This time of year the updates keep flying in on The List with so many leagues resuming play. November is for pro basketball and the biggest news is the new Amway Center opening in downtown Orlando. It’s unfortunate that the old arena (Amway Arena) only 21-years old is so out-of-date that they needed to build a new one…but these are the times we now live in. I’ve never been in there, but I’m betting it was fine for the common fan but not enough for the owner as he (or she) needs those luxury seat revenues and they likely just missed when those started going in style with the old building. Shaq and Penny had the O-rena rocking back in the day, now Dwight Howard leads the Magic into the Amway Center. I was in Orlando in September and got a brief glimpse of the new arena while on the Interstate and it looked like the finishing touches were just getting completed.
In other news, the IZOD Center is off the list and I say good riddens. The Nets now will play a few years at the Prudential Center and then with any luck move to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, which plans for the building have been going on for almost a decade. I hated that building in the Meadowlands as it was so bland and boring. Didn’t help that I had this pre-conceived notion it was a dump even before I stepped foot in it. In the NBDL, Albuquerque moves out of Tingley Coliseum into the Santa Ana Star Center, in nearby Rio Rancho. Looks like this is it for the mid-sized venue in terms of hosting sporting events. New Mexico’s CHL team also moved to the new Santa Ana Star Center a few years ago. Lastly, just a name change update as one of the odder sponsors (the American Dairy Association) loses it’s name on the former Milk House in DisneyWorld. The arena is now known as the HP Field House and it hosts college basketball’s Old Spice Classic each year.
Stadium and Arena Visits 