Across the 32-team National Hockey League, few arenas have stood the test of time when it comes to gameday experience quite like LoDo’s Ball Arena, which has welcomed 18,000 people a night for the Colorado Avalanche since opening in 1999.
The 25-year-old arena, which was built for $187 million, has hosted three Stanley Cup winners and an NBA champion as well, speaking to the sustained success that the Avs and Denver Nuggets have achieved inside the venue.
Still, there’s no such thing as the perfect arena (or arena location), with the heart of Colorado’s capital city scoring poorly when it came to safety this year, as the Avs look to win their fourth Cup in a year where oddsmakers from Bet365 Colorado give them +1200 odds to do so.
With the recent start of the 2024-25 NHL season, BetColorado.com ranked NHL teams based on how safe their arena is for fans. Using crime data from Statistics Canada, Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Data Explorer, and a fanbase ranking based on aggression from Reddit.com subreddit r/NHL, we created a scoring system to rank the top 10 most unsafe NHL arenas. For crime, we factored in population size to more accurately account for crime rates. The higher the score, the less safe the arena.
Top 10 Most Unsafe NHL Arenas
Rank | Team | Total Score |
1 | Chicago Blackhawks | 144.9 |
2 | New York Rangers | 121.8 |
3 | Colorado Avalanche | 121.0 |
4 | Boston Bruins | 115.7 |
5 | Carolina Hurricanes | 103.6 |
6 | Los Angeles Kings | 94.5 |
7 | Buffalo Sabres | 89.3 |
8 | Philadelphia Flyers | 87.7 |
9 | Nashville Predators | 80.9 |
10 | San Jose Sharks | 79.6 |
Where Denver’s Ball Arena Ranks
Across the NHL, only the Chicago Blackhawks (144.9 score) and New York Rangers (121.8 score) ranked ahead of the Avs when it came to arena safety issues, with Colorado’s score of 121.0 ranking ahead of the Boston Bruins, who were fourth leaguewide with 115.7 points.
Throw in the Carolina Hurricanes (103.6 score), Los Angeles Kings (94.5 score), Buffalo Sabres (89.3 score), Philadelphia Flyers (87.7 score), Nashville Predators (80.9 score) and the San José Sharks (79.6 score) and you have the full list of the NHL’s least safe arenas in 2024.
While the surrounding area may have deteriorated a bit in LoDo, it’s worth remembering that the Mile High City is still home to some of the nation’s most successful professional sports teams, with the Avs and Nuggets both vying for another championship in their respective leagues in the months ahead.
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Author
Christopher Boan has been covering sports and sports betting for more than seven years, including stops at ArizonaSports.com, the Tucson Weekly and the Green Valley News.
