Intrust Bank Arena Grand Opening

[AG1219]

MTXE, you were on the north end, old town is to the north.

[MTXE]

Why am I not surprised by your comments.

You cannot find anything positive to say about anything. It is almost like you like the attention and responses you are bound to get from your assinine write up.

Please go away MTXE. Not the Mental Toughness Extra Effort slogan but the poster.

I am really sorry that my post has moved you in a negative way. Imagine how I felt writing it? Rest assured my intentions were only to vent, not incite. I have never wrote or spoke a negative word about the downtown arena. I think it will be very good for Wichita but could have been a lot better.

Oklahoma City's Ford Center (586,000 sq ft) was built for around 90,000,000 dollars and can seat "19,675 on four seating levels and features 3,380 club seats, seven party suites and 49 private suites." Why on earth are we stuck with a 329,950 sq ft facility with a little over 13,000 in fixed seats (some of them staring directly into ceiling equipment) for 200,000,000 dollars?

[MTXE]

MTXE, you were on the north end, old town is to the north.

Oops, you're right. Sorry.

[kawwsu77]

I have no problem with the seats and I am 6 feet tall. There is a lot more leg room in IBA than in Koch.

As for the "cheap seats" I like how they are not that steep to climb.

I guess you can't please everyone.

[MTXE]

I have no problem with the seats and I am 6 feet tall. There is a lot more leg room in IBA than in Koch.

As for the "cheap seats" I like how they are not that steep to climb.

I guess you can't please everyone.

You didn't happen to be in the skybox or loge seats did you? :) The seats I sat in had my knees brushing the seats in front of me. My knees would have been bumping heads.

And as for the grade in the upper bowl, I found it to be impressively steep. It didn't bother me that much, but it did bother a female who was in our group quite a bit.

I was mostly perturbed by the 'awesome' vantage point I had of the catwalks, cables, stored curtains, ductwork, and other miscellanea hanging from the ceiling directly in my sight-line. Concert-goers purchasing nose-bleed seats on the opposite end are going to be H.O.T.

[kawwsu77]

No, I was not in the suites. I just don't see that the leg room was worse than in Koch. I don't think it was any steeper than going to the top row of Koch. I agree that it would be better to put the suites on both sides instead of one. But if that is my only complaint then I think they did a very good job.

On the topic of heat on the first floor, at the Drake game on New Years Night it was cold right by the entrances too. I think it would take a lot of time to heat both buildings. Too complain about the heat make me believe that you went to the open house hating the arena and all you can do is complain and moan if it does not meet your requirements.

I guess I am not looking at all the negatives like you are. I am thankfull that we have an arena that can draw big name acts to Wichita. I see that the building will be a vital resource to revitalizing downtown Wichita.

[ShockerFever]

There were lot of good and a lot of bad that came from my visit this morning. Cold pretty much pointed out all of the bad.. and he did so pretty accurately for the most part.. so I guess I'll start with the bad first..

The Bad
1.) As stated, the high upper-level seating is atrocious at best. How they didn't raise the ceiling up another 10-15 feet is beyond me, but I tested the viewpoint straight on from the opposite end of the suites and I had the same ghastly impressions. The scoreboard is partially blocked, 1/3 of the arena seating bowl is visually blocked, and it just looks pitiful. How does this even make the drawing boards? Pathetic is an understatement.

2.) The scoreboard is visually simple but definitely doesn't have the "wow" factor as boards such as the BOK Center in Tulsa has. I supposed it was smaller and cheapened to take into account the God-awful low ceiling level.

3.) The concourse was a bit narrow at times. Entrances into the seating bowl were also a bit on the narrow side. Now granted, it's greatly better than the coliseum, but I felt they could have been wider. They were filled up pretty comfortably at the onset this morning and I imagine there weren't more than 6 or 7,000 there at one given time.

4.) The entrances/exits. I entered from the Old Town north entrance. There really isn't a whole lot to that entrance. When our group left, we too were perplexed by the lack of exits on the north end. As Cold mentioned, we finally figured out the emergency stair exit was the only way out. That was pretty embarrassing. I figured they would have the escalators going the right way on a normal day. I got that. But at least they could have mentioned it or had someone directing people exactly where to go and why. It was very second-rate at that point.

5.) I'm becoming more under the impression that the county commissioners built for themselves first and its people second. The whole suite/loge box/premium seat thing on one side definitely seems like they're dividing the upper and middle/lower classes. It was a shameful design and major flaw in the whole project IMO. An extra 3,000 or so more seats could have been in place there to fill up the remaining bowl and the suites could have been sandwiched between the two levels (like every other arena) and this would have solved the ceiling-is-too-low problem. The bad thing is that we the public had ZERO say in the interior design at all whatsoever. Our only "choice" was the exterior designs of the building, which were all pretty lame. It's not a surprise really that we basically had no idea what were getting with the lack of drawings/pictures of the interior and they were withheld from us because they didn't want us to know until the very end so nothing could be changed. That's one of the most disappointing aspects of the whole thing.

The Good:
1.) The arena itself is a jewel. It is very first-class in that respect and its interiors match a lot of the others regionally and around the country. The brick facades along with the modern southern end was a great idea. I definitely liked that.

2.) The bowl itself was cozy and comfy. The chairs were plush (welcome to the 21st century!!!), the leg room was fair, if not good, and best of all, there really isn't a bad seat in the place. Most arenas' nosebleeds are pretty far and high up but this one is definitely tighter but has much closer access to the action.

3.) The ribbon board is a common but nice touch when operating. Definitely adds to the professional atmosphere.

4.) The food selection is awesome. Finally some variety around here. The prices are gonna be steep, but that's pretty much everywhere nowadays. Hell, the Coliseum's prices were pretty high for subpar products and it pains me that I have to burn like $10 for a dog and nachos at a Shocker game, so really the prices are right in line, like it or not. I can't wait to try more of the "elevated" fare.

5. The parking was a breeze. Now granted, it wasn't a packed house, but I thought for a first-time thing it was very simple and not bad, even considering the bitterly cold temps. We parked at the transit station at around 10:30am and it was no problem. I was hoping to get in on the trolley action to see what it was like but it wasn't necessary given our block walk. We'll see about actual shows/games, but it's not rocket science. Once people get used to everything it should be fine. (Oh ya, it helped that it was free.. :good: )


In conclusion, I was a YES supporter the whole way because frankly, there was nothing ever good that was gonna come out of the 30-year old Cow Palace. It's definitely a step-up and overall first-class venue that I am thrilled about. I'm excited to go see the thing in action. However the ceiling issue along with the suites-all-on-one side issue are both pretty sub-standard and disappointing. This thing should have definitely been about 3,000 more seats larger (ya know, for the future..) I guess we might as well get used to it because it's too late now and not gonna change.

[kawwsu77]

I agree that the suites should not have been put on one side and that the view is not great from the top rows but that is why they are called the "cheap seats." I also agree that it was confusing with the Old Town entrance.

The suites are where arenas make money at least that is what I was told. I think that it is a major upgrade over what was there before and over the Coliseum.

[NWShocker11]

I saw many signs for all the sponsors but I didn't see one sign for who paid for the whole arena.

The tax payers!!

[kawwsu77]

I wonder how many signs you would see in arenas in Des Moines, Kansas City, Omaha, Tulsa, etc. that show that the taxpayers in those cities paid for their arenas.

The arena is paid for and it will be successfull for Wichita and Sedgwick County. This is a great time to be in Wichita.

[AG1219]

I saw many signs for all the sponsors but I didn't see one sign for who paid for the whole arena.

The tax payers!!

Yes, the Sales Tax Payers, I didn't see a sign either. Big props to those of us that had to endure the tough times of that add'l 1 cent for 30 months so we could have this arena. I know that 7.3% sales tax crushed me and probably kept a lot of people from traveling and spending their money in Wichita during that time.

I was recently in Chicago and had to fork over a 10.25% sales tax. I was told that not just a sign of thanks, they are actually erecting a gold statue of me outside of city hall. Just hope the pigeons stay off it.

:goshocks:

[pogo]

I saw many signs for all the sponsors but I didn't see one sign for who paid for the whole arena.

The tax payers!!

Yes, the Sales Tax Payers, I didn't see a sign either. Big props to those of us that had to endure the tough times of that add'l 1 cent for 30 months so we could have this arena. I know that 7.3% sales tax crushed me and probably kept a lot of people from traveling and spending their money in Wichita during that time.

I was recently in Chicago and had to fork over a 10.25% sales tax. I was told that not just a sign of thanks, they are actually erecting a gold statue of me outside of city hall. Just hope the pigeons stay off it.

Now thats funny!

:goshocks:

[KC Shox]

I agree with Fever and Cold, better than what we had before in terms of the coliseum, but man, some head scratching architecture going on.

[BostonWu]

Why am I not surprised by your comments.

You cannot find anything positive to say about anything. It is almost like you like the attention and responses you are bound to get from your assinine write up.

Please go away MTXE. Not the Mental Toughness Extra Effort slogan but the poster.

I am really sorry that my post has moved you in a negative way. Imagine how I felt writing it? Rest assured my intentions were only to vent, not incite. I have never wrote or spoke a negative word about the downtown arena. I think it will be very good for Wichita but could have been a lot better.

Oklahoma City's Ford Center (586,000 sq ft) was built for around 90,000,000 dollars and can seat "19,675 on four seating levels and features 3,380 club seats, seven party suites and 49 private suites." Why on earth are we stuck with a 329,950 sq ft facility with a little over 13,000 in fixed seats (some of them staring directly into ceiling equipment) for 200,000,000 dollars?

You know I was thinking as I walked out of the open house that while this place might not have quite as many seats as Ford it has a lot more character. I attended a Thunder game last season and I thought Ford was about as cookie cutter an arena as I’ve seen. From both the interior and exterior Ford has absolutely no unique or distinguishing characteristics. It’s just nondescript. At least IBA has a unique glass/brick feel that blends in with the area. Not to mention it’s not a plain-jane exterior round design.

On top of that my seat for the Thunder game was located on the first level approx. 20 rows up in the corner end zone. What I vividly recall was how far off the floor we were sitting in a retractable section of seating. There was absolutely no grade to the retractable seats, therefore, the view sucked as heads completely blocked the court. And did I mention how far off the court it seemed for only being 20 rows up? The zero-grade retractable seats also had the effect of pushing you way back off the court. It was almost like they were struggling/reaching to put more seats in the house. OKC can keep the Ford…I’ll take Sprint and IBA any day of the week.

[vbird53]

What's going to make or break IBA is the additional development around it. An arena is an arena, and now that it's here, it's not going to change, so supporting the area around it is going to be more important than ever.