Last night the Thrashers had a better-than-usual turnout for a Monday night home game. The upper deck had quite a few fans in there, but this only exacerbated the concessions problem. For most of the season there have only been two concession stands open upstairs on weeknight home games. Well last night during the intermissions the lines simple spiraled out of control. People were lined up 15 deep in front of every cash register to the point that they reached all the way to the railings.
The problem isn't just with the number of concessions areas open, but also the people who staff them. Simply put they are very slow. People trying to get a drink before the opening faceoff are not looking for a conversation, they looking for a concession on a timely basis so they don't miss any hockey. The game is the show. If it takes 8 minutes to get your soft drink and you miss the opening faceoff after spending 1 hour battling traffic to get to the game on time--that's a problem.
This is not a one-game problem either. I've heard so many complaints about the upper deck concessions that I no longer buy anything up there. Yesterday I went downstairs to avoid the 15 people deep lines when I needed something at the 1st intermission. But I'm sure that some people who wanted to spend their money on concessions who saw the lines and simply kept their money in their pocket. Attention Philips Arena--you need to re-allocate some resources to the upstairs because you're ticking off fans and losing out on concessions sales.
(Thanks to HB for the photos.)
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