Venue Review: Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard

To kick off our reviews on different venues, I found myself at the St. Peters, Fairfield Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game on Fairfield's home court at the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard. The Arena holds 9,000 and is home for both the men and women's basketball teams at Fairfield University. Although the Arena is not on campus, it is only a ten minute drive away. This has been the home of the Stags since the opening Arena Madness event on October 18,2001. How in it's tenth year of having Fairfield University as the showcase, the Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard surpassed 1,000 events for the venue. The Arena has also been host to Disney on Ice, World Wreslting Entertainment (WWE), the permanent home ice of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers (New York Islanders, AHL), and the host venue for the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference basketball tournament. For basketball, the arena has more of a professional feel then a college feel. There are no benches as seating, only seats, which makes it a more comfortable environment for the fans, no matter what the event is. The other major difference that the Arena has are the executive suites that surround the rafters of the arena. On a college campus you do not get this professional type of atmosphere. The other attribute that this venue has is that even though the professional feel is present, the college environment is still there. There are banners in the rafters of all the Fairfield University accolades, such as the years the programs made the postseason tournaments and years they won conference titles as well. On the east side of the court you will also find banners of every MAAC conference team there is in basketball. Those banners hang next to the 1,000 point scorer lists for both the men and women's teams. The Webster Bank Arena at Harbor Yard is a beautiful venue, and is an easy comfortable place to watch any event.