About a year ago I heard about Duffy's Sky Club, a sky box at the then BankAtlantic Center (It's now the BB&T Center). You could buy tickets to Panthers games and they had food and drink. I've been in private stadium boxes before, but I didn't have a feel of what this was really about. I tried to find out some info, but there really is no info available. They don't even tell you how much the tickets are.
In November 2011 I wrote to Duffy's indicating that the Public could benefit from an article outlining the details; but they didn't respond. I figured I'd go one day when the Rangers were playing and check it out. But with lockouts and the Rangers always seeming to play down here on New Years eve or Friday night, I haven't been able to go.
Last week I got an email for a Special Offer for $55 to attend any of the remaining games, one of which was the Rangers game last night. So I decided to check it out.
First, I tried to figure out the regular price; was $55 a deal? The page that they have set up for the Sky Club has some bullet points that say that prices "Start at $60". I couldn't find any info on why prices might be different. Are different games priced differently? Is there a VIP option? Are there levels of admission? Better seats? I had no idea. Apparently if you're interested, you have to contact group sales. There's no link to a ticket system to just buy tickets (they did have one set up for the special).
They have a "Live Chat" link that popped up on my screen, so I figured I'd get some answers. But when I clicked it, there was no live agent and I just got a contact form.
Next I checked the regular ticket prices for similar seats. My seats were in section 429, row 2. I found similar seats on Ticketmaster for $27. I could get better seats (Row 1, better section) for $13 on StubHub. So it looked like I was paying $30-$40 extra for access to the box, food and drink.
I've never been to the BB&T center before, and if you've ever driven on 595 you understand what a disaster it is. It's been under construction since the beginning of time, and the exits are poorly marked. I missed the exit, so I had to take Sawgrass Parkway. It's nice that it takes you right to the BB&T center (exit 1B). What's not nice is that it costs $1.25 to drive about 1/2 mile.
The BB&T center parking is very poorly done. There are no signs that tell you where to go. I just followed some other cars. There are orange cones set up everywhere with no clear reason in most places. Finally there was an opening into the lot with a dude with a fistful of cash. "$20", he says. That's it. No receipt. No ticket. It's like a Mafia operation. A ticket is $27 and it costs $20 to park? Really? Talk about a colossal rip-off.
Once in, you're on your own. No people every 50 yards like at Dolphin's Stadium. A lot of cars parked and no spots. I head up one section; cement pillars at the end leads me to a tight 3-point turn. I keep driving. Finally I hit a big open section with 2 dudes pointing and lots of open spots. It's actually pretty close to the entrance. Is this some sort of VIP parking? I paid $20. I just drive in and the dude points at a spot. I'm parked. Ok, so why are all of those other people parked so much further away? Why is an area near the Arena empty while areas further away are full? Who knows?
Ok, so I get out and walk the short distance to the area in front of the front doors. There's all sorts of booths set up and music playing. Duffy's has a booth with a Wheel of Chance set up.
Every spin is a winner. I "win" a free drink card that I can use for my next visit. Except I find out it's useless. It's a buy one, get one free. And since Duffy's has 2 for 1 all of the time now, the drink ticket is moot.
While there's a lot of activity by the entrance, once you go up the stairs or escalators to the top tier it's pretty empty. It's a long walk to the Duffy's section; it's completely on the other side of the arena. I stopped in at one of the concession alcoves to check out the prices. $8 for a regular size beer and $10-$12 for a sausage or a sandwich.
The Sky Box is above section 429, so you can't see any trace of it from the concourse. You have to enter the arena, and then climb up a lot of stairs to get to the Sky Club. One thing is that the top tier is very steep, so you might want to consider wearing sneakers. If you're carrying stuff and can't use the handrails it can be treacherous.
When you get to the top, there's a guy who checks your ticket and then a guy who gives you a wristband. Once you have the wristband you're free to move in and out of the Club.
Once inside, my first surprise was at how crowded it was. Of course it was a Rangers game, but there were a lot more people than there were seats. All of the seats were either taken or reserved; be prepared to eat standing up.
This was relatively early; It was virtually packed in the first intermission. First order of business was to get a beer. They had 4 tap beers, nothing premium. So I got a Coors Light. They also had 1 red and 1 white wine; I can't drink wine when I'm driving. And they had some booze too. Certainly not a full bar.
I went to scope out the buffet. Lettuce, Fruit, deep fried chicken nuggets, unloaded potato skins, nachos and sliders. Also a lot of cookies and cakes. I grabbed some stuff on one of the small plates and tried it out.
Note that this is not Duffy's food. It's provided by a food service from the BB&T center. The deep fried nuggets were fine if you like deep fried nuggets. The burgers were pretty bad; frozen patties on buns that were either stale or that got toasted under the heat lamps.
There was another "buffet" on the other side of the central bar; the only difference was that they had pretzels. Not the big doughy kind; miniature soft pretzels. They had cheese and mustard out; the pretzels were ok, but not as good as the big ones. I also got some more nuggets with hot sauce and blue cheese this time.
So, as you can see, this is food from a kid's menu. I didn't have a handle on what kind of food they would have, but I was hoping for some wings or ribs or maybe some hot dogs. How can you go to a sporting event without having a hot dog? The brownies were really good; I do have to say that.
For the smokers, they have a nice outdoors patio. It was kind of windy so it wasn't very popular generally on this evening.
Oh, and there was a hockey game going on. There's really no warning when the game starts. You look down and there's 17:00 on the clock. About 1/2 of the people descend into their seats. There are no ushers or security, so you can basically sit where ever you want. Maybe 1/4 of the seats were occupied. I sat in my actual seat because it was a good one.
I don't go to many hockey games and when I do I always sit in the first 3 rows, because that's the best way to watch a live hockey game. These seats weren't bad; one thing about sitting close is that if you're on one end you can't see the other end of the rink. I could see the entire game here. It's not the same as sitting close.
Watching from the Sky Club was a lot higher up, and not something I wanted to do.
My impression of the overall experience is that I was underwhelmed. The best part of it is that I could watch the Yankees and Knicks games during the intermission on the TVs.
The big advantages of being in a "Suite" at places like Madison Square Garden is that you feel like a celebrity. There are separate entrances; separate dining areas, high quality catered food and the best thing; private bathrooms. There's none of that here. The concession stands are empty, so climbing up to the sky box to wait on line to get a beer probably didn't save me any time on going to a concession stand.
The big thing was that it wasn't a very good deal. With parking, tolls and tips, this ended up costing me $80. For the same seats, I could have purchased them for $13, had 2 beers and a sausage sandwich for $39; 3 beers for $47. Even at the $27 full price, it would have been the same price for food that I actually wanted to eat.
They say in the description that you can get $10 put on your MVP card, but I didn't see anyone scanning cards; or any place I could go to get it scanned.
Of course if you're going to drink a lot, then the Duffy's Sky Club can be a very good deal. But if you're driving and you're not getting the $55 special price, it's probably just a wash at best. There were a lot of kids; I don't see how you can get your money's worth on Soda and Cookies. But the kids will probably like the food more than I did.
