On Friday, I’ll be heading to the American Meteorological Society’s Annual Meeting, specifically, the Student Conference on January 5-6, where our company will be exhibiting. This year, AMS is hosting the event in Phoenix, a welcomed destination for the many stuck in the winter blues. The portion that we are attending takes place each evening, so that limits any potential sports activities to the early afternoon’s. The Valley has several winter options that I went through: Arizona State basketball, but they weren’t home. Grand Canyon (WAC) basketball who is at home, but at an un-makeable Saturday 8 PM start. The Phoenix Suns, was potentially doable as they played Friday Night, however our flight arrives just a half-hour after tip. We considered an earlier flight, but didn’t want to leave our in-office crew in a bad spot in case we were dealing with wintry weather. Sidenote, there is quite the battle going on in Phoenix about renovations to Talking Stick Resort Arena that owners want.
That brings us to the last option, who also have their own arena debates: the Arizona Coyotes. A matinee was the only hope and as luck would have it, one of their four afternoon games all year falls on Sunday, January 6th! They play the Rangers at 2 PM and we are heading to Gila River Arena in Glendale for it. While the league may bemoan their arena situation, the building looks great and it’s in a fun spot thanks to the Westgate Entertainment District right across the street. That gives us a great sports day before the conference as we’ll find a sports bar in there to watch part of the early NFL Wild-Card game before heading to the arena. This will be my ninth NHL arena and first in the Western Conference as I look forward to seeing one of the better buildings in the West.
Stadium and Arena Visits 