TBN: KeyBank Center upgrades

[Beerz]

RWS was built in the 70s

Right but they renovated it a couple years ago and is now being replaced.

Waste of money in my eyes.

I'd rather them hammer out a new arena

Given the connection to HarborCenter, I expect that they are much more likely to try and renovate KBC as opposed to tearing it down and replacing it somewhere else.

Probably right but if I were billionaire I'd tear it out and expand HarborCenter and have new arena wherever

 

[TehDoak]

Right but they renovated it a couple years ago and is now being replaced.

Waste of money in my eyes.

I'd rather them hammer out a new arena



Probably right but if I were billionaire I'd tear it out and expand HarborCenter and have new arena wherever

The real estate investment the Pegula's have made ensures the arena stays downtown. You could simply build a new one next to it if you wanted...but I doubt that is what will happen

The reason they finally built the new bills stadium was structural issues that would have cost several hundred million to fix. For all the issues that we see, that is mostly just a failure in general upkeep by the owners.

Either way, we will know the plans when the Sabres lease is up in 2025. I don't think they are re-doing the roof/new scoreboard unless they were planning on staying in this arena for the immediate (re: 10-15 more years) The major Bills stadium costs should, essentially, be paid by then, which will in turn mean higher revenue for the Pegulas out of the Bills stadium.

 

[Dingo44]

I've said it a few times but I've been to 15 NHL Arenas both old and new and Key Bank Center has some of the best sightlines and I don't get the hate for the layout. Sure it needs new seats and some things could be refreshed/redone but it's not falling apart and it's easy to get to and get around.

I will tell you - sitting in some of the new seats in new arenas are a lot less comfortable than the old seats at KBC. The cheap seats at Little Caesar's Arena are almost unusable. And most places have worse sightlines.

Maybe it's because I only go to KBC once or twice a year but it does not deserve the bashing it gets.

 

[May Day 10]

The site lines there are awful. The grade is as gradual as you can get, and there are little to no overhangs/decks. I have also been to about a dozen NHL arenas and they all seem closer to the action and you can see the game much better from areas of the 100-level. Corners of the 300-level have a Rochester area-code. Add in a bubble roof and there is little ambiance.

They also decided to cram way too many seats in the bowl. It is very uncomfortable, and some areas, normal-sized humans cannot comfortably fit in a seat. The seats I had last year, I couldnt keep my legs straight or else they would be in contact with the people in front of me.