M&T Bank Arena

^{March 6, 2011
TD Bank Sports Center (Capacity: 3,570)
Hamden, CT
Quinnipiac Bobcats vs Robert Morris Colonials
Final Score: 62 – 64}

* The arena was renamed to M&T Bank Arena

.

A downpour of rain accompanied me both to and from my trip to Connecticut as I made a visit to the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden for an NEC basketball tournament semifinal game. Hamden is in the southern part of the state and is a suburb of New Haven. The town of 60,000 was the home of Eli Whitney (inventor of the cotton gin) and there are signs of him all over from the name of the main street, to restaurants, to his old factory turned museum. On the northern, more open side of Hamden is scenic Quinnipiac University, beautifully nestled up against a mountain known as Sleeping Giant (and it really does look like one on the approach). The Bobcats are a young Division I team as this is their 12th year in the NEC. Twice they’ve been to the NEC final, but have yet to make the NCAA Tournament. In 2007, they built a new facility that houses both a basketball arena and a hockey rink. The TD Bank Sports Center has provided the Bobcats with an appropriate basketball home.
Prestige Ranking: 3 out of 5

Location

The TD Bank Sports Center is located on the York Hill campus, which is about a half-mile from Quinnipiac’s main Mount Carmel campus. This area is on a hill and not only includes the facility, but also residence halls and a cabin-like student center. You have to drive to reach the main drag through Hamden if you are looking for a place to eat. About 10 minutes south is the Eli Whitney Museum and 20 minutes further south is New Haven.
Location Ranking: 5.5 out of 10

Accessibility / Parking

Getting to Quinnipiac is fairly easy from I-91 or Rt. 15 (Merritt Parkway). Campus is on the north side of Hamden and to get to the arena, you have to drive up the large hill. Parking is right in front of the building and I had no troubles, but on the way out there were several cars parked in one of the two lanes on the hill. Not sure if it was for a quick out or they ran out of spaces. Campus buses taking students back to main campus can make for a bit of a hold up, otherwise leaving was fine.
Accessibility / Parking Ranking: 7 out of 8

Exterior

The exterior design of the facility, clearly shows two arenas: basketball on the left and hockey on the right. Each one is arched with sea-green roofs. In the middle is a red-brick façade that has an awning with “TD Bank Sports Center” written in gold eloquent lettering. Underneath the awning are the doors inside and four ticket windows. It’s a decent design and a cool feature is that on windows cover from top to bottom so you can see the inside of both arenas.
Exterior Ranking: 7.5 out of 10

Concourse

Inside is a middle concourse, that features a noticeably low ceiling. This space does have some blue and yellow along with a couple logos on the floor and didn’t get as crowded as I thought it would at halftime. This central congregating area is the ‘concourse’ for both the basketball arena and ice rink. The lone concession stand is set towards the back and I liked seeing open space behind it with standing tables and a wide-open window of the countryside.
Concourse Ranking: 3 out of 5

Food

Not only are the food offerings sub-par, the food was terrible. I had a hot dog that looked questionable and on first bite, I went to the garbage and spit it out. Then settling for a pretzel literally dripping with butter was not a better alternative. This was one of the worst food experiences I’ve had at a stadium.
Food Ranking: 1 out of 8

Interior

TD Bank Sports Center features a simple seating design, yet one that is appealing. It is a small arena and all of the blue chairback seats wrap around the court in an oval. The first half of seats on the sides do look like they retract inward. These seats have adequate width and the pitch between each row is decent. At the top is a wide 360-degree walkway, as fans can also stand and watch the games with a pretty decent view as the gym is quite intimate. Built above the walkway in one of the corners is the University Club, where the interior portion of the club leads to three rows of overhead seating. The aforementioned windows seen from the outside cover about half of one end and they also have doors at the bottom which allow for an easy exit after the game. School colors blue and yellow are prominent in the arena, especially the yellow as the ceiling features many beams and trusses in this color. That paint job is needed because otherwise, a lot of cold, gray concrete is visible. This is a great arena for basketball, made better by some unique touches.
Interior Ranking: 11.5 out of 14

Scoreboard

The blue, four-sided center scoreboard is the right size and features a digital box score in the bottom third (though with an ugly large font). Grainy video screens adorn the rest of the board and these are mainly used for player stats, cheer graphics and pictures.
Scoreboard Ranking: 2 out of 4

Displays

Outside, in front of the arena is a pretty cool statue of a Bobcat on a rock. Next to the Bobcat is a plaque describing how the animal roams Sleeping Giant mountain as it looks over and protects the campus. It fits the college spirit and I like the tale. Inside, there was good effort on banner arrangement, it just was overdone. Women’s basketball was done in white, while Men’s were in blue. Banner categories included Regular Season NEC Championships, NIT appearances and NEC Tournament appearances. I understand it’s a new-ish Division I team and that the conference currently has 12 teams with 8 qualifying for the conference tourney, but putting that on a banner that they made their own conference tournament may be a bit much.
Displays Ranking: 2 out of 6

Cost

Parking was free and all tickets were $10 for this conference tournament game. That was odd because normally tickets are $11 or $13, which was slightly on the higher side for this Division I level. Concessions were ok with $3.50 for a hot dog and $2.00 for a soda or bottled water.
Cost Ranking: 7.5 out of 8

Fan Support

The game I went to was a huge anomaly and the impetus for me to visit ‘average’ games in the future so that I can more accurately gauge fan support. Being an NEC Tournament Semifinal, there was a lot more interest and the crowd showed out. Much of the building was full and the students also responded well. Now that doesn’t happen everywhere at this level, so it should be rewarded that a meaningful game drew a decent crowd. Subsequent conference games the following seasons featured a place at least half empty with very few students.
Fan Support Ranking: 4 out of 8

Atmosphere

Again, it’s important to note that most games feature a generic atmosphere with a crowd that is mildly into it. There is some reward that Quinnipiac can reach the level that they did on this occasion. The arena was absolutely rocking as the Bobcats were trying to beat the team that won the NEC last year. Fans got loud after each basket and as the game neared the final couple minutes many of them rose to their feet at big moments. A couple of times after the biggest plays, the pop was so loud, I couldn’t hear myself talk. I was especially impressed with the student section decked out in yellow. “Let’s Go Bobcats” was the main cheer and a couple times, students busted out the “I believe” chant.
Atmosphere Ranking: 8 out of 14

Other Stuff

Inside the concourse, I like how there is a view of both arenas, instead of just having closed off doors. The hockey arena has a very good and intimate look to it as well…Wasn’t a fan of how bright those lights were when sitting in the first few rows…TD Bank Sports Center has developed the nickname, “The Den”.

Game

The game was hard-fought and intense as the first half was back and forth with each team grabbing a five-point lead at various points. The second half was even closer as much of the time they remained within one possession of each other (the game featured 22 lead changes and 10 ties). With two minutes left, Robert Morris went up by four, however a Deontay Twyman three cut the lead back to one. The Bobcats got the ball back with under a minute left and took a one-point lead after a couple of free throws. At the other end, the Colonials got fouled and made one of two and got the rebound of the second missed shot with 40 seconds left. They ran down the clock and Velton Jones hit a floating soft runner with 4 seconds on the clock to ultimately win the game as Quinnipiac’s last chance shot fell short. Jones finished with 13 points, 8 assists and 3 steals. During the game Justin Rutty became the NEC’s all-time leading rebounder with 1,025.

Stadium Experience Ranking: 62 out of 100