Blumie

I attended my first Islanders hockey game at the Barclays Center and thought I'd provide some feedback.

First, my experience shows how you can make it an only-in-New-York experience: I purchased a single ticket on stubhub at a steep discount to face value less than 90 minutes before game time (I forget what the listing price was, but with stubhub fees it came to $68.83 for a seat right on the red line in Section 125); used Citibike from my home in Williamsburg to get to the game (24 minutes, according to the citibike app); shopped at the adjacent Target after the game ended (it's open until Midnight most nights!); and then took the G train home.

There have been a lot of complaints about the site lines at Barclays, and apparently there are a lot of seats with obstructed views. This was not an issue for me at all. And although my seats were right on the red line, and I had great site lines, I do feel that the seats in the higher rows of Sections 7, 8, 24 and 25 would have been better -- closer to the action but still high enough to provide good perspective of the entire ice surface. That said, I don't recall what the price difference was for those sections; while I would have paid maybe 50% more for the lower seats, I don't think it would have been worth paying much more than that.

All in all it's a nice new arena that serves typically bad arena food (I really thought it would be better; it was pretty awful) and insists, as all sports arenas do now, on trying to make the game into a circus or amusement park-like event, none of which I particularly care for. (I was surprised that when they did the typical shooting of the t-shirts into the crowd, they only shot them into the expensive corporate seats near the ice, and none into the cheap seats. That's an a$$hole move if you ask me.) But if you just care about the hockey -- which is all I care about -- it was a great experience. (And the Islanders beat the Calgary Flames 4-0.)

Edited to add: My browser was still open from when I purchased my ticket on stubhub earlier today, and I see I could have chosen a seat in the lower sections for not much more money. Next time I'll do that. Again, I think seats in, say, the upper third of Sections 7, 8, 24 and 25 are probably the best seats.

Analise

Exactly when was the name change to the "Brooklyn Islanders"? Can't wait to see THAT happen. All of those Islander fans thought that John Spano was their "savior" and now the Islanders have left Nassau anyway. When that name change happens, there will be suburban outrage.

Very real complaints. Two years ago, we went to an Islanders/Devils exhibition game at Barclays. My husband bought two seats in the 1st row of the upper deck behind one of the goals -- front and center. We were asked to fill out a form letting the Islanders organization know of our experience in those seats. The seats in that row were blatantly obstructed as we could not see the goal line nor obviously any action at the net and behind the goal line. We had to look at the jumbotron screens.

That arena is a blatant example of how "eminent domain" was grossly misused to force people out of their homes in order to build a huge, private enterprise that is the Barclay Center.

themicah

I'm always greatly amused at how people who paid many hundreds of dollars to watch a display of athletic prowess will get UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED at the prospect of a crappy free t-shirt that they will never wear.

DaveBlaine

Analise

Ahhhh, the logo that engaged Rangers fans to chant "We want fish sticks!"

Blumie

Agree completely, and this is part of the spectacle that I loathe. Still, in most arenas at least they shoot the t-shirts into the cheaper seats where families are more concentrated, rather than in the expensive suit-and-tie, corporate-owned seats.

dstan

Thanks, I've updated the thread link in the Sticky.

/Moderator

nanyang

I've been to 15 of the current NHL arenas so far, and similarly went to my first Islanders game at the Barclays Center last month.

We had pretty cheap seats, and they were reasonably good value for money given the price paid (< USD40).

Clearly the arena was not built for hockey, and I find the 'empty areas' behind goals rather strange - must have a negative impact on the atmosphere. One issue with the cheap seats was that it was pretty much impossible to hear / understand any of the announcements.

Yep, the level of excitement about some XXXL-sized t-shirts is always surprising - but then again, it doesn't bother me. Part of the show and all that.

Blumie

I was back at Barclays this week for the Isles/Devils game. I paid $90 (all in, including the stubhub fees) for two of the best seats in the house: Section 7, Row 16. These were pretty optimal height wise; I don't think I'd want to be any lower down.

I noticed there were more, better looking food options on the main concourse level, but I didn't try any of them. I had sushi a couple of blocks down 5th Avenue before the game. Walking down 5th Avenue, it appeared to me that, with the exception of Shake Shack and a couple of Irish bars, none of the restaurants was really benefitting from its proximity to the arena. (Even Shake Shack wasn't as busy as I would have expected.) Wonder what that's all about.

AltaBound

Blumie, how far in advance are you purchasing the tickets? I will be NYC in the middle of Dec and I am thinking about going to a game.

Blumie

I bought tickets for both games day of the game. But if you know when you're going to be here and see tickets on stubhub at a reasonable price, go ahead and grab them. No reason to wait unless you're undecided.

AltaBound

Sounds like a plan.

Thanks

dchristiva

I'll agree to disagree with you on this point. While I dislike the fact that the Isles have moved there primarily because it was never designed for hockey, the arena has brought a fair amount of life to the area. Further, the arena employs nearly 2,000 people; approximately 1,600 of them live in Brooklyn, and one-third live in NYCHA developments.

nerd

To be fair, aren't something like 1,900 of them 20 hours/week?

Analise

That a private business hired PT and FT employees means nothing to those who were forced out of their homes because of this eminent domain abuse.