Tuesday night, Capital One Arena opened its doors to hockey fans for the first time since the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup.
Over the offseason, the 21-year-old arena underwent a $40 million renovation, which will continue until Opening Night. One improvement we can report on is the cupholders in the arena’s new seats.
Spilled beers will be a thing of the past. The brand new cupholders have bottoms that will contain any venue-provided beverage.
Photos
Photo: Cara Bahniuk
Photos: @capldy
👏👏👏
The 100-level seats are similar.
Photo: @thewuwu
Though not every section has cup-holder equipped seats… yet.
No cup holders down here in 117 🙅 pic.twitter.com/rsaQ0ZrsBb
— Eileen Campbell (@HollyGoLightlye) September 18, 2018
Was told by the ticket rep they were held up by the Hurricane
— Eileen Campbell (@HollyGoLightlye) September 19, 2018
The old seats were always a contentious topic when it came to the cupholders. The seats in the 100s, which have the cupholders placed on the back of seats, had functioning cupholders. The cupholders in the 400s, which are placed in the armrests, never had a bottom.
Julie Cannon, a season ticket holder in section 412, said she has never had a beer spilled on her. But that was only because no cups fit in the previous cupholders. Stupid gravity. Instead, she watched many drinks get kicked down the stairs.
“Beers don’t fit. Doesn’t matter what kind of beer, it just slides right through,” Cannon said in an interview. “You can kind of balance them in there but you better pick it up when someone’s walking by because stuff is precarious.”
When the Capitals first announced the venue revamp, the cries for cupholders were heard across all social media platforms. It was evident in July when the Capital One Arena Twitter account posted a preview of the seats when a majority of the replies were about the cupholders.
😍😍😍 @CapitalOne pic.twitter.com/O04aux1xaw
— Capital One Arena (@CapitalOneArena) July 26, 2018
Okay but will those cup holders ACTUALLY HOLD CUPS??? That's literally the only thing I care about in this expensive renovation
— missa (@missagoodier) July 26, 2018
Can I get a close up on that cup holder
— Jack Barry (@jackpbarry) July 26, 2018
Did you fix the cup holders tho 🤔🤔🤔
— Daniel (@DanielDmanx123) July 26, 2018
Well, the cries were heard. All beverages will be happy and snug all season long.
