I’m not sure if this ranking accurately reflects the NBA experience or the facility as a whole.
Yesterday, we published an article stating that the Washington Wizards have one of the most reasonably priced fan experiences in the NBA. Today, we can also see that the Wizards have one of the lowest arena rankings in the NBA.
SportsBooksOnline.com recently ranked an aggregate of NBA arena rankings using Yelp, TripAdvisor and Google reviews and averaged the total number of those reviews on a 1-5 scale. FedEx Forum, the home of the Memphis Grizzlies had the highest aggregate rating at 4.57 out of a combined 7.248 ratings across the three sites. What’s most notable is that FedEx Forum averaged at least 4.5 on each site.
Capital One Arena averaged a 3.5 on Yelp, a 4.0 on TripAdvisor and a 4.5 on Google Reviews. There were 15,855 combined reviews, according to the analysis which ultimately gave Cap One an average score of 4.0. That was good for 26th out of 29 NBA arenas, after a tiebreaker that also included Moda Center, the home of the Portland Trail Blazers and Target Center, the home of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Though there are 30 NBA teams, the Los Angeles Clippers and Lakers both play at Crypto.com Arena.
While this ranking may be helpful in comparing multipurpose arenas, Capital One Arena and all of these arenas host more than just NBA games. Many of them, including Capital One Arena host NHL teams. Some host college basketball teams. And all host various concerts.
In other words, the Wizards may have a crappy in-game experience at Capital One Arena, but the Capitals in-game experience and concertgoers may also have a more positive vibe.
It’s a good data point for sure, but I personally think that perhaps some of these reviews could be further filtered for just those involving NBA basketball.
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.