Paul from Stadium Journey (.com) sent me his article where he rated Staples Center, A Castle Fit For The Kings. There are some good points to consider if you’re coming out to Los Angeles to check out the arena, but the perspective is different if you’re someone who visits Staples more than once a season.
I’m assuming the rating system is out of 5 and I agree for the most part with the numbers, but not really for the reasons.
Under Neighborhood I would have included The Yard House since I prefer it to the ESPN Zone. At the same time, I’ve been to both just once and, in the end, I prefer to have lunch (afternoon game) or dinner (7:30pm PST start) around where I live before heading into downtown. This way I don’t have to worry about getting into a restaurant, eating, and getting to the glass before warmups start. If I find myself at the arena still in need of dinner, I’d rather get “food” during the first intermission than miss the warmups. That’s something that can’t be missed unless you’re incredibly late getting inside the front doors.
Under Return on Investment, the fact that the cheapest seat he could find was $63 on Ticketmaster is pretty misleading. Again, this article is for non-locals, so I don’t really have to state that the Dave Taylor Die Hards are $11 per, but I will! At the same time, there are always service fees everyone will have to pay. My best advice is to get a ticket agent’s name and number from someone who already attends games since you can get exactly what you want at reasonable prices. Ticketmaster can stick it you know where.
Under Fans he is completely right in saying Los Angeles Kings fans make up a “very diverse community.” I’m not sure what language isn’t spoken in Staples during a Kings game. Afrikaans? His 4 rating of Access is surprisingly high. The traffic in general is bad but locals can cut down travel time in half by taking side streets. Tips? Know where you’re gonna park beforehand and don’t linger after the game. I’m unsure why Etc is rated 0. He doesn’t say anything negative except for the lack of history Staples has, but the arena is just over 10 years old and the Kings have yet to win the ultimate prize, so you can’t exactly hold that against them.
What do you guys think?