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Allstate Seating Selections: Best Seats?

ParisCat

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Gold Member
Feb 5, 2002
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Seat selection for season tickets at the Allstate is next week (at least for me). Any thoughts on the "best seats" from a fan's perspective? In particular, is it better to be behind the teams' benches, or across from the teams' benches? Down low, or up 10-15 rows? Toward mid-court, or nearer the foul lines? I know it's subjective, but I'd be interested in others' opinions, either based on basketball viewing experiences in general or the Allstate in particular. Thanks!
 
I used to go to AA fairly regularly- back when I was young and had free time-, but I haven't been there much in the last 10 years. My recollection is foul line to foul line from the ~5th row to the first few rows of the balcony are good seats. The first few rows on the main level are not elevated enough and the balcony doesn't have enough pitch so higher rows are bad. Anything behind the baskets is bad because it's pushed back from the court due due to the ice rink. I bought tickets in level 2 (lower corner/upper middle) so I'm trying to decide if I want to walk up stairs to a good balcony seat or try the corner on the main level.
 
Seat selection for season tickets at the Allstate is next week (at least for me). Any thoughts on the "best seats" from a fan's perspective? In particular, is it better to be behind the teams' benches, or across from the teams' benches? Down low, or up 10-15 rows? Toward mid-court, or nearer the foul lines? I know it's subjective, but I'd be interested in others' opinions, either based on basketball viewing experiences in general or the Allstate in particular. Thanks!

10-15 rows up midcourt either side
 
Pretty painless exercise though if you have an option I would recommend using a desktop.
 
Has anyone already done their selection?
You will be able to sit anywhere you want. I'm Tier 1 but it didn't seem like very many tickets were picked over when I selected. Just my opinion but anywhere from row 4 up to row 10 is pretty good. I prefer top of the key towards the paint because that is where the action is in BB. But plenty of midcourt was available this afternoon so I don't think there will be any shortage of tickets for anyone.
 
I used to go to AA fairly regularly- back when I was young and had free time-, but I haven't been there much in the last 10 years. My recollection is foul line to foul line from the ~5th row to the first few rows of the balcony are good seats. The first few rows on the main level are not elevated enough and the balcony doesn't have enough pitch so higher rows are bad. Anything behind the baskets is bad because it's pushed back from the court due due to the ice rink. I bought tickets in level 2 (lower corner/upper middle) so I'm trying to decide if I want to walk up stairs to a good balcony seat or try the corner on the main level.
Yes, a matter of subjectiveness but certain arenas change the perspectives due to sightlines and dimensions. For instance, seats behind the glass at W/R are great. You get to see all the action reasonably close to the floor. Allstate seating behind the glass is a complete disaster. You are sitting far back. Not worth it.

In BB, you wanna be where the action is, i.e., top of the key towards the paint. Why get a seat at midcourt? In football, the 50 yard line is great because most of it is played between the 20s, but in BB, all the action starts and ends within the key. I like sitting low so I can hear the sounds of the game and be right there, but it's often difficult to have a perspective of a play or foul that happens across the floor. So, it depends. Allstate arena starts with row 1, then row A, then row AA, then row BB, etc until it gets to row B. So, I think row JJ would be ideal (row 12) because Allstate sucks balls since it starts getting far far away as it goes higher. Made for the Circus and not wanting to smell Elephant poop, NOT for BB games.
 
I'm with you Turk. I'd rather be on the 25 or so in football and around the free throw line in basketball. Never understood the idea of halfcourt or the 50 yard line breing the "best seats in the house". To my mind, it's just a mediocre view of everything.
 
I'm with you Turk. I'd rather be on the 25 or so in football and around the free throw line in basketball. Never understood the idea of halfcourt or the 50 yard line breing the "best seats in the house". To my mind, it's just a mediocre view of everything.
Sitting too high in BB is awful. At Allstate, anything above 110 is too high. The UC is a joke above the 200 level. At Ryan Field, the first few rows of the upper deck are great but the Stadium Club is just too high, although the red wine compensates. At the old W/R, just about anywhere was good imo. The new arena is so close to the court that I gotta think any seat is great, even behind the basket which looks sweet in the pictures. Allstate sucks. Really only 4 sections worth anything. Just remember in your seat selections. Seat 1 is the west end. For instance section 110, seats 1 are at the baseline whereas seat 30 is at midcourt.
 
If you want to see how the seating works, I found the website mapaplan and if this link works, it gives you a far better idea of what's going on than anything I've found so far.

NU failed me today - "no events available" - so I called in a picked my seats, but it took a while to work through what was available and what I wanted. In the end, I got some ok seats, but I have no real idea what else might have been available. It was a dissatisfying experience.

http://www.mapaplan.com/seating-pla...e-seat-numbering-location-high-resolution.htm
 
I had the ticket office pick for me. I ended up in Section 110, middle of Row J, which is about 15 rows above the Cats' bench, at about the 3-point line. Pretty happy with that selection, although I can tell that the whole Allstate experience is going to blow (other than watching the Cats win, of course).
 
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