Milwaukee Admirals
Rink: UW Milwaukee Panther Arena
Capacity: 9,652
Built: 1950
League: AHL
City: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Home Of: Milwaukee Admirals
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: April 12, 2024 vs Chicago
Unique Arena: #87
AHL Arena: #7
The UW Milwaukee Panther Arena, or MECCA as many people still call it, opened in 1950 and has been home to many sports and events in Milwaukee in its now over 70 years of life. The rink sits in downtown Milwaukee, just a block from the new NBA arena for the Bucks, who originally played here until 1988. It’s a very classic arena look with red brick, an arched roof line and a fantastic front lobby with art deco signage all over the inside. Once entering the lobby, you climb a small set of stairs to reach the concourse, which sits about a third of the way up the bowl. The arena feels old, but has been kept up very well over the years. The concourse is fairly wide and can accommodate large crowds easily. There is lots of history on display including a fantastic wall that shows all of the Admirals who have played in the NHL since the team joined the AHL in 2001 after the IHL merger. The Admirals themselves have been in continuous operation since 1970 through various leagues.
Your immediate view of the bowl from wherever you enter is an impressive one. It’s a fairly old school layout, with seats extending far up the sides of the building to the roof line with slightly less seating in the ends. The seats are mustard yellow, which isn’t a common look, but not unheard of (looking at you Manchester). The rink has staggered but very wide entry points to the bowl. The top third of the side seats cannot be accessed via the bowl as there is a small concrete wall separating them from the rest of the bowl. The upper seats are accessed not by staircase but by long ramps in each of the four corners of the building. There is a smaller corridor concourse up there, which we were shocked to find not only had concession stands but ones that were actually open for business despite those sections being hardly used. The gorgeous barrel roof starts at the back wall of the seating and extends far overhead of the ice surface. Despite all that open space above the ice, the crowd which as you can see wasn’t a full house, can still make the arena very loud as they’re a passionate bunch.
As you can see in this photo, the original press box is a tad small, so they’ve designated the small section of seats in front of it for the majority of the press. The arena floor extends a pretty good distance behind the nets, so some temporary seating is added while both ends also have rinkside bars, which is becoming a very common practice these days. While some of the end seating is set back a little from the ice, the sightlines for most of the building are fantastic. We moved around a bit for this game and all views we had of the action were great.
Production in Milwaukee isn’t over the top but doesn’t feel cheap either. It’s one of the very few rinks left that doesn’t have to give you a light/laser show when the home team scores, and as a matter of fact the lights were up from the moment, we entered the building to when we left. We also noticed while there is a goal horn it seemed very faint. Most of the noise when the Admirals scored came from the very loud fans. Goal horns really are there to amplify noise to make it seem louder than it actually is. But in Milwaukee you don’t really need it because the crowd noise after an Ads goal is plenty enough. Now the night we were there was an Autism awareness night, and its possible some sensory overload parts of the production were toned down so your experience my vary, but it made our night at the rink feel much more old school which was fantastic.
One more note about the concourse they actually have on display, behind a glass wall, control consoles for the HVAC and ice making equipment. It looks super old, like something that could launch missiles in the 1950s cold war era. I’m not sure if its legit or just a display of the original gear but it was fantastic to see, and made me feel like I was on a tour of the Diefenbunker.
Everything about the Admirals experience at MECCA is fantastic, and something lovers of older style arenas should experience at some point. If it wasn’t such a far drive, I’d love to go back again and again. The fans are fantastic, the game is the focus, and it really makes you feel like you’ve been transported back in time if it wasn’t for the HD videoboard hanging over centre ice.
This contest is over, give this rink the $10,000.
