Quote:
Originally Posted by Stormer
Attended my second Banjo Bowl on the weekend. A few observations from a Rider season ticket holder:
- Overall IGF is a great stadium, excellent atmosphere;
- It is way louder than Mosaic;
- Great selection of local food vendors. I had the shawarma on the upper concourse, visitor side. Yum!
- I was surprised at the long lines in the Men's on the upper concourse even during the play. Last time I was on the lower concourse and there were minimal lines;
- Very frequent visits by beer vendors in the stands, which explains my issue in 4.
- I am surprised that there are no ramps down from the upper concourse. Stairs seem to work OK though.
- Park and ride from Hydro was excellent.
- Seats are a bit wider than Mosaic, but do not feel as comfortable to me. It seems to be related to contour and slippery texture.
- Site lines in the upper deck are outstanding.
- It was a windy day, but not particularly noticeable in the stadium.
- The Bombers have great fans and they were also very respectful to the Rider fans. Lots of fun banter.
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Interesting perspective. I sit in the east side upper deck so there's a good chance we walked past each other at some point... I was the guy in Bombers gear
Beer service has improved dramatically at IGF compared to the old place. In the bad old days they used to pour each beer into a cup, painfully slowly. You would literally walk up to the table, place your order (among the 2 options), and at that point they would crack open the can and slowly pour it into a cup. It led to extremely long and slow lines and no doubt a lot of people like me would simply not bother with it. The Bombers clearly smelled the money and sped things up dramatically with can service, vendors in the stands, etc.
Unfortunately, concessions are still excruciatingly slow and it feels like the staff are working their first game every time. So I generally don't bother with food.
I will point out though, there are two large ramps on each side of the stadium. The entrances are sort of hidden away though, and they're very lightly used relative to their capacity. People tend to opt for the stairs and the elevator, probably because they're a bit faster.
Anyway, glad you had a good time, although I wish it wasn't
quite so good