Howdy Red Nation, Let me preface this post by saying I live in Houston and I'm a Rockets fan. Just recently completed a review for a magazine I write for on the Toyota Center. Take a look and let me know what you think: http://www.stadiumjourney.com/stadiums/toyota-center-s109 I also wrote about an article on the Toyota Center in our print magazine. The Rockets actually purchased 700 copies. Pretty neat. Looking forward to your feedback. Let me know if I got something wrong or you think something should be edited.
Good write up, Paul. I thought you might've been a bit generous with access (traffic! ) and the fan attendance which (at least in the lower bowls) seems vacant at times. Don't forget the outside park/b-ball court!
Thanks for the feedback! I'll add the outdoor court to the "extras" section. As for access, maybe I've been lucky on my trips to the Toyota Center, but I've never really had that much of a problem. However, that could also be because I've worked downtown for several years and can just scoot on over. Having an accessible parking garage attached to the stadium is just not something you see at many venues.
Can't help but notice you did not talk about actually watching a game. I guess that is appropriate as that is my complaint about TC. Decent place to eat, drink, be seen, people watch, park, etc -but not a particularly good place to watch a basket ball game.
Pat, what exactly are you referring to? Are you referring to the current on-court talent or that the arena itself isn't set-up for good angles of the action?
I don't like the arena set up - too far from the court. I used to have season tickets at the Summit that were upstairs. I moved downstairs at TC - but was significantly further from the court. In fact they had an overly of the two arenas to help people pick/move seat locations. The vast majority of TC seating was outside my upstairs seats distance wise. In fact, just to wine a bit more, I don't think anybody would say the TC was built for the singular purpose of enhancing WATCHING an NBA game. Enhance the experience maybe, but the focus is not on the court.
Toyota Center After browsing around the forum only to see a lot of Lin related threads and looking at ESPN - NBA Homepage only to find Lin's face. I decided to change the topic. Let's talk about the home of the Houston Rockets, the Toyota Center. According to Stadium Journey, Toyota Center is one of the best stadiums in the country. Our stadium got a score of 4.3 from their FAN FARE SCALE. THE REVIEW Do you agree or disagree?
Nice area, especially with the huge screen. Helps it stand out... While the crowd can be reserved, I have seen/heard it quite loud during "barnburner" moments. I have never been to another NBA arena, so it is hard for me to make a qualified judgement.
It's a spectacular arena, parking isn't nearly as bad as it is more most nba arenas. No cupholders, at least not in any of my seats, tired of knocking over my beers when i have to get up, those damn things ain't cheap As for the fanbase, with the exception of a few standouts, most teams only get a crazy fanbase after success, one playoff series win in 15 years isn't success. Dallas was hardly a madhouse during the 90's.
the author of that review started a thread on this already - http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?t=230785
