The economic engines that drive this latest wave of sports construction are luxury suites and club seating. These zones of privilege and high prices will make the MCI Center, like all other contemporary arenas, a spectacle of wealth and display-entertaining in its way but also offensive. Basically just a screen for mechanical equipment, it looks as if it were purchased at a sale of cheap metal siding. Contributing to this unfortunate effect are banks of exposed steel beams top and center on both the Sixth and Seventh street facades. Intended as decorative curves suggestive of the seating bowl inside, they look awkward and unfinished, as if they were as yet unadorned armatures for huge signs.
Parking is certain to be a temporary problem as patrons adjust.
And it could become a long-term headache. The 500 or so spaces underneath the building are reserved for athletes, staff and a privileged few ticket holders, but the idea is that more built-in parking is unnecessary. There is plenty of parking within walking distance, the theory goes, mainly in downtown garages and lots that empty out at the end of the working day. It is a fine, synergistic argument, but we'll see. For it to work, nearly half the audience for a sold-out event will have to travel to the center by subway.