Edmonton’s new downtown arena has opened to mostly rave reviews, but it’s not a unanimous feeling – and some fans have gone public with their displeasure.

Photos of the ice at Rogers Place, obstructed by other fans and in at least one case, a railing, have surfaced on social media – fans going public with their disappointment over what they could and couldn’t see during Monday’s pre-season Oilers game.

Kelly Tercier and his 10-year-old son were at the game, and drove more than two hours to be there, but ran into issues when the view from their seats was blocked when other fans stood up, and it wasn’t much better when everyone was sitting down.

“[My son] couldn’t see, so what I did was flip his chair around, and he got up on his knees, so at that point he could see,” Tercier said. “For myself I had to stand up and lean forward.”

Elsewhere in the arena, fans were taking photos and sending them out.

One paid for seats in the lower bowl, but found a railing obstructed his view of part of the ice rink.

 

 

Long-time season ticket holder Heather Marginet said she was looking forward to taking in the game in the new arena, but that excitement quickly changed.

“I’ve been a season ticket holder for a long time, I’m almost regretting this,” Marginet said.

“I thought it was going to be a great experience, to have the experience where I have to ‘dodge head’ all season long.”
Marginet sent out a photo of her view, where a man’s head obscured part of her view of the ice.

 

 

CTV News contacted the Oilers Entertainment Group over the issue – a spokesperson would not go on camera, but did say they are aware of the issue, and spokesperson Angela Goss issued the following statement:

“Plans have been approved to restore the originally intended sightline and construction will begin soon.”

In Tercier’s case, he says OEG is compensating him $50 credit at Rogers Place for each game he attends until the problem has been fixed.

As for a timeline, OEG and the City of Edmonton were not saying when or how the issue would be fixed – saying they need to communicate with customers before answering those questions.

With files from Angela Jung