Yeah because those disallowed goals were bullshit and they ruined our great heater. Fuck the Leafs.
Got to be honest, this seems fair
In another post from this morning all of the top comments are saying people shouldnāt do the ārangers suck, flyersā¦ā chant anymore. Arena atmosphere IS declining
I agree wholeheartedly with the comments about the food, but detracting points for loudness is ridiculous and ranking it almost dead last for location is wild. There are several arenas in the middle of nowhere.
The chicken fingers happened once under pretty specific circumstances. Weāre not out here littering the ice with jerseys like the leafs
The between play music sucks. Pop and dance remixes? Cāmon. Always jealous when I hear the music at other arenas when watching the away games on tv
Yeah, the location complaints are just suburban boomer nonsense (sorry, guys, but a lot of people with disposable income live in cities and need to be able to take a train to the game), but the food, drink, and service is sub-AHL level.
The transition to Levy resulted in absolutely zero improvements, and the reason is the incompetence of the staff, 100% of which need to be fired and replaced. The fact that the employees were so slow and incompetent that they had to add *visual scanners to ring people up more quickly* is all the indictment needed. Every single other NHL team and most AHL/ECHL teams are able to serve draft beer, why can’t we?
The only thing I disagree with on the beat writers’ ranking is that we deserve to be 32nd, and the organization simply does not care.
I feel like people making these comments never were at the Byrne. THAT was a terrible arena for hockey.
As a rangers fan, prudential center has a lot going for it.
The row of bars to get drinks before and after games.
The ability to drink outside in the alleyway with music/DJs on nice days.
The train being across the street.
The only thing that needs to be fixed is the food/drink options(which are horrible), which seems like an easy thing to fix.
I talked about this last year and I got roasted for saying this on Reddit, glad Iām not alone here. The Rock is just outdated, needs modern improvements.
Turn on our team? Us? Never! /s
When you play Franchise Mode with the Devils in NHL 25 or 26, the first thing you need to do is pay to fix The Rock’s bathrooms.
The Rock has its flaws and they deserve to be called out and I haven’t been to many NHL arenas other than it, but I have a hard time believing it’s a bottom 5, even bottom half arena in the League.
Iāve been to 10 NHL arenas so far and I find the Rock to be squarely mid amongst them. Not as bad as this article makes it come across but definitely doesnāt do a ton to make it stand out prominently these days. It could definitely do with some bigger reworks of in-game presentation or building amenities.
That article had me shocked though that the media ranked Bridgestone Arena so high considering they donāt actually have their own press box (itās converted upper level seating since the arena was never built with NHL hockey in mind) and their media break room in the upper concourse requires them to walk though cramped spaces amongst fans to get to the room. Most of the traveling beat writers I heard from hate that setup compared to the rest of the league.
I know this is gonna be a tedious complaint but
I can’t believe there aren’t customized cups at the arena. Even Minor League teams have their team logos on cups. I don’t even bother going to the concession stands because they’re expensive and there’s nothing distinctive about them – no good food, the only unique non disposable containers are gigantic popcorn containers, there’s next to no logos on anything.
The only thing they sort of get right is you can find local brewery options.
I really enjoyed the Filipino food and the tomato soup grilled cheese last game.
How have I never gotten any of these flying chicken tenders?
24 is generous. Should be 33rd.
I disagree with the location issues. I remember going to games at Continental, and that was such a pain in the ass. Tons of traffic to get in and out and the only option was to drive. Taking the train to Prudential is amazing. Dont have to deal with traffic and its 2hrs round trip, not 3+. Its just as easy to go to Prudential as it is to go to MSG.
One thing I noticed at Mets games is that Citi Field food vendors are somehow incredible. They actually allowed local Queens vendors to come in and it really does a great job representing all the delicious food in the borough. I would love something like that for the Rock. There is such good Mexican food in NJ, why do we have a Goya booth with expensive inedible options šµāš«
Food is mid but itās a great location and a great atmosphere. Iām kind of shocked by this rating tbh
In game entertainment? You mean Mrs Fields going winless in the dessert race?
Turning on your team when they suck is not exclusive to NJ. Fans pay a lot of money to go watch their teams play. Anyone who gets pissed at watching a bad product is well within their right to.
I don’t think they’ve changed the in-game music and stadium experience stuff for a decade. I don’t live in NJ anymore and I can tell even though I’m watching from home. I can hear all the same stuff going on in the arena. It gets old. Really old. I never want to have to hear my own worst enemy again. I never liked the food, I’m not surprised it’s still bad. I have also heard the bathrooms don’t always work or are not super clean. It’s a shame and an embarrassment.Ā
“A tough location in downtown Newark”? What does that even mean? Easy access from the parkway and the turnpike, within walking distance of the train, and a few good options for bars nearby. I mean, as NJ goes, that’s pretty damn good compared to where MetLife is. Honestly, I think our fanbase just likes to complain.
Not the best game to as people how they were feelingā¦
Most complainy fan base.
The location one is baffling. If I could wave my hand and have the Rock be anywhere else, Iād probably keep it right where it is. Could some of the infrastructure around it be improved? Sure, but thatās true of basically everywhere in North Jersey in 2026.
The in-game entertainment one Iāve heard before and also confuses me. What do people really expect? Iāve heard how Vegas is like a spectacle, but honestly, Iām there for a hockey game and not much else. If Iām bored during TV breaks, Iām happy to just look at my phone for 3 minutes.
But the noise complaint ā dead on. The stadium speakers are WAY too loud, and there was a pre-game last season where I actually thought my eardrums might get damaged. I donāt understand who needs that level of volume. I have happily been to dozens of rock concerts (including at the Rock) and have never felt like my ears were going to start bleeding, like I have at Devils games.
Also stop taking the pk horns away!! These fan-generated traditions are important. Theyāre trying to control too much and impose fan culture from the top down instead of allowing it to naturally occur.
Iāve been to 5 NHL arenas (DC, Carolina, St Louis, NYR, and the Devils). The Devils have, by far, the worst in arena experience of the 5.
It’s the only stadium with a gay mural of their captain and his A, truly deserves #1 for that alone.
Gotta love when rangers fans make biased tier lists. Youāll notice they graded MSG as #2 but the fan vote put them NO WHERE NEAR the top.
I do agree that the in-arena entertainment is extremely formulaic and boring. Outside of things like the food race, every little entertainment moment is dull (e.g. emoji cam), obnoxious (t-shirt time song makes me not want to try and get a t-shirt), or downright insults your intelligence (the disc game? whatever you call it where you have to track which one has something under it… I have never seen someone get it wrong in the dozens of games I’ve been to). It comes across as bland at best, and unoriginal and poorly executed at worst.
People who complained about location are idiots. It’s probably in the most accessible place it could be in the whole state. Everyone who lives on a train line can get there by train, and its super easy by highway and to get parking. I know there are folks who would love it if it was out in the suburbs, but that’s stupid.
Why hasn’t the bridge between Penn Station to the arena been built yet? That would solve location problems if you’re going to remain there. Same if NJT built a light rail line underneath the arena. Well okay it’ll be bumped up to 25 at best on this list cuz it’s “Newark” lol.
Affordability is 15th. Sounds right. Atmosphere should be worse.
Also, I’ve been to a couple of Wild games. It shouldn’t be ranked that high. Location is similar or even worse than the Rock’s(there’s a large homeless shelter within walking distance, mediocre mass transit, and housing projects a half mile away), and ushers are rude. The roof of the rink also has mildew on it.
The only fair point is the food really sucks
Downtown Newark, a five minute walk from a *Northeast Corridor mainline* station, is 110% most logical location for New Jerseyās largest indoor arena. These reviews are almost always ridiculously subjective and still talk about Newark like itās fucking 1967.
āFan score,ā like who tf cares? Iām a fan with 260+ games (not counting the fact that I have Seton Hall season tickets) at the Rock under my belt and no one asked me for my take. š¤·š»āāļø
Tough location? Plenty of security by Newark pd and a short walk from the train station and plenty of parking. There may be things to criticize but thatās not one of them
I love prudential ESPECIALLY compared to MSG and my only real criticism is the food is so fucking booty
Our family tradition: go to Jersey Mikes, get some sandwiches, hide them in our hoods and then sit in our seats with kick ass sandwiches while everyone around me drools. Fuck the food at āthe rockāĀ
41 comments
āI wish it wasnāt so loudā
Yeah because those disallowed goals were bullshit and they ruined our great heater. Fuck the Leafs.
Got to be honest, this seems fair
In another post from this morning all of the top comments are saying people shouldnāt do the ārangers suck, flyersā¦ā chant anymore. Arena atmosphere IS declining
I agree wholeheartedly with the comments about the food, but detracting points for loudness is ridiculous and ranking it almost dead last for location is wild. There are several arenas in the middle of nowhere.
The chicken fingers happened once under pretty specific circumstances. Weāre not out here littering the ice with jerseys like the leafs
The between play music sucks. Pop and dance remixes? Cāmon. Always jealous when I hear the music at other arenas when watching the away games on tv
Yeah, the location complaints are just suburban boomer nonsense (sorry, guys, but a lot of people with disposable income live in cities and need to be able to take a train to the game), but the food, drink, and service is sub-AHL level.
The transition to Levy resulted in absolutely zero improvements, and the reason is the incompetence of the staff, 100% of which need to be fired and replaced. The fact that the employees were so slow and incompetent that they had to add *visual scanners to ring people up more quickly* is all the indictment needed. Every single other NHL team and most AHL/ECHL teams are able to serve draft beer, why can’t we?
The only thing I disagree with on the beat writers’ ranking is that we deserve to be 32nd, and the organization simply does not care.
I feel like people making these comments never were at the Byrne. THAT was a terrible arena for hockey.
As a rangers fan, prudential center has a lot going for it.
The row of bars to get drinks before and after games.
The ability to drink outside in the alleyway with music/DJs on nice days.
The train being across the street.
The only thing that needs to be fixed is the food/drink options(which are horrible), which seems like an easy thing to fix.
I talked about this last year and I got roasted for saying this on Reddit, glad Iām not alone here. The Rock is just outdated, needs modern improvements.
Turn on our team? Us? Never! /s
When you play Franchise Mode with the Devils in NHL 25 or 26, the first thing you need to do is pay to fix The Rock’s bathrooms.
The Rock has its flaws and they deserve to be called out and I haven’t been to many NHL arenas other than it, but I have a hard time believing it’s a bottom 5, even bottom half arena in the League.
Iāve been to 10 NHL arenas so far and I find the Rock to be squarely mid amongst them. Not as bad as this article makes it come across but definitely doesnāt do a ton to make it stand out prominently these days. It could definitely do with some bigger reworks of in-game presentation or building amenities.
That article had me shocked though that the media ranked Bridgestone Arena so high considering they donāt actually have their own press box (itās converted upper level seating since the arena was never built with NHL hockey in mind) and their media break room in the upper concourse requires them to walk though cramped spaces amongst fans to get to the room. Most of the traveling beat writers I heard from hate that setup compared to the rest of the league.
I know this is gonna be a tedious complaint but
I can’t believe there aren’t customized cups at the arena. Even Minor League teams have their team logos on cups. I don’t even bother going to the concession stands because they’re expensive and there’s nothing distinctive about them – no good food, the only unique non disposable containers are gigantic popcorn containers, there’s next to no logos on anything.
The only thing they sort of get right is you can find local brewery options.
I really enjoyed the Filipino food and the tomato soup grilled cheese last game.
How have I never gotten any of these flying chicken tenders?
24 is generous. Should be 33rd.
I disagree with the location issues. I remember going to games at Continental, and that was such a pain in the ass. Tons of traffic to get in and out and the only option was to drive. Taking the train to Prudential is amazing. Dont have to deal with traffic and its 2hrs round trip, not 3+. Its just as easy to go to Prudential as it is to go to MSG.
One thing I noticed at Mets games is that Citi Field food vendors are somehow incredible. They actually allowed local Queens vendors to come in and it really does a great job representing all the delicious food in the borough. I would love something like that for the Rock. There is such good Mexican food in NJ, why do we have a Goya booth with expensive inedible options šµāš«
Food is mid but itās a great location and a great atmosphere. Iām kind of shocked by this rating tbh
In game entertainment? You mean Mrs Fields going winless in the dessert race?
Turning on your team when they suck is not exclusive to NJ. Fans pay a lot of money to go watch their teams play. Anyone who gets pissed at watching a bad product is well within their right to.
I don’t think they’ve changed the in-game music and stadium experience stuff for a decade. I don’t live in NJ anymore and I can tell even though I’m watching from home. I can hear all the same stuff going on in the arena. It gets old. Really old. I never want to have to hear my own worst enemy again. I never liked the food, I’m not surprised it’s still bad. I have also heard the bathrooms don’t always work or are not super clean. It’s a shame and an embarrassment.Ā
“A tough location in downtown Newark”? What does that even mean? Easy access from the parkway and the turnpike, within walking distance of the train, and a few good options for bars nearby. I mean, as NJ goes, that’s pretty damn good compared to where MetLife is. Honestly, I think our fanbase just likes to complain.
Not the best game to as people how they were feelingā¦
Most complainy fan base.
The location one is baffling. If I could wave my hand and have the Rock be anywhere else, Iād probably keep it right where it is. Could some of the infrastructure around it be improved? Sure, but thatās true of basically everywhere in North Jersey in 2026.
The in-game entertainment one Iāve heard before and also confuses me. What do people really expect? Iāve heard how Vegas is like a spectacle, but honestly, Iām there for a hockey game and not much else. If Iām bored during TV breaks, Iām happy to just look at my phone for 3 minutes.
But the noise complaint ā dead on. The stadium speakers are WAY too loud, and there was a pre-game last season where I actually thought my eardrums might get damaged. I donāt understand who needs that level of volume. I have happily been to dozens of rock concerts (including at the Rock) and have never felt like my ears were going to start bleeding, like I have at Devils games.
Also stop taking the pk horns away!! These fan-generated traditions are important. Theyāre trying to control too much and impose fan culture from the top down instead of allowing it to naturally occur.
Iāve been to 5 NHL arenas (DC, Carolina, St Louis, NYR, and the Devils). The Devils have, by far, the worst in arena experience of the 5.
It’s the only stadium with a gay mural of their captain and his A, truly deserves #1 for that alone.
Gotta love when rangers fans make biased tier lists. Youāll notice they graded MSG as #2 but the fan vote put them NO WHERE NEAR the top.
I do agree that the in-arena entertainment is extremely formulaic and boring. Outside of things like the food race, every little entertainment moment is dull (e.g. emoji cam), obnoxious (t-shirt time song makes me not want to try and get a t-shirt), or downright insults your intelligence (the disc game? whatever you call it where you have to track which one has something under it… I have never seen someone get it wrong in the dozens of games I’ve been to). It comes across as bland at best, and unoriginal and poorly executed at worst.
People who complained about location are idiots. It’s probably in the most accessible place it could be in the whole state. Everyone who lives on a train line can get there by train, and its super easy by highway and to get parking. I know there are folks who would love it if it was out in the suburbs, but that’s stupid.
Why hasn’t the bridge between Penn Station to the arena been built yet? That would solve location problems if you’re going to remain there. Same if NJT built a light rail line underneath the arena. Well okay it’ll be bumped up to 25 at best on this list cuz it’s “Newark” lol.
Affordability is 15th. Sounds right. Atmosphere should be worse.
Also, I’ve been to a couple of Wild games. It shouldn’t be ranked that high. Location is similar or even worse than the Rock’s(there’s a large homeless shelter within walking distance, mediocre mass transit, and housing projects a half mile away), and ushers are rude. The roof of the rink also has mildew on it.
The only fair point is the food really sucks
Downtown Newark, a five minute walk from a *Northeast Corridor mainline* station, is 110% most logical location for New Jerseyās largest indoor arena. These reviews are almost always ridiculously subjective and still talk about Newark like itās fucking 1967.
āFan score,ā like who tf cares? Iām a fan with 260+ games (not counting the fact that I have Seton Hall season tickets) at the Rock under my belt and no one asked me for my take. š¤·š»āāļø
Tough location? Plenty of security by Newark pd and a short walk from the train station and plenty of parking. There may be things to criticize but thatās not one of them
I love prudential ESPECIALLY compared to MSG and my only real criticism is the food is so fucking booty
Our family tradition: go to Jersey Mikes, get some sandwiches, hide them in our hoods and then sit in our seats with kick ass sandwiches while everyone around me drools. Fuck the food at āthe rockāĀ
The food is top tier trash