducing the supply of available tickets in the lower bowl, thus making it more expensive for you to purchase seats in the lower bowl when you visited.

I feel like the concrete dividers really don't sacrifice that much space in the arena.


I underlined the word partially as I thought there were a few contributing factors. Yes, the success of the team helps. But, on that trip I also went to Heat @ Knicks, Lakers @ Celtics and Knicks @ Lakers. The last two games only happen once a year each at the respective arenas. Boston and LA are MAJOR markets.

The difficulty in obtaining good tickets for these games were comparable to the difficulty at AT&T Center. Truthfully, it should much easier as those other games are much more desireable than SAS vs. DEN and DAL which is what I went to...

[cjw]

It was an okay stadium at the time, but the problem was that they built the thing without any guarantee that they'd ever get an NFL team. Seems pretty shortsighted to me that they made such a huge investment based on the hope that an NFL team would suddenly show up.

Not as bad as Tampa building that dump of a baseball stadium on spec that they'd attract the Giants or White Sox. By the time the Rays moved in (and the Lightning used it as a temporary home), the place was outdated. The Alamodome, for all of its faults, worked out a lot better than that place. Ideally, the locations of the Alamodome and AT&T Center would be swapped and they could just build an outdoor football stadium instead.

[Blake]

The seating space sucks, imo.......My legs almost hang off the back of the chair in front of me.

And if anyone in the middle needs to get out, everyone has to stand up to let them by.