:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/20127215/20130924_jel_bs6_084.0.jpg)
Shaq had the rapt attention of Sacramento on Tuesday, and he revealed a couple of things that have boosted the hype surrounding this reborn franchise even more. At his press conference Tuesday morning, he mentioned that the Kings' opener against Denver on October 30 will be broadcast in India. (Vivek Ranadivé confirmed it.) Then he spilled a detail about the new arena, which Vivek and Mark Mastrov discussed further with The Bee.
Ranadive said the new facility "will be the first basketball arena that has this indoor-outoor feature to it. For concerts and other events, you could actually completely open it up and have 18,000 people inside and another 10,000 people outside." [...]
Mark Mastrov, another minority partner, told The Sacramento Bee that the arena's bowl could be partially viewable from outdoors via sliding glass walls. Attendees would be able to stand in an outdoor plaza and view events directly and on giant TV screens, Mastrov said. It's possible food could be sold outside, too.
Mastrov added that the idea is to bring some of the outdoor flavor of an NFL or Major League Baseball game to the NBA, and said that top league officials have been briefed.
So an outdoor concourse with sightlines into the arena floor. (Remember, the arena will be at least partially sunken.) Holy cow, this sounds interesting. The designers are looking to cash in on Sacramento's extraordinary weather (most of the time) to make the arena even better. I can't wait to see it in action.