Will Sprint Arena (as seen in render.) be a KC icon?

[Lenexan]

agreed, Powercat.  I feel like Sprint Center is among the most unique arenas in the country, at least from the exterior and concourse.  It really is a beautiful facility, a big jeweled glass donut.

Too bad it sucks in the seating bowl.

[GRID]

I personally think the Sprint Center is extremely overrated.  It has some pizzaz on the outside and the concourses are decent, but outside of the QuikTrip (the best thing the place has going for it), the concessions are extremely overpriced and the food is average to poor.  Once you get to the seating bowl it is actually worse than Kemper.  While the cushion seats are good, Kemper was more comfortable for the important things, particularly leg room.  I'm only 5'8 and was completely uncomfortable. 

I was there for all 11 games of the Big 12 Tournament and the CBE last fall.  for the CBE I had lower deck tickets and for the Big 12 upper deck.  The lower deck experience was a "B"...hard to see over people and average leg room, though.  The upper deck experience was a "D" with terrible leg room and a thin seat.  The "climb" is so steep that one slip and you've got a very serious situation.  The people around us at the Big 12 were mostly there for the first or second time and all agreed that the Sprint Center was nothing special and that the seating bowl is an absolute joke.  The sightlines are decent but in terms of comfort, it's an absolute disaster in the upper deck.   

Most people I talk to also say it is average mostly due to the comfort issue.  In fact, my group was sitting next to a guy who worked for the designers and they alerted the powers-that-be about leg room issues, but were told to jam seats in to get to the ideal number they wanted.  Fact is, it is extremely unlikely we'll ever get an NBA or NHL team and I think as word leaks out about the extreme fan discomfort, that teams will be unlikely to move here.   

It was really a classic KC screw up, and it is sad.  The good news is the renovations at the K are looking to be absolutely fabulous. 

I agree with this 100%.  The same would have happend if we had tried to build a downtown baseball stadium for 250 million.

Why this city can't get something 100% right is beyond me.  We needed the Sprint Center and it's an amazing building, but they really screwed up the seating bowl....the most imortant part.

[KCPowercat]

I see a bright future for this lenexan character...two threads complaining about the sprint center.

I am well over 6 foot and had zero problems in the upper deck....I love the sightlines at all angles of the arena....which is most important to me.  also love that most seats are in the lower deck.

lol at grid piling on about kc never doing anything 100% right.  wtf does that even mean?  by who's standards?

[kuslamb]

I see a bright future for this lenexan character...two threads complaining about the sprint center.

Could not agree more.

[brotherdarrell]

"A seating bowl worse than Kemper" is that possible?

[NDTeve]

I guess that's why we have this forum...so people can bitch about nothing. If it wasn't the seating bowl...what would you find next guys? Stairwell railings?

[Midtownkid]

those do hurt my hands!  &&&

[GRID]

KCP

You may like the sprint center and that’s fine, but everybody I have taken there has been uncomfortable in the seats, especially for concerts when you can’t get up and move around like at a sporting event.  The seating bowl is cramped, the space between the isles seems ridiculously narrow.  The upper deck is too steep and the lower deck isn’t steep enough.

Does it bother me enough to not attend events?  Of course not, but I have heard a ton of complaints from a ton of people and from eaves dropping at events.

I don’t know, maybe this is just the way the newest arenas are now.  But I find it uncomfortable.

There are other things about the arena that don’t seem up to par either such as the lack of another set of escalators and at least one more entrance.

I’m fine with the Sprint Center and I don’t think the NHL or NBA or any potential owner is going to give a crap about how comfortable the fans are, so long as they can come to KC and make a profit.  So I don’t think the seating bowl will affect our chances of landing a team.  It’s an amazing arena, with a phenomenal location and general design.  I’m just agreeing that the seating bowl could have been done better.

The new baseball stadiums are the same way.  They are cramped.  The isles are 75% of what Kauffman is and the seats are inches narrower.  You can save tens of millions of dollars by taking just inches off every seat and they do.

As far as KC doing nothing 100% right.  What is wrong with that?  You can’t take any sort of criticism can you?

I begged people to go out and hire a professional museum builder with Science City.  They decided to stay in house with the KC Museum and you see what they got.  I begged people to fund that museum and the station with a dedicated source of income, they decided to make a 2 million sq foot public building and science museum self sustaining and you see what they got.

I begged the city to choose the casino developer that proposed a 500 million dollar casino resort in Harlem and they chose the tiny Hilton (I’m sure a corrupt deal) and you see what we got.

I begged and begged the city to build a downtown park and keep arrowhead where is was (again even though the seats may have been much less comfortable, the location would have more than made up for it .  I finally came to the conclusion that it was not going to happen and so I gave in and went with the second best option of at least keeping the teams in KCMO.

I’m now begging the city to really think through what they are doing with transit. Spending hundreds of millions of dollar to run commuter trains through the industrial districts will be a failure IMO.  I’m ok with the starter light rail line, but after this initial 12 miles, it needs to find  a way to get the trains over 30mph or it too will never reach its potential.

I see no problem with looking at building a new terminal for KCI, especially if it’s 10-15 years out anyway.  I love KCI, but compared to the new terminals I have seen in other towns, we could do much better.  I will give up my 75’ walk if it means an overall benefit for KC and I think a modern terminal with modern amenities and the possibility to be hooked into light rail is better than a terminal makes you think you just landed in Peoria in 1975.

We have a good Zoo but we can’t seem to get it over the hump to make it a great zoo.

I’m begging the city to continue to be as aggressive as possible to spark more development downtown.  Downtown still needs massive amounts of investment, but for some reason, we have decided we are done and light rail is all that is left to do.  5000 hotel rooms will soon come to KCK and KCMO is still trying to get by with 2500 downtown hotel rooms.  If Indy can build a 1500 room hotel, why can’t KC?

I’m sorry if you can’t take somebody pointing out flaws.  As soon as you accept the things that could be done better, they tend to get better.

I love KC and that’s why I point out what we can do better or where we have made mistakes.

I would give the Sprint Center an A-  It’s not 100% though.

The Liberty Memorial and Country Club Plaza are both A’s in my book and I think the PAC will be too.  If that helps.

[NDTeve]

so you're saying that if we built the baseball stadium downtown..you would bitch about the seats there...point taken...at least you're consistent.

[KCPowercat]

its obvious kc will never do anything 100% right in your eyes...sorry we aren't  denver.

my point is can anything ever been done 100% right in everybody's eyes?  obviously not but we continue to hear why, in your opinion, everything has been done wrong here...it doesn't come off as constructive criticism.

[KCMax]

  NBA teams won't come here because of concerns about leg room. 

[GRID]

so you're saying that if we built the baseball stadium downtown..you would bitch about the seats there...point taken...at least you're consistent.

No, I’m trying to say that the new stadiums are like this and I would assume the new arenas are as well.

I’m not bitching about the arena bowl.  I honestly don’t care.  It’s not the most comfortable arena IMO, but it has zero effect on my decisions to attend events there.  But I’m passing along what I see and hear from family, friends and people at the arena that the seating bowl is not very impressive and it could possibly have been done better.

I go to a lot of MLB games outside of KC and you do notice the differences.  But I would give up comfortable seat for a downtown location in a heartbeat.

Never mind, the seats at Sprint are fine, they are comfortable and have perfect sight lines from every seat.

[KCPowercat]

btw, there is a reason they are called the cheap seats...and luckily s.c.'s majority of seats are not up there.

people just like to freaking whine....maybe I am just used to never having legroom anywhere so its fine for me.

[chrizow]

Big XII tourists from out of town:  "Wow, this arena is awesome!  And it's right next to this burgeoning entertainment district!  I wish we had something like this back home in ________!!!"

Typical Kansas Citian:  "Ah cain't git mah goddam LEGS in dem seats!  Ah heard on da TV that there ain't nowheres to park down there, neither."

[loftguy]

I never get laid when I go to the Sprint Arena!

[WSPanic]

people just like to freaking whine....

Can we talk about the urinals? It's the 21st century and we still have to flush them ourselves? And the Quiktrip doesn't sell smokes or powerball tickets - what's up wiht that?

&

[KCMax]

http://forum.kcrag.com/http://www.kcrag ... 70#p355070

[Lenexan]

I guess that's why we have this forum...so people can bitch about nothing. If it wasn't the seating bowl...what would you find next guys? Stairwell railings?

The seating bowl isn't worth complaining about?  Isn't that where fans spend the majority of the time?  Listen, I've been to THIRTEEN basketball games there and yes, the two in the lower deck were good (I gave it a B) but the upper deck experience wasn't that great due to the discomfort.  I'm not bitching to bitch, I am in favor of the arena, but good heavens why is the Sprint Center off limits to criticize? 

I really like this forum (lots of GREAT information here, and I appreciate it very much) but i hope you don't have to fall in line with "board opinion" in order not to get "slighted" as some kind of "character" for daring to state an alternative opinion.  I very much believe the Sprint Center is important, I very much want an NHL or NBA team here, and I like some things about it -- the design, the concourses, etc. -- but the seating comfort is an issue in the upper deck, and denying that won't make it go away.

And yes, I'm a conservative Republican.  Hope that's okay too.

[NDTeve]

The seating bowl isn't worth complaining about?  Isn't that where fans spend the majority of the time?  Listen, I've been to THIRTEEN basketball games there and yes, the two in the lower deck were good (I gave it a B) but the upper deck experience wasn't that great due to the discomfort.  I'm not bitching to bitch, I am in favor of the arena, but good heavens why is the Sprint Center off limits to criticize? 

I really like this forum (lots of GREAT information here, and I appreciate it very much) but i hope you don't have to fall in line with "board opinion" in order not to get "slighted" as some kind of "character" for daring to state an alternative opinion.  I very much believe the Sprint Center is important, I very much want an NHL or NBA team here, and I like some things about it -- the design, the concourses, etc. -- but the seating comfort is an issue in the upper deck, and denying that won't make it go away.

And yes, I'm a conservative Republican.  Hope that's okay too.

You seem to be doing a lot of bitching today. Definitely okay that you're a conservative Republican. My point is that there is no way the arena could've been built without people finding something to bitch about.  Zero chance.

[Lenexan]

I found the thread asking about the Sprint center and replied.  I replied that I had problems with the comfort of the Sprint center and I think KC could have done better.  CAll it "bitching" or whatever, but I do think it's an issue -- and so do a lot of folks who have sat around me at the games.  It's been a topic among people who have talked about the sprint center.  Heck, back at the CBE when I sat down low, two sets of friends sat up high and both said it was not comfortable at all, and if you look at the comments on the articles on the KC Star at the time, most of them were negative.

I'm glad we have it, and I dont mean to say I'd rather have Kemper back -- hardly -- but I think KC could have done better and to say so isn't nitpicking.  I personally think the people who complain about having to handflush are silly -- that's minor -- but yeah, seat comfort and leg room are problems, and yes, they can have an effect over time on attendance, particularly if a sports team was to be here. (People will come to a major one-time event no matter what).  Someone would say "i'd rather watch on TV than sit up there where it's not comfortable", whereas if it was comfortable, they might be more likely to come.

To me that's more important than the outside appearance. 

The best arena in the country?  America Airlines in Dallas.  That's comfort.