February 16, 2013
Webster Bank Arena (Capacity: 8,500)
Bridgeport, CT
Bridgeport Sound Tigers vs Providence Bruins
Final Score: 3 – 5
* Webster Bank Arena has been renamed Total Mortgage Arena
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After first seeing this arena ten years prior for a Fairfield basketball game, I gave the facility its proper due by completing an official visit with its primary tenant, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The city’s AHL franchise is owned by the parent New York Islanders and the two got off to a great start with Bridgeport reaching the Calder Cup finals in their first year (’02). Following another good season, things have been rough in Park City as the franchise has yet to win another playoff series with the streak reaching a decade. As Connecticut’s largest city (population of 145,000), Bridgeport has struggled to redevelop from its industrial past. One help however has been the arena, which opened in 2001. The facility attracts a wide range of sports and entertainment, along with providing a high quality interior that I was impressed with.
Prestige Ranking: 3 out of 5
Location
The arena sits right next to the Ballpark at Harbor Yard in the South End, near the Bridgeport Harbor. Both facilities have failed to spur much activity as there really isn’t much immediately close by. Separated by I-95 is downtown, which is within walking distance just beyond an underpass. Though not the most attractive downtown there are a couple spots to check out nearby. One is the Barnum Museum, dedicated to PT Barnum of circus fame (closed at the time of my visit due to tornado damage from a few years ago). Circus and Bridgeport history is featured here. Next door is a popular Italian restaurant, Ralph n Rich’s.
Location Ranking: 4 out of 10
Accessibility / Parking
Driving is convenient as there is a parking garage next to the arena, along with a couple nearby surface lots. It is just off I-95 at Exit 27 and though it is a minute or two away from the interstate, the access roads before getting to South Frontage Road have some turning lanes that can catch you off guard. Also beware that 95 can be a pain as the stretch between the CT border and New Haven frequently will have slow downs and traffic. Near the actual facility, incoming traffic for this game was minimal, while outgoing from the garage can get a little jammed up. More signs back to 95 would be helpful too. Long-distance mass transit is feasible with a nearby train station (Metro-North) and a ferry dock next door that arrives from Long Island’s Port Jefferson.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 6.5 out of 8
Exterior
Webster Bank Arena has a horseshoe shape to it, but fans only see the curved end, which represents the main entrance (also visible while driving along 95). This section features a white wall with some separate brick sides built off the arena’s body. One of those brick corners showcases an advertising video screen, along with the arena name. The other brick side houses the box office, which is outside and a negative in that half the season is cold in Connecticut. Not exactly where people want to wait in line for tickets. Otherwise, the arena lights up nicely at night and includes a spacious walking space / plaza before entering.
Exterior Ranking: 6 out of 10
Concourse
The concourse is colorful with yellow walls and blue floors that replaced gray carpeting. Kind of an odd look with the yellow, but colorful nonetheless. The U-shaped set up follows the building’s horseshoe design and there is enough room to maneuver. In fact, there are a couple of empty spaces where they could make more use of. One spot they did fill in is the bar on the side of the east concourse. It’s a good spot with windows, tables and a true bar that is a sign of things to come inside.
Concourse Ranking: 3.5 out of 5
Food
Food stands had a nice varied set of offerings. Tampico Kitchen provided Mexican (quesadillas, burritos and nachos), while Al Fresco provided pizza, calzones and meatball subs. In addition to the typical grilled items, a few portable carts offered local taste like Wilson’s BBQ. The Pulled Pork from here was decent, but it needed BBQ sauce, which there was none of. Sweet & Simple had some excellent baked goods as I love me a good cookie. Beers available are mainly Bud products, along with Rhode-Island based Narragansett. Nothing really in the way of local offerings, however each bar inside offered a wide range of liquor and wine.
Food Ranking: 6.5 out of 8
Interior
What really made me like the arena is the way the general public also gets to enjoy the space reserved for specialty seating. The bowl follows a traditional oval format that goes around the ice rink and the tunnel entrances from the concourse are at the bottom. At the south end is where it gets interesting. Seating shrinks to about ten rows, while behind and above the end sections is a three-tiered deck of premium seating. The first two levels are open to the public with each floor including a bar, along with tables and a view of the harbor (not the best of views and hard to see at night, but thumbs up for trying). Towards the rink, are office chairs and a counter-top, available as a ticket. It’s a great spot and with the building not even close to full, I had no problem coming up here for a period. A third bar can be found tucked behind section 103 and it opens up into a spacious little spot. Many suites ring the top of the arena (33 of them, along with a few loge boxes) and they overhang the seating bowl with the last few rows having an obstructed view of the scoreboard. Individual seats inside are dark blue and generally comfortable.
Interior Ranking: 10 out of 14
Scoreboard
For the first decade of its life, Webster Bank Arena just had side scoreclocks on the top wall and no center scoreboard. Now, there is a display above center ice that is simply stunning, enough to even make an NHL venue blush. Part of a trend, a giant 30ft x 16ft side screen displays incredible video and graphics. I thought it might be a distraction, but it was not and with it mostly being used for live game footage and replays, the clarity was amazing. Only a line at the bottom was reserved for score, time and penalty time (shots on goal were on the ribbon board that wraps around at the top of the bowl, also very nice). The ends of the scoreboard also had a video display, which was of normal size, but equally sharp.
Scoreboard Ranking: 4 out of 4
Displays
Bridgeport is lacking in this department with only posters of previous acts showing up in the concourse (and nothing of significance on the outside). The interior features hard-to-read banners up on the corner of the north end walls. Four regular-season honors are displayed for the Sound Tigers, while Fairfield has a high-school like banner for postseason appearances on the Men’s and Women’s side. There’s also a random Yale school banner in the vicinity. On the other side, there is a touching tribute banner to Steven Velasquez, a city firefighter who lost his life on duty in 2011.
Displays Ranking: 2 out of 6
Cost
Eeesh, I think the Sound Tigers have themselves confused with the Islanders. Parking is $10, which is a steep start to the game experience. Tickets are then quite pricey for the AHL as the majority of seats on the side cost $32. The ends are $21 or $27 and only a tiny sliver of the obstructed seats at the top end are $15. That’s not even counting the hideous $9 – $10 convenience charge tacked on by Ticketmaster when ordering online. Games are not that well attended, so I would buy them at the box office. Concessions feature $7 cheeseburgers, $4.50 French fries, $7.25 16 oz beers and hot dogs going for $3.75.
Cost Ranking: 4.5 out of 8
Fan Support and Atmosphere
Similar to the baseball team next door, fans don’t exactly come out in droves to support the Sound Tigers. I would guestimate the game I attended on a Saturday Night had about 2,000 people show up (announced gate was 3,825). In fact, out of the 13 AHL games that night, Bridgeport had the lowest draw. Playoff attendance is a good gauge of fan support and the last four playoff seasons in Bridgeport have seen an average attendance ranked 11th, 13th, 6th and 14th (with 16 teams making the postseason). The crowd inside did have some Islanders/Sound Tiger apparel, but the atmosphere was rather blah and quiet. Nothing big happened after a goal (see below).
Fan Support Ranking: 3 out of 8
Atmosphere Ranking: 5 out of 14
Other Stuff
Bridgeport’s nickname is somewhat regionally based as the “Sound Tigers” refer to the Long Island Sound of which the city is located on…..Upon entering the arena, there is a sign saying “No Cameras” amongst other things. Seems ridiculous, but it was never enforced and I had no trouble taking about 30 pictures throughout the facility…..A big thumbs up to the Sound Tigers front office, who a week after Hurricane Sandy devastated the area, gave free tickets to a pair of weekend games to the public. They came, charged cell phones and got their minds off of either not having power or thoughts of clean-up. Well done.
Game
The game started with the home side quickly going down 2-0 to the visiting Providence Bruins. Yet Bridgeport managed to storm back with a sweet Nino Niederreiter blast and then a Sean Backman fluky goal from behind the net. Providence ended up taking back the lead heading into the third. The final minutes were quite interesting as Bridgeport had a goal disallowed because the net was knocked off its moorings before it went in. Should have been a penalty on the goalie who ‘accidentally’ knocked it off. Then, as the Sound Tigers were getting set for a faceoff with 30 seconds left in the Bruins’ zone, they couldn’t figure out whether they wanted their goalie in or out for a sixth man. With the goalie in limbo and dancing near the blue line as confusion continued, the refs warned them once to get ready for play. Their patience ran out and the ref told the linesman to drop the puck, which he did with no Bridgeport players near the faceoff circle. Providence won it and fired the game-sealer into the partially open-net. Bridgeport went ballistic, but in this case I totally agree with the refs. Good call by them to get the game moving and not get bullied by the Sound Tigers coaching staff. Bruins win 5-3.
Stadium and Arena Visits 
