I missed it -- when did we vote on this? And not to complain, but could we at least have voted to make it the same color as the DECC?

The art inside the Amsoil Arena is incredible, esp. the mosaic back towards the Lake side.

Amsoil Arena will be a treasure to our city for years to come. I feel lucky to have been a part of the opening night.  And if it means I pay an extra 3/4 of a percent on a pint of beer, bring it on. I will order two to cover my cost.

Chuckndeb, I'd have to disagree that the college feel should make a comeback.  I was a student at UMD from 2004 to 2006 and had season tickets in 04 while attending regularly until 06. I felt the college fans were rude, disorderly, and didn't show positive school spirit.  

I'm all for a positive school spirit in the college section if possible, though. Maybe there just shouldn't be a college section and just have college season ticket holders dispersed thoughout the crowd.

That said, I love the new arena!!  What an icon.

State covered around half, city food/bev tax covered a little over a quarter, and UMD picked up the rest.

@Mitchell Davis: You clearly don't have any clue about for whom college sports are intended.  It's for the students.  Sorry you didn't have any "positive school spirit" experiences ... like most students, you probably weren't attempting to lead any cheering, so if you're weren't part of the solution, you were part of the problem.  Sorry, bud.

@Linda: The city helped finance the Amsoil project because if they built it on campus not only would the neighborhood take up pitchforks and torches as PL pointed out, but Downtown Duluth/Canal Park businesses would take a huge hit with regards to game day/evening revenue -- not to mention a large loss of tax revenue.  You'd also have UMD then competing with the DECC for concerts, expos, etc.  This is actually what government is supposed to do -- facilitate the development of infrastructure that will then be self-sustaining.  Unlike empty medium-speed railroads.

SlingFade, you do realize that not even the national highway system directly sustains itself.  The populace benefits from the ease of travel by the highway.  Then, those who benefit/use the highway are taxed.  The same can be said for the post office, trains, etc.  Now, if you've got a problem with the Feds using the money they've taxed from the entire nation, and redistributing it to another area ... well, that's understandable.  However, your problem should be with how the Fed. Gov. has mutated since its founding.  How the Fed redistributes funds for internal improvement is an argument that has been going on since the 19th century.

About the college feel: couple things. First, the band was the size it will be from here on out, but they will be elevated, so their sound should carry better.

Second, the athletic dept has indicated through a series of decisions that men's hockey is supposed to have the feel of a pro game as much as possible. I think the reasoning is twofold. The student section's behavior at times has been viewed by families at the game to be inappropriate, so downplaying their involvement demonstrates the desire to continue to, frankly, sell full price tickets. And second, let's face it:  D-I hockey is just another minor league for the NHL.  Minor league rinks are different than the old college rinks, for good or for ill.

Okay, I was all set to like the new arena when I walked in before the first game, and I've been trying really hard not to complain about it, but ... I couldn't see as well as at the DECC! I've had season tickets forever and we're sitting in basically the same spot as we were before (top row of the lower bowl, mid-ice). At the DECC these seats had an unobstructed view of the whole rink -- but in the Amsoil there's about four feet along the near side that you can't see because of the lower stair pitch.  I walked around between periods and it looks like there are NO seats in the lower bowl with an unobstructed view -- I didn't check out the upper seats though.  Are there better sightlines up there?  I'm all for the nice art and fancier concessions, but what I really want is to see the game.  With all the talk of the new arena's great sightlines, I was very disappointed in the result.