Spokane Arena

I'm going to the men and pairs weekend at nationals next month and am very excited! I'm somewhat concerned, though, that I won't have great visibility from my seats. My tickets are in the upper level but in the first 7-8 rows. Could anyone who's been to the arena give me an idea of how the visibility will be from there? Is it decent, or should I bring binoculars?

Spokane Arena is not that large. In 2007 I sat in the upper level near the front and thought the view was fine. But it never hurts to bring binoculars!

I dont want to be negative about my home town arena, but if it were me, and I spent all that money to come to Spokane, the first thing I would do is to sit in my seat and if I was not happy, I would attempt to purchase individual seats in the lower bowl. The perspective bothers me from up there personally. You might have to eat oatmeal for awhile, but, if you are like me, you will be much happier in the lower bowl. The lower bowl may well be sold out, but you might find people standing outside selling their tickets....
Another possibility is to see if there are any lower bowl packages available anywhere and to then sell YOUR tickets to make up some loss.
Cheep Chris who spent $4,000 on Worlds and doesnt regret a penny of it. (The taste of oatmeal will soon be forgotten, but the memories of watching skating from good seats lasts forever)
By the way, I understand people not wanting to give out their e-mail addresses, but If you have one you don't care about, PM me and I will send you pics from the skating spectacular Spokane 2007 that I took with a telephoto from the upper level.

At 2007 Nationals, I had no problem upgrading tickets, or getting an extra ticket for a relative who joined us for two performances. I feel sure there will be available tickets for all performances in the lower seating areas...

Another hint...skating aficionados like the end sections...the "gold post" sections. Jumps usually happen in those areas. Ticket sellers do not consider them the best seats, so if you have trouble trading up on the sides of the arena, be sure to mention the "end zones"! They usually react as "Oh....I have one available on the second row in that section!"

Another hint....you will get a better sense of speed on the sidelines, in the mid-to-upper rows as well as the upper tiers. And there really is not a sorry seat in the arena unless you get behind a camera....and that can sometimes happen--most likely in practice sessions, where you can always change to another seat.

Good luck! You'll like the people of Spokane as well as the arena. It's our favorite of the five locations where we've attended Nationals.

I see in the local paper here in Spokane they are now offering "partially obstructed view" seats for a discount. I have no idea what that means unless it does have to do with cameras. I wouldnt be suprised at all if you could get good lower bowl seats for the minor events that weekend, like "Junior Pairs short". I was just playing around the tickets website for individual seats and there are still lower bowl tickets available for Senior pairs, short, for instance. Thanks for the kind words, Eddie. I have only been to Cleveland, LA, Lake Placid, Everett, St. Paul, and Colorado Springs for skating events other than Spokane, but I would have to say the Spokane Arena, with its hockey seat pitch and facilities, is right up there with my two other favorites.

Thanks everyone for the feedback! My main fear is a repeat of my experience in Minneapolis back in '98, where the skaters looked like tiny little ants from my upper bowl seats. I honestly felt like that trip was a waste of time and money and that I would've preferred watching on TV. However, I sat around the 15th row at worlds in LA and had a wonderful time! Unfortunately I wasn't able to get tickets as close by for this event since I bought individual event tickets (mens free, pairs free, and a few novice / junior events over the weekend).

I'll definitely take the advice here and try to trade for closer seats, especially for the novice and junior events. But at a minimum it's comforting to know that it at least sounds like the the view will be better than Minneapolis since the arena is much smaller.

Just as an aside, the local news here in Spokane said as of today, they have sold 133,000 odd tickets...well short of the record. Times are tough for lots of folks, I think.

Sorry if this is not appropriate...please delete if it is....but I just got a message that yes indeed they have released good seats with a partial camera block...and they are using MK to advertise on local Spokane TV....

New all-event and weekend packages have been released by U.S. Figure Skating and can now be purchased by the public. These seats are close to the ice, but have partially obstructed views. They were being held for use by officials, but are no longer needed for that purpose and are available to the public. They will be sold at a discount. Beddor continued, "These are great seats--I'd sit in one in a second. You may have a camera sweep in front of you occasionally, but they'll be close to the action." Information on these new limited-view packages is on the event web site: www.spokane2010.com

I attempted to get a good seat for the ladies final last p.m. via phone, for my wife's cousin. There were no seats available in the lower tier. I passed up that ticket because I am certain that once all the smoke clears--and the event starts--there will be good seats available. The Spokane paper (according to a report) indicates the tickets are moving slowly. That wasn't the case in 2007--the attendance was terrific--and I was able to get tickets the day before the performances for guests.

At 2007 Nationals, the couple behind us--Spokane residents--asked when we had purchased our all-event tickets. It had been in November. She said they had purchased theirs the first day of availability--almost a year earlier--and our seats were a row ahead of them!

Every event has its own ticket quirks. These once-a-year, multiple-day events have big blocks reserved for press, for local civic organizations, etc. Shortly before--and sometimes, during--the event, tickets are released and available. While it isn't wise to make a long, expensive trip hoping for good-ticket availability, one can certainly upgrade once one is onsite. It is in the best interest of the powers that be to have the best seats (lower bowl) filled--for financial and pyschological reasons. It would seem foolish to see a group of second-row seats empty while someone in an upper tier was willing to trade up!

So good luck on getting the best seat possible!!! (Be persistent.)

Ladies final will be tough to find a good ticket but there are ways....What they did in Spokane this year was, two weeks after the announcement that we got it, they sent out an e-mail to the folks that had bought ticket packages in 2007 that said if you get your good seats NOW, we will give you a hundred dollar bill....they then set a new record for ticket sales, as you can imagine.
I agree with you for sure, every event is different. San Jose 2012 will only take $50 right now for a place in the que, for instance
Ticket sales this past week have been stronger....the advertising is heavy and anytime you put MK on the tv to help with that, more go out the door!