GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — After a few short months of searching, the Grand Rapids Gold found a new home at Van Andel Arena after the announced closure of the DeltaPlex.
On Thursday, the team announced a 5 year deal with the arena that kicks off this year for their 2022-23 season.
The move had been rumored for some time and fans of the Gold wanted to see the team end up at Van Andel Arena.
"I think it's huge for our fan base, right. I mean, obviously, I think we have a good base. And it took us a few years to get to a point where this made a lot of sense for the franchise. But now we opened ourselves up to a ton of other opportunities. I mean, obviously, the walk up crowd and the downtown crowd and bustling opportunities for students and for fans, convention center traffic, I mean, you name it, that's where we want to be," said President of Grand Rapids Gold, Steven Jbara.
The Gold will be joining the Griffins in calling Van Andel Arena home, which means that these franchises will no longer have to compete for fans. In the past, the two teams would occasionally play games on the same night, but now that they share a home that won't happen anymore.
The move to the arena could also help attract free agents for the Grand Rapids Gold, who are affiliated with the Denver Nuggets.
"Playing in a world class facility like that, makes us more of a target for free agents, you know, when they put the whole story together of Grand Rapids and the community. And, you know, this new arena really adds a lot to that. So I know the Nuggets for on their side have been really excited about the opportunity to be there," added Jbara.
But, what Jbara seemed to be most excited about was the fan experience for the upcoming season, "There's a different feeling to walking into Van Andel, you know, you have the glass atrium, you're going up to your seats, you know, nice concourse, everything like that. The court setup is going to be pretty unique this year, because we have a lot of space."
The new space will allow for some cool additions to the experience. Fans can still buy courtside seats and table suites and the end zones of the court could see some cool new features.
"And then on each end zone, we'll probably have more of a beer garden on one end zone. And then, you know, kind of more of what we have merch and 50/50 and stuff on the other side to really kind of get everybody acclimated and make it a very usable space," says Jbara.
Ticket prices for general admission are expected to remain pretty much the same, according to Jbara.
The goal for the Grand Rapids Gold this year is to use their new home to help bring a bigger spotlight to the franchise and grow the fan base even further.
"I think, you know, every time we get people to come out to games, they're blown away by the talent of blown away by the experience. It's just getting them out there for the first time," said Jbara.
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