Bridgestone Arena is the home of the NHL’s Nashville Predators, a team with a solid recent history of success. We attended an early evening Saturday hockey game against the Washington Capitals, the team with the best record in the NHL. Given the time of the game and the opponent, we expected a large crowd. Although paid attendance was a sellout, it never really looked like the place filled in.
The arena is located in downtown Nashville next to the Music City Center (convention center), not far from I-40/I-65. It was not difficult to find getting off the interstate. There seemed to be plenty of surface parking surrounding the arena. We pre-booked a spot in a lot about a block away using something called “Park It!” I was concerned there wouldn’t be easy nearby parking, but we would have been fine either way.
The main entrance is off of 5th Avenue. Getting into the arena was fairly easy, with a sufficient number of lines to move through a metal detector (and get any bags or purses searched). After that, an attendant will check your ticket (or print it out when they swipe your credit card if you purchased your tickets that way).
Our seats were in the upper level. As a modern hockey arena, the seats didn’t feel too far away thanks to the steep nature of the incline (I always feel like I’m going to fall). There was enough leg room, even for someone taller than average, but that’s mostly because the seats directly in front are lower than normal. Remember, in seats like this, if you lean forward, you’ll block the view of the person in front of you.








Overall, it’s a nice arena. Nothing too special or out of the ordinary, but it was easy to get to, had comfortable seating and had plenty of food choices. It compares favorably with the other newer arenas we’ve visited including Columbus and Buffalo (and was way better than the soon-to-be-demolished arena in Detroit).
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