Islanders are in Long Island, not NYC, they don't have a basketball team to share with. So only 2 teams. Shared arenas are clearly the standard. I go to Ball Arena all the time, its perfectly acceptable for basketball or hockey, and its just a fairly standard stadium. Toyota Center is more than fine. On an unrelated note, I think these "entertainment district" stadium concepts are gonna age horribly. In 10 years they are gonna be like giant empty malls and 24 cinema theaters.
I was watching something and it was said that after the 94 lockout Gary Betman wanted the teams to control the arenas and that seems to be the issue in Arizona and it would be an issue here unless Tillman owns the team.
Tilman has mentioned many times that he would like to own an NHL team. I think he would be the obvious owner of the team.
In the ESPN article this was a concern to me about us getting a team owned by Tilman Bettman told The Associated Press in 2019 that "if there were ever to be a team there, unless there's a new arena, Mr. Fertitta would control the entry point." It's been reported by Sportsnet that the number the NHL had in mind for the acquisition of an NHL franchise wasn't the number that Fertitta had in mind. Which could be a problem.
Arizona is a market the NHL wants to stay in for whatever reason. Whether it’s the potential of what it could be I don’t know. The Coyotes have never had a real arena. They were a tenant of the Suns then got kicked out to hell (Glendale). Then got kicked out for Disney on Ice lol Tempe would have been great but there are other valley cities such as Scottsdale, Mesa, etc. that are wealthy and closer to the population center to build an arena.
Toyota Center won't even be suitable as an above average NBA facility without significant upgrades. Its aged faster than any of the other local stadiums (both of which have undergone interval upgrades). Its in need of a lot of work. A lot of NBA arenas that were older have already undergone significant upgrades and lapped them.
Toyota Center is pretty a similar experience to any other NBA arena I've ever been to. Nothing special, but fine. Other than MSG being a total dump, Nba arenas are fairly standard across the board to me. NRG is the one that has aged horribly imo. It's absolutely blown out of the water by any modern stadium.
MSG, Phoenix, Utah, Denver, Minnesota, Cleveland, and San Antonio have or will have undergone major renovations by the time the Rockets/TC gets around to figuring they need to. NRG at least made enough upgrades to host another Super Bowl, final four, and World Cup matches. It being a dome automatically puts it in the upper echelon of big stadiums, but yes… they will continue to upgrade it to keep it in line for the major events. Toyota Center is flat-out bland/dull… from the scene/activity outside to the offerings inside. Once MMP/Astros gets their entertainment area built… it will put even more distance between it and the arena that is younger than any of the other stadiums (yet older in so many ways). They also went cheap on a lot of stuff compared to the original design… and don’t get anybody started on the Rockets ‘practice facility’ in comparison to other NBA teams…
I still have one of their pucks that they gave me at a game many several years ago. The Aeros name and uniform is just right there and perfect...there's no reason to do anything differently. Tillman, don't **** this up.
Here is some extended highlights from the original Aeros this has to be 77 or 78 because its at The Summit
It depends because a rumor in Phoenix is they want to build a smaller hockey venue (think 13k-15k max) in downtown Phoenix near their other stadiums/arenas (Suns and Dbacks). That'll create an interesting synergy when all venues have events going on at the same time. Houston is a large enough metro area to support another venue IMO especially if these other metros of similar size can
I've been to Capital One Arena which hosts the Wizards and Capitals. I sat right where the arena floor 'converts' from hockey to basketball. The only problem/difference is that there is a barrier (a small, hip height wall where the plexiglass is otherwise installed) within the first 10 to 12 rows of the lower bowl. Other than that very tiny obstacle, I was none the wiser and basically didn't feel it was much different than the Toyota Center.... which is a perfectly fine venue, although the surrounding neighborhood is devoid of any life (which is apparently the Houston way of doing things).