San Jose, California will host 2018 U.S. Nationals (Dec. 29, 2017 - Jan. 7, 2018)

@myhoneyhoney Heard nothing. Which is annoying because I need to figure out when I'm going to do my credentialing. (Because I'm pretty sure I can't do it while I'm sipping margaritas in San Diego)
 
I know they use practice passes to entice fans to buy all-event tickets, but I'm also surprised they're not sold daily. Even $5 or $10/day would generate some revenue for the LOC.

Side note: I really hope they do something to honor past Olympic gold medalists (or even any Olympians) during one of the sessions in San Jose. Seeing all the gold medalists together was definitely the coolest part of going to St. Louis in 2006.
 
A.H.Black said:
Just talked to Eric at SAP (very helpful guy). He is aware that there is not a practice pass for Jan 1st. As of now, the day pass for Solar Arena will be good for entrance into SAP for practices on January 1st. If the situation changes, he will try to let me know.

He also said they saw the first practice schedule today (not the one we have seen posted by Sylvia, dated 11/18). It sounds like there is an update (probably one of several coming).
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Glad you caught him. I left a message, and haven't heard back anything.
 
ross_hy said:
I know they use practice passes to entice fans to buy all-event tickets, but I'm also surprised they're not sold daily. Even $5 or $10/day would generate some revenue for the LOC.

Side note: I really hope they do something to honor past Olympic gold medalists (or even any Olympians) during one of the sessions in San Jose. Seeing all the gold medalists together was definitely the coolest part of going to St. Louis in 2006.
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They did it again at the galas in 2010 and 2014 so I'm hoping they'll repeat it during the exhibition this year. Especially since Meryl and Charlie can join the group for the first time :)
 
ross_hy said:
I know they use practice passes to entice fans to buy all-event tickets, but I'm also surprised they're not sold daily. Even $5 or $10/day would generate some revenue for the LOC.
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They used to. It ended in 2002 after 9/11, although I don't think it needed to. The reason I started going to Nationals in the first place was because I walked into a rink during Nationals in my city - paid $3 and stayed all day. I have suggested it to many USFSA people over the years but I don't think they realize the power of the practice pass in creating long-term fans who support skating year after year.
 
A.H.Black said:
They used to. It ended in 2002 after 9/11, although I don't think it needed to. The reason I started going to Nationals in the first place was because I walked into a rink during Nationals in my city - paid $3 and stayed all day. I have suggested it to many USFSA people over the years but I don't think they realize the power of the practice pass in creating long-term fans who support skating year after year.
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After the loss of the big ABC TV contract, the USFSA needed to find ways to make money on Nationals, since the TV cash cow was gone. I agree, it seems really stupid to not take advantage of letting fans sit close to the boards at practices to see the speed, power, etc. I remember going to a practice of Junior Ladies in SLC in 1999, and getting almost a private viewing of Sasha Cohen's LP. (That was quite a year for Junior Ladies, as it turned out).
 
Every time I go to the volunteer site, it shows me the same 4 shifts so I'm assuming those are my shifts until I hear otherwise.
 
Right, and IIRC Helsinki Worlds they let people purchase practice tickets for the day. In 2013 Worlds, you could get into the main arena practices as long as you had an individual event ticket.
 
TBH Because USFS is so antiquated on so many things and so slow to adopt things that may help them out, I'm willing to bet they haven't even thought of the practice pass thing.

It might also be an SAP center thing. At Synchro Worlds in Colorado Springs, anyone with a ticket got a free practice pass if they showed up to watch. The union for people working at concert venues in SJ is really strong, and therefore there can be issues with staffing (The Civic is by far the worst). But maybe they wouldn't have enough security, parking, and most importantly ticket people to sell practice passes and allow people into the rink at the odd hours practices take place at.
 
I think that a lot of this stuff a lot more complicated and expensive to deal with than we realize. The impression I get is that USFS is willing to accommodate all-event ticket holders on this but it's not worth their while to expand the pool of possible people in the arena much beyond that.
 
Thanks for the replies about my possible attendance. I am going to look into getting myself there for the long programs and maybe even the shorts for senior competition. The rest would be a bonus and maybe a bit much, but I have to check the schedule.
 
If I stay outside of San Jose's downtown, what are my options for getting to the arena? Are there ways for me to ditch my car on a side street a walk a mile or so to the arena? Could I park somewhere further afield and hop on a convenient bus or shuttle? Just for reference, I could wind up with something in Santa Clara or Sunnyvale, in which case I might drive to a convenient place in San Jose and then find a way to the arena. I imagine parking at the arena day after day could be costly, but I may be wrong.

Thanks for any and all insight.
 
Why not take light rail or the Cal Train and ditch the car? The Cal Train stop is right across from the SAP arena. And has stops in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara.

I'm probably going to take light rail to my volunteer shifts at the Fairmont because I don't want to drive downtown at rush hour.
 
Plusdinfo said:
If I stay outside of San Jose's downtown, what are my options for getting to the arena? Are there ways for me to ditch my car on a side street a walk a mile or so to the arena? Could I park somewhere further afield and hop on a convenient bus or shuttle? Just for reference, I could wind up with something in Santa Clara or Sunnyvale, in which case I might drive to a convenient place in San Jose and then find a way to the arena. I imagine parking at the arena day after day could be costly, but I may be wrong.

Thanks for any and all insight.
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Parking will cost. I live a few miles away but near a light rail station. I’m definitely thinking of using it. There is open street parking within a couple of blocks of the station.
 
skatfan said:
Parking will cost. I live a few miles away but near a light rail station. I’m definitely thinking of using it. There is open street parking within a couple of blocks of the station.
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Thanks for the reply. I will keep that in mind as I continue to try to make this happen.
 
MacMadame said:
Why not take light rail or the Cal Train and ditch the car? The Cal Train stop is right across from the SAP arena. And has stops in Sunnyvale and Santa Clara.

I'm probably going to take light rail to my volunteer shifts at the Fairmont because I don't want to drive downtown at rush hour.
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That's probably the best thing and what I would enjoy most should I stay in one of those places.
 
skatfan said:
So maybe everyone else figured this out already, but I hadn't - there are now Practice passes for each day from January 2 - 7 that can be printed out for the All-event ticket holders from the SAP Center site. According to Eric at the center, these were added a few days after I had printed out and downloaded the rest of my tickets. (Grrr. an email would have been nice)
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Thank you! I never would have noticed they were added.
 
**I am considering not getting an all-event pass but rather doing TravelZoo deals to piece together events with a few TicketMaster purchases thrown in for events TravelZoo doesn't offer.

My burning question: how are seats in section 201 (the blue zone)? I realize that any reply is subjective, but sometimes there is a huge difference in enjoyment between one level and another, and I prefer to think out loud via typing rather than trusting myself with these choices ;).

Thanks for your ideas!
 
*Follow-up, as TravelZoo has $40 tickets for sections 101/102/103 OR 201/202/203 and I may as well get closer down.

Which section would you suggest and why?
 
Section 101 is dead center on the judges' side of the rink. Ice-dance fans like to be on that side since the choreography focuses in that direction, and of course being near the middle of the rink gives the best view. What I cannot tell you is whether there's a risk of obstructed-view seats there. In some arenas the technical panel's and music technicians' platforms are elevated. That risk applies to Section 102 as well. Here's the seating diagram: http://www.sapcenter.com/assets/doc/Web-Content-18-Figure-Skating-ebc7736574.pdf .

I much prefer to be close to the ice; don't like the bird's-eye view. Others are fine being farther back, but I don't think anyone would choose (aside from cost considerations) to be in the upper level, which sometimes has you looking down on the tops of skaters' heads. From that perspective, you can't discern the height of jumps, whether sit-spin and camel-spin positions are OK, etc. I have never been upstairs at SAP Center, so I'm not speaking from experience with that particular arena.
 
Plusdinfo said:
My burning question: how are seats in section 201 (the blue zone)? I realize that any reply is subjective, but sometimes there is a huge difference in enjoyment between one level and another, and I prefer to think out loud via typing rather than trusting myself with these choices ;).
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To add to what @acraven said, if you can get seats that are "club level," you can go into the club area to use the bathrooms, warm up, buy some grub and there are tvs there to watch what is happening on the ice. Club level seats are lower bowl seats and may not be available. But, if they are, I think they are worth it.
 
Update on volunteer stuff. I got an email from Marc I DeContreaus with supplementary information, an updated schedule (as of 12/17), and apparently nobody wants to announce at practices on the morning of New Year's Day. LOL!
 
I got an email about being an announcer which I did not sign up for and nothing about any shifts. :confused:
 
I got an email about announcing, music, hospitality, and info desk. I'm sure I'm limited as I'm only there from Jan 4-8th... but I said I was interested.
 
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