Review of "The Arena"

For the second review of books I completed while riding Amtrak this past week, we turn to a very good look at facilities where people enjoy their sports live.  Here is my review of "The Arena".

 

Title/Author: “The Arena: Inside the Tailgating, Ticket-Scalping, Mascot-Racing, Dubiously Funded, and Possibly Haunted Monuments of American Sport” by Rafi Kohan

Rating: 4 of 5 stars (very good)

Review: While most books on sports concentrate on the games, the athletes, or the owners, there are not many that concentrate on the structures where these games take place.  This book by Rafi Kohan explores just about every aspect of a stadium or an arena that one can think of – and then some.

The last three words were added because some of the chapters in the book address other issues, such as the recent celebration of the military in American sports. Kohan highlights the San Diego Padres here, only appropriate because of the city’s many military bases. Other chapters that are about other aspects that are part of or take place in an arena is one on halftime entertainers and what for me was the most compelling chapter in the book, the role that the Superdome in New Orleans played during Hurricane Katrina.

The bulk of the book, however, is on the various aspects of what it takes to run a stadium and most of this material is quite good.  I really enjoyed the chapter on concessions – disclaimer: I worked in concessions as a vendor for many years at games in Minnesota.  There is also good material on how a facility is transformed from one type of event to another. The example used is on the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ after a Devils hockey game to get it ready for a concert.  The chapters on some other items such as turf and its maintenance are good, but I didn’t find reading about this as riveting as the concessions.

There are also chapters on the structure of a stadium (such as the bowl of Lambeau Field in Green Bay), ticket scalpers, the public funding and building of a new stadium (AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX) and the abandoned stadium and how it decays (the Silverdome in Pontiac, MI – another chapter I really enjoyed).  There are photos to accompany each chapter that are very good – just like the text, I really enjoyed the one of the Silverdome. 

While some books cover some of these topics more in-depth, this book is a very good one to get a complete picture (maybe more than “complete) of all aspects of a facility where people go to enjoy their sports.

Link:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M6XDXK7/ref=x_gr_bb_kindle?caller=Goodreads&tag=x_gr_bb_kindle-20