July 15th 2023
Alex Rickman
Ever since Jim Rutherford took over as team president, Canucks fans have been hoping for building upgrades to improve the fan experience at Rogers Arena. Fans have been asking for new seats that suit the team colours better for years now among other things, and it did for a while seem like new seats were just around the corner, but as it stands we are yet to see the seats at the Rog replaced. However, this offseason there did at one point appear to be a glimmer of hope that the new seats would be coming soon, although these hopes would be somewhat dashed soon after, and a new surprise development on the future of Rogers Arena that shows that the arena upgrades may soon be coming, but not necessarily how we would have expected them to come along. Today, let’s go over the recent developments on the future of Rogers Arena and see what we can take away from them, and what else Canucks upper management could do to help improve the in-game experience for fans.
Early on in Jim Rutherford’s tenure as Canucks President, fans were excited about what could come out of this new age of Canucks management. New seats and other changes to the arena had been talked about well before Rutherford took the wheel, but with major change seemingly on the cards in Vancouver for the first time in years, it seemed like it was finally going to happen. Many seats at Rogers Arena have become noticeably uncomfortable to sit in, with lumps forming in the padding and holes opening up in the fabric. Additionally, the burgundy seats have drawn the ire of fans who want to see them fit the team's colour scheme better, so the idea of new seats was an exciting one in Vancouver. However, after his first offseason in charge of the Canucks, fans started to notice that not a lot had changed inside Rogers Arena, which did set off some alarm bells about the willingness of owner Francesco Aquillini to spend the money to install seats. During the 2023 offseason though, it seemed like the fans' dreams may have been coming true, with images surfacing online of brand new, black leather seats being installed behind the Canuck benches. In addition to the black seats not contrasting the Canucks uniform colours, these seats looked incredibly comfortable and crucially came with cupholders, which luxury seats outside of the club section currently lack. This all seemed too good to be true, and unfortunately, as we later learned, it was.
As revealed by YouTube’s Canuck Clay in this tweet, these new seats would not be the standard seats for the entire arena or even the new club section seats. These would be a part of a new, exclusive club for VIPs, with amenities like a private restaurant and a dedicated entrance exclusively for those sitting in this area. While this was disappointing for many Canucks fans at first, it seems likely that this will just be the first step in a longer-term plan to replace the seats in the arena little by little. When you think about it, replacing the seats gradually does make a lot more sense, as it would likely be a fairly lengthy operation and mean that Rogers would be unable to host events for some time during the procedure. New, black seats do finally appear to be on the horizon, albeit not as quickly as some may have initially hoped for.
The more surprising development to come from Rogers Arena has been the reveal that the Canucks appear to be set to get a new jumbotron. The Canucks scoreboard was tied for the oldest in the NHL, and it was reported on Donnie and Dhali that the Canucks were going to be unable to get new parts to repair the jumbotron when there were issues, so fans will be able to enjoy a brand new scoreboard during the 2023-24 season. You can’t say that this was an expected development, but a new jumbotron certainly won’t cause complaints and may help enhance fans' ability to enjoy themselves at games.
Apart from hopefully adding new seats to the rest of the arena soon and installing a new scoreboard at centre ice, what else could the Canucks look to do to enhance the in-game experience at Rogers Arena? The promise of eventually getting comfortable seats and a modern jumbotron is a good start, but what comes after that? The music the team use at certain points in the game could be a place to start, and when talking about changing the music at Canucks games, there’s only 1 place to start. The team has bounced between a few goal songs in the past couple of years, with Van Halen’s “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” and Simple Minds' “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” being the most noteworthy, plus a cameo from Nickelback’s “Burn It To The Ground” during the preseason last year. While there’s nothing wrong with any of these being used as goal songs, with “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” being a personal favourite of mine, none of them compare to the greatness of Green Day’s “Holiday”, which was previously used and beloved by Canucks fans. Calls to bring back “Holiday” have been heard all over social media since the Canucks stopped using it, and the Abbotsford Canucks have it as their goal song, showing that someone with some sway in the Canucks organization knows how much the fans love the song. Give the fans what they want, and bring back “Holiday” as the Vancouver Canucks goal song.
Speaking of music in the arena, the songs that play before and after the game can also help to improve the experience for fans. U2’s “Where The Streets Have No Name” was used as the team's intro song during the late 2000s and early 2010s, when the Canucks were playing possibly the best hockey that the team has ever played. Bringing this back would be a great way to harken back to better days of Canucks hockey, giving fans good memories of the 2011 run and help get create a better atmosphere in the building. There is one thing the Canucks have certainly been getting right musically as of late. The use of “I’m Still Standing” as a win song has been wildly popular among fans, with the lyrics and general sound of the song fitting the mood of what a win song should be perfectly. This should stay in place as the Canucks win song for years to come, hopefully until fans have heard it after enough wins to become sick of it.
Canucks games are always a fun time, but there’s always room for improvement in any team's in-game experience. Keeping the fans happy and wanting to come back is a worthwhile investment for any team to make, and by putting the fans' experience first, the Canucks will be ensuring that the people of Vancouver keep flocking to Canucks games for years to come. Here’s hoping that the newer, more comfortable seats are the first of many commitments the Canucks organization makes to their loyal fans to help make taking in a game at Rogers Arena the best experience it can be.