As a non-premium seat holder, I'm pretty unimpressed so far.
Disclaimers...I know the project isn't fully completed, and I'm still bitter about how misleading I feel the reseating process was.
Bathrooms on the upper concourse: I know there will be another set opening up next year, but did anyone else think that these were ridiculously small considering well over half of the assembly hall capacity will be using them? I figured the restrooms would be designed so that one end would be the entrance and the other would be the exit. Now you still have to walk through everyone waiting to get out of a single doorway.
Space on the upper concourse: I expect this will improve next year once construction is finished and you won't have so many people wandering around gawking like they were last night, but it was an extremely tight area in which to walk around.
Concessions: Minor issue, but don't try to sell me half the popcorn that I've been getting for the past 5+ years for the same price I was paying before.
opcorn:
I'm wondering what kind of donor interest there's going to be during the next reseating cycle in 3 years if the quality of the team doesn't improve. Right now there's nothing about the stadium that makes me want to maintain my level of giving.
I would say that the arena itself looks quite a bit better than before. But, to your questions,
Bathrooms worked out very well for me, but I absolutely did expect to walk through 2 doors, not one. I made a stop after the game, which I feared would be a heavy time and had no problems. My wife seemed to make a pretty quick stop as well.
Space on the upper concourse was better than before, but there are still areas that are constricted by the old windows and/or temporary walls. Some of the brick-o block walls are braced by steel beams that I assume will be removed when the wall is anchored at the top. That did all surprise me a bit, as I wouldn't have thought that work in the bowl would impair the ability to clean up the top. It will get better again next year, but not sure exactly how much better.
I didn't put myself out, but I walked around the top twice and of course never found the hall of fame section. That was dissappointing to me, I expected that to be absolutely front and center.
Popcorn and other concessions have never interested me, so I didn't know of the price increase. They could charge $100 and never hurt me.
I don't like the big fancy seats at the (I think) south end of the building, behind our 2nd half basket. They make that section look dead or empty to my eye. This huge section has been carved out and draped in a dark brown look that just doesn't work for me.
Having 8 rows of students down on the floor was a major win in my view. There was cohesive action and it made the place much more vibrant. Having more students behind the north basket doing the same things was also great. I didn't feel so good for the much smaller crowd of students behind the south basket, as they are broken up by a tunnel and just don't reach the same critical mass.
The parking lot was much fuller than I've seen in some time. And the crowd was better, too. But this might turn out to be the best crowd of the year. How sad is that?
MS looked great across the street all lit up. It felt like a more vibrant sports area of campus as a result.
The temporary wooden handrails leading into the SFC were a surprise to me. First thing you see as you walk up is wood? Seriously? Well, ok, its a work zone, but first impressions are first impressions.
Like you, sorry to lose the flag race. That was a great effect. I know that we needed to get better accommodations for the fat cats, so if that is the only loss, so be it, but it was a cool "Illinois only" thing and who wants to lose those?
It was great to see that about 99% of those in attendance stayed in their seats for the Lou Henson honors. While I'm not as gung ho for Lou as some, I enjoyed the tribute and I appreciated the attendance of the entire crowd.
It was a good evening and I wanted to see the building. But they're going to have to win more to keep the crowd. Duh