Love this thread, it really shows how diverse people's tastes are.
Personally, I don't care for padded seats or cup holders. What I do care about are sight lines, lighting, and atmosphere. I don't even want an actual seat if it's an option. I don't go to sporting events to relax in comfort and unwind.
This North American trend of building large hockey arenas that feel more like movie theatres, with super shallow risers and overly comfy seats is kind of ridiculous IMO, you see the result with most NHL arenas nowadays being devoid of atmosphere, people leaning back watching the jumbotron and their phones rather than watching intently and encouraging their team. Yawn.
I'm glad our arena is somewhat counter-trend, it's more of a scaled-down version of the old NHL barns, except very much modern in terms of technology and amenities. Best of both worlds, without going overboard.
But back to the topic of the seats themselves, CTV did a
story on the arena, they showed a close-up of the padded seats on the penalty box side, they appear to be the
Citation chairs.