If you watched the Detroit Red Wings' home opener last week, a thought may have occurred to you. “Why on Earth are there so many empty seats in the lower bowl?” Don't worry, you're not alone, I had the exact same thought. It must have been apparent to others at Little Caesars Arena as well, because they're making a sweeping change.
In incremental stages through this season, the seats at Little Caesars Arena will be changed from red to black. There are already black covers on the seats to start, but permanent changes are being made.
Little Caesars Arena is changing its all-red seats to all black, on a permanent basis. Will do it in stages during the season, but black covers already on. Empty red seats apparently were more jarring, for Pistons and Wings.
— Bob Wojnowski (@bobwojnowski) October 8, 2018
The logic behind the move appears to be that empty black seats will be less obvious to the players. What they're not saying is that it'll also be less jarring and obvious for people watching on TV. You can still tell that the seats are empty, but they don't stand out like sore thumbs when they're black.
It's a strange move, because they make a point to announce that a game is sold out at the beginning of the televised broadcast. This includes the Red Wings' home opener last week; it was a sellout. So if Little Caesars Arena is still selling out games, what gives?
Regardless of seat color, the Red Wings will definitely see a dip in attendance if they don't start squeaking out some wins this year. But Bob Wojnowski had the number one burning question about the move on Twitter, asking:
Not even joking about this: What will Little Caesars Arena do with 20,000 lightly used red seats?
— Bob Wojnowski (@bobwojnowski) October 8, 2018
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https://detroitsportsnation.com/detroit-red-wings-news/nwebb/red-wings-playing-ducks-historic-night-franchises/10-2018/196931/