Study finds Ball Arena has the worst food in the NBA
Feb 29, 2024, 10:51 AM
Ball Arena has been on the biggest stage a few times lately, hosting the 2022 Stanley Cup Final and the 2023 NBA Finals and yet the 25-year-old stadium is far from special when it comes to food.
Respectively, the Colorado Avalanche are seventh in the NHL in attendance in the Denver Nuggets are sixth in the NBA. But it certainly isn’t the food driving fans to the stands, nor the affordability of it—meaning fans are really showing up just to watch the sports.
According to a new study from Betway, Ball Arena is the worst for foodies in the NBA. Not only did their research find Denver’s stadium has some of the worst food and drink options across basketball but it was some of the most expensive. They compared the number of food and drink stands, the average cost of hotdogs and beer to get a total score, which placed the Nuggets as the least friendly team for foodies in the NBA.
The reigning champions were designated as having the worst experience due to Ball Arena having the second-fewest concession stands per 100,000 sq. ft. and the fewest per 10,000 seats in the NBA. Couple that with the third-worst cost for an ounce of beer ($0.92) and a hot dog price of $6.5 and Denver’s overall score was a horrid 0.970 out of 5.
Per Betway (https://t.co/HeySWBDeZ6) Ball Arena is the worst venue in the NBA for foodies pic.twitter.com/WvpwCAsKGv
— Jake Shapiro (@Shapalicious) February 29, 2024
The most popular Reddit post on r/denvernuggets regarding food suggests the food inside Ball Arena is bad and that patrons should stop elsewhere downtown for a bite before or after the game. It is expected these options will get better in time as a massive redevelopment project is hoped for the parking lots around the stadium as well as the theme park next door.
The teams who ranked best in the study were the Oklahoma City Thunder (3.5,) Charlotte Hornets (3.1) and Phoenix Suns (2.8.)
Denver’s lowest score was firmly below the rest of the field with the Brooklyn Nets 29th in the league at 1.2 and the Magic ahead of them also at 1.2.
