Love it or hate it, fans’ opinions of Rogers Arena — the Vancouver Canucks’ home rink — have made themselves known. In a recent survey conducted by The Athletic, NHL fans ranked the Canucks’ home arena 29th out of 32 in the league with consideration towards the following criteria; location, amenities, atmosphere, and affordability. Rogers Arena ended up tied with the Toronto Maple Leafs’ rink, Scotiabank Arena, with a score of 5.8 out of 10.
“Rogers will never rank high simply because of its physical size. Being squeezed between two viaducts means tight concourses, which feels like you are constantly being pushed through a toothpaste tube. Visiting other arenas like Climate Pledge you notice that difference immediately,” one person writes in The Athletic’s piece.
They’re not wrong. Despite undergoing various renovations throughout recent years, such as the new scoreboard that caused a concert to be postponed a few years back as well as new seats that have still not been fully installed, Rogers Arena still feels slightly dated compared to some of the shinier new arenas around the NHL — namely the Seattle Kraken’s Climate Pledge Arena, which finished eighth in the poll.
Overall, Vancouver’s scores in the four presented categories don’t quite tell a friendly story. Like the Canucks compared to the rest of the NHL in on-ice performance so far, Vancouver placed within the bottom-two in the league in two of the categories — atmosphere and affordability. Their saving grace was the location itself, right at the edge of downtown Vancouver, which ranks it 12th out of 32nd in the NHL.
Surprisingly enough, Vancouver ranked below arenas like the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary (25th), which is expected to be torn down soon as part of the city’s quest for a new entertainment district. Crypto.com Arena (Los Angeles Kings), KeyBank Center (Buffalo Sabres), and Canadian Tire Centre (Ottawa Senators) were the only three venues to rank lower than Rogers Arena. Bell Centre (Montréal Canadiens), T-Mobile Arena (Vegas Golden Knights), Benchmark International Arena (Tampa Bay Lightning), Bridgestone Arena (Nashville Predators), and Little Caesars Arena (Detroit Red Wings) rounded out the NHL’s top-five.
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