Whether you’re looking at stadiums or auditoriums, an arts venue or a lecture hall, a theater or an arena, if you have a space with spectators, you need perfectly matched seating solutions for your audience.
There’s a surprising amount to consider when picking a seating system that works for your specific venue. You’ll want to invest in a seat that provides comfort and quality, and makes sense for the types of visitors in your space and gives the best viewing experience to be had.
Luckily at Cascadia, we have a ton of expertise surrounding custom designed spectator seating, for almost any kind of facility. In this article, we’re going to focus on the seating solutions needed in arena style venues.
Let’s break down all the information and options you need to know to find a seating solution that works for you.
What Defines Arena Seating?
Arena seating, or spectator seating, serves a very specific function. It’s not as simple as picking a chair or a couch when seating the kinds of audiences you have in an arena.
Arena seats need to work to offer as much seating as possible. These seats are often stacked, increasing in height along your arena edge, to give all spectators a good view from their spot.
Arena seats also have to be installed in such a way to allow ease of entry and exit. Crowds need to be full, but comfortable, with enough room to sit easily. There also needs to be enough space so spectators can find their seats safely, due to the mass volume of people stadium seats will sit. Safety is paramount when considering the kind of seating you need in an arena.
These seats will vary in style depending on the venue. Some arenas prefer simple bench sitting, while some will opt for something more similar to chairs. The choice is truly up to you!
Arena Seating Options
Let’s take a deeper look at the different kinds of arena seats you can explore for your venue:
Arena Bench Seating
Bench seating, sometimes called bleachers, is super common across smaller arena venues. This style of seating solution features long, often narrow benches that cross multiple feet, ascending upwards in height. Typically, arena bench seating will be backless.
Almost any outdoor sports arena for hockey, baseball, or soccer that has seating likely has a backless bench for their audiences. They’re also often found in smaller recreational centers, who have rows for spectating parents at things like hockey games.
There are tons of unique options available if you want bench seating for your arena! These benches are great because the lack of individual seats can often accommodate more people. Benches also tend to be easier to install, and can sometimes even come in portable options.
Cascadias bench seating options include our retractable bleacher seating, 3C series tip & roll seating, and 3C series bench seating.
Retractable bleachers are great for school gyms, or venues that need to clear away and put out seating as needed. These seats can be wall attached, or portable, depending on your needs.
3C bench solutions are comfortable and ergonomic, screwing directly into concrete. They’re more permanent in nature but are super easy to install, coming in a wide variety of color options. The tip and roll variety is portable on wheels, making storage outside of the arena space easy!
Cascadia APEX Series Seats
Arena Chair Seating
If you want something different, there are also a ton of chair seating options available for arenas. Cascadia has a wide variety of chair options, including our Ascent, Plateau, Summit, Pinnacle, Peak, and Apex series of seating. Chair options are almost always fixed in nature, without the same movability as bench seating.
For ease of movement, almost all chair seating options in arenas feature flexible, foldable seats. The flexibility is important, as it allows for a wider laneway of movement for people finding their seats in an arena.
There are many different kinds of styles, colors, and material options when it comes to chair seating as well. Plastic chairs, like our Plateau or Ascent chairs, are great outdoor options, as they’ll be resistant to the elements and last longer outdoors.
If you have an indoor arena, you could go for a less durable material like wood, used on our Apex seating chairs. These are popular for arena and indoor lecture hall spaces. They are made of high quality, coated plywood, and can even come with additional fabric seat coverings.
VIPs, Dressing Rooms, and Player Spaces
When you think of arena seating solutions, we often go to the audience first. However, there are some areas of your arena that need seating you may not have considered.
If your arena has a VIP section, you might want to look for seating that is more elevated. Here, quality fabric chairs or couch-style seating can be a great benefit. Luxury can be a necessity when it comes to the design of an executive box.
Dressing rooms and player spaces can also use some useful seating solutions. Player benches often need to be durable and accommodate many, making benches a popular choice here. The same goes for dressing rooms, which also often adopt bench-style seats for players.
Looking for Arena Seating?
There is a lot to think about when you’re looking at arena seating. If you’re looking to outfit a new arena space, or are looking to upgrade existing seats to something new, it’s good to have a multitude of options that best suit you.
We’re happy to provide a wide variety of seating solutions at Cascadia, for all kinds of venues. If you want to learn more about the seating solutions that best fit your venue, feel free to contact us here! We’re positive we can help you transform your arena into an amazing space for your audience.
