The Blue Cross Arena originally opened in 1955 as the Rochester Community War Memorial. In 1996, the building underwent a $41 million dollar renovation to include luxury suites, more concession stands and restrooms, banquet/meeting rooms, and increased seating capacity. The arena remained fully functional during the two year process and re-opened as the Blue Cross Arena in 1998.
The Arena is host to the Rochester Americans of the American Hockey League, the Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League, and the Rochester Razorsharks of the Premiere Basketball League. It has a maximum seating capacity for hockey at 11,215 people and 12,428 for other events. Seats to all sporting events are very affordable with $19.00 as the maximum ticket price for the Americans and $27.00 for the Knighthawks. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the arena box office, calling Ticketmaster, or ordering through the Ticketmaster website.
Aside from the regular capacity seating, a party suite that holds 40 people is available for reservations for any arena event. There are also luxury suites which come with 12 tickets for an event, but you can purchase eight additional tickets and bring up to 20 people with you. Food and beverage service is additional charge and exact cost of suites varies by event type.
Group seating is available for any kind of group with a minimum of 20 people. However, some events may have limited group seating available so make sure to contact the group sales office to check for availability. Seating is on a first come first serve basis.
Located within the arena is a shop on the lower level that sells Rochester sports merchandise. There is also a stand selling Americans merchandise when you first enter the seating level (accessible by a set of stairs on the main entrance level). Concession stands are available through ARAMARK and feature typical event fare.
During my visit, I thought the best thing was the cushioned seats regardless of where you sit. This made my experience more enjoyable as I was able to be more comfortable in my seat and not endure the plastic seating that most other venues offer for the general public. The fans are not known to get heated unless they are playing a rival team. During the hockey game, they are generally pretty quiet and really don’t cheer too much.
The staff is very friendly, but not too strict about checking tickets or prohibiting fans from entering the section where scratched players are sitting. You can pretty much walk into any section you want without a problem.
One of the things I did not enjoy was that once you get out of your way, navigating the arena can be difficult. For example, one of the concessions is far away from some of the seating. I took a wrong turn and thought I would get lost on the way back; however, an usher was there to assure me that I would get back to my 100 level seating without a problem. Although I was glad to have his assistance, the floor plan can be confusing if you’ve never visited before.
Also, if you sit in certain sections of the arena, your view can be obstructed. For example, when I visited the arena with a group of hockey fans, the representative accidentally got us tickets in the wrong attack zone. We were seated far out of the way from the area where our team would shoot at the net twice and had to lean far to the right to see the action at that end. It was not a comfortable arrangement, so you may want to try using the arena website’s virtual seat locator before you buy tickets. When you click a seating chart and then a section, you will be able to see what kind of view you have from your seats.
I would definitely go back to the Blue Cross Arena again. The renovations were very well done and the fans will do little, if anything, to bother you if you are not an Americans fan. However, next time, I will hopefully be able to get better seating and know how to navigate the building a little better.
For more information on upcoming events and the arena itself, give them a call at 585-758-5330 or e-mail [email protected]
