Over the weekend, NOLA.com published proposed plans for a major upgrade to the Smoothie King Center, the home of the New Orleans Pelicans, aimed at bringing the arena up to modern NBA standards. NOLA.com’s Jeff Duncan says adding more seats to the lower bowl is one of the more significant aspects of the plan.
“They’ve got 2,100 or so new lower bowl seats and actually have less seats in the upper bowl. And they’ve just found that, economically, that’s the best system to sell tickets in the NBA. Not many people want to sit up high,” Duncan explained.
Duncan says the Pelicans also want to upgrade fan amenities and hospitality areas designed to enhance the game-day experience, including grab-and-go concession markets, VIP club lounges, new sideline clubs, an upper-level party deck and bunker suites. Duncan noted that the proposed renovations would bring the arena in line with many other NBA venues that already feature similar features.
“They’re trying to give as many different ways for fans to enjoy the game and make it a little more customized than just one cookie-cutter basketball viewing arena the way they’ve had in the past,” Duncan said.
If the proposed renovations are approved, it would be the most extensive renovation that has been done to the Smoothie King Center since it opened in 1999. Duncan expects the Pelicans to use the 400 million to 500 million they could receive from the two new NBA franchises to help pay for the renovations.
“I would imagine that a large chunk of that would go toward this renovation from Gayle Benson and the Pelicans’ front office,” Duncan said.
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