Comcast Spectacor announced plans today to renovate the mezzanine level of the Wells Fargo Center. Work is scheduled to be completed next fall (they kind of have to). Here are the changes along with some thoughts:

Among the exciting enhancements coming to the Wells Fargo Center’s Mezzanine Level are two new Open Air Lounges.  Placed in the southwest and northeast corners of the arena, these distinctive locations provide premier amenities and open-space socializing while experiencing the thrill of a live event.  Fans will enjoy views of the bowl in an upscale setting with more than a dozen screens in each location featuring in-arena and out-of-town action.

This is interesting, and seems a bit of an architectural challenge to cut out a portion of, well, something to create an open-air viewing platform, I’m guessing similar to the concourses at Citizens Bank Park.

Better sound:

Beyond the Mezzanine Level, this next phase of the redesign includes a new state-of-the-art sound system that will stimulate the entire arena.  The new system features a complete replacement of the arena bowl speaker clusters, next-generation amplifiers, new mixing equipment and software delivering improved range, enhanced sound clarity and optimized balancing throughout the venue.

Thank God. Loud music at the Wells Fargo Center – not including concert speakers brought in by artists – can be ear-piercing. The volume is high enough, but it has all the subtlety of a dump truck driving through a nitroglycerin plant. It’s borderline offensive, and also I always think those speakers are going to fall.

Over 150 new LED game-action screens, menu boards and illumination technology delivering a complete visual transformation

This is code for: more space to put ads. The Wells Fargo Center is a phone book as it is, and make no mistake, the inclusion of more screens with easily manipulated pixels means more ads.

8,000 brand new seats featuring cup holders

I’ve always wondered this– how many jizz stains are in those seats? Or in any major arena for that matter? Think about how many concerts – dark corners, for doing dark deeds – and Wing Bowls have taken place inviting some level of fornication. Probably not as much as the old Vet seats, but it’s got to be above zero. No joke, I’ve thought about this a lot. Anyway, the cup holders are a welcome addition.

All snark aside, and though I hate the phone book nature of the building, the Wells Fargo Center has fairly decent food, adequate bathrooms, and handles countless events each year, mostly flawlessly. These changes are welcome. They just need to get that absurd security line figured out.