Arizona Coyotes Should Consider These 5 Features For New Arena

If you look at the history of NHL arenas and their current successors, one unifying aspect makes a stadium really rock when the barn is full; the design itself.

The Arizona Coyotes are building upwards with on-ice moves and player development which means that with wins will come more fans.

The move to Tempe will only increase attendance due to accessibility.

Increasing the impact that those fans have on the game will create a positive feedback loop of enthusiasm to play hockey in the desert.

Now if you watch this short documentary (or read to my summary below), you’ll notice that one particular aspect of all these stadiums is very prominent.

The stadiums are/were very vertical.

The Boston Garden, the Montreal Forum, the United Center even; all of these stadiums put the fans on top of the ice and up close even in the upper decks.

The players themselves feel the imposing nature of this design and when it comes down to it in a playoff game, those kinds of fan engagement intangibles can make a huge difference.

Gila River Arena isn’t a bad view for upper-deckers right now, but putting fans at a higher, albeit safe, angle above the teams playing would make the stadium have a much more intimate setting.

Once the barn was full and home playoff games come around, it would become a real Coyote den to play in.

Imagine how loud the Shark Tank in San Jose gets during playoff runs like in 2016, but with howling Coyotes fans everywhere.