Saturday, October 10, 2015

Do the Islanders and Nets Play in The Same Arena?

Last night was not my first time at Barclays Center like it was for some.  I have been fortunate to attend both pre season games the Islanders played there against the Devils.  Additionally, I have been able to attend two Nets games as well.  Each time I went to the arena I never had any major complaints at all and was in fact impressed with a lot of things.  That was until last night.  Last night I felt as though I was in a different arena that I had been in the previous times I had been there.  Here are some of the issues I noticed:

  • Concession lines upstairs were worse then the Coliseum in both length and length of wait.
  • The overall size of the concourse is tight when packed as well.
  • Furthering with the concession stands, they raised the beer prices even more as if they weren't already high enough.  The one particular stand I went to would only serve certain draft beer in certain cups which is one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard.  This inconvenience played a major role in the extreme wait I had.
  • Bathroom lines were also huge compared to the other times I had been there.
  • Some are being critical of fans who booed Brooklyn related items including but not limited to Brett Yormark being shown on the big screen.  Specifically with Yormark, that is something he brought on himself with his ill thought out comments on the Michael Kay Show in the wake of the goal horn saga and it wouldn't surprise me if the boos continue for a while.
Following my issues with the concession stand, I ran into an Islanders employee who while he was nice made some pretty ridiculous and far fetched excuses for the issues I had.  One of them was that they had to adjust to the Long Island crowd as if Net fans only come from NYC and NJ and the Islanders had never played pre season games here before.  With regard to the bathroom lines, he said they weren't as bad as the Coliseum.  Being in a brand new state of the art arena I would hope lines would be better then the 43 year old Coliseum.

So now I ask, was the arena last night the same place the Islanders played two pre season games and I saw two Net games?  It surely didn't feel like it was and for the people at be hopefully that changes.

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