I took my 10-year old daughter to her first Storm game. We loved watching the Storm play. My daughter wants me to get her a Sue Bird poster for her bedroom wall. The game was so much fun to watch. As someone who was a high school girls varsity basketball coach for 25 years, I really love watching Sue Bird play as well. My daughter, who, up to this experience put softball/baseball as her favorite sport, because of experiencing the exciting atmosphere of the game, is now excited about basketball and is looking forward to playing this year...and wants to go to more games. We might be future season ticket holders. The only negative element...and it's a big one...was the poor management of the Key Arena outside of the basketball court. The people running the arena seemed to be ill-prepared for the size of the crowd. We arrived at the doors of Key Arena 20 minutes before the start of the game. There was disorganization and lack of direction/information. Lines were backed up to the top of the steps. People who had "360"...a purchase that was intended to allow them to bypass lines and get them quickly thru the doors of the arena, were waiting along side of the rest of us. The wait for all of us took too much time. We barely made it to our seats in time for the game to start. Concession lines were horrible too. It being a hot day, my daughter needed something to drink at the arena. However, because getting into the arena took so long, we didn't have time to stand in a long line to get a drink and still make it to our seats for the start of the game. At the end of the 1st quarter, my daughter went to the concession stand to get the drink she desired. She stood in line so long, she missed the entire 2nd quarter of play. She stood in line until the middle of halftime before getting a bottle of Sprite that cost over $5! The tickets cost too much to end up to end up missing that much of the game just because she wanted to purchase a ridiculously over-priced soda. Why so few concession stand? Why not hire vendors to walk among the crowd selling items, like the other sports events do, so a customer doesn't have to miss any of the game action? Do better Key Arena management. The Storm deserve a first-class area for their fans. This game was first class. The organization and operation of the Key was far from being first class. While I highly recommend going to see the Storm play. I would warn the potential spectator to get to the Arena really...especially if you plan to purchase food or drink. Get there early enough to have time to stand in the slow-moving concession line and still have time to get to your seat by the opening tip.
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