re: Are we as fans part of our struggles?

I'm speaking more to the architecture and structure itself.

Older arenas usually had a more vertical rise with the seating. Now seating usually pancakes out away from the playing surface.

I think the vertical seating style plays a huge role in how a place produces energy and how people engage themselves in an event.

Arenas today are cookie-cutter. They usually lack uniqueness and character. Maybe the outside has something that differentiates it, but on the inside they're all too similar. They all kind of feel the same to the senses when you're inside them.