Came here for a college basketball game and it was an experience. Definitely smaller than the NBA arenas I've been to, but I had a good time still. They shoot fire from the top of the basketball nets (and you really can feel the heat!). I didn't get any concessions, but workers do walk around with items so you don't need to leave your seat. They're still quite pricey based on what I overheard, so don't think you'll get cheap snacks/drinks just because you're at a college game. read more

A more intimate D1 arena for competitive hoops. Good view from anywhere. Great Bears fans. Tarheel fans traveled well. Awesome game atmosphere throughout with Cal taking out a top15 UNC. Good security and staff. Smooth entry and exit. Would come watch another game here for sure. read more

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I went here for a men's basketball game when Sacramento State was playing here. It's a nice, small venue where I could actually hear the cheers from the crowd, cheerleaders, and even the student band. It's also easily accessible via public transportation like BART so you don't have to worry about parking. read more

Haas Pavilion - View from the section where I was sitting - Stadiums & Arenas Near Me - Berkeley, California

Great times at the HAAS Quad Meet #2 Cal, ASU, Stanford, SJSU. All the gymnasts rocked it bringing inspiration to young athletes! Such an honor to watch all these skilled professionals compete with passion, dedication and such camaraderie. My 9 year old gymnast daughter is absolutely amazed by their talent and skill. What an incredible meet! read more

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We had a blast at the Cal vs USC women's basketball game on Sunday, February 19, 2023. I noticed a Cal women's basketball poster in my nine-year-old niece's bedroom last year and my sister said the girls (my nieces, the other is seven) have been going to Cal games and have become fans. I thought that was cute and also awesome since I'm a big college basketball fan myself. As one of my friends said to me, their fandom for Cal women's basketball is organic. I love it and was excited for the opportunity to attend a Cal game with them. Also, I like visiting stadiums and arenas and had never been to Haas Pavilion before, so I was looking forward to checking it out. A few quick thoughts and takeaways from the Haas: - It was warm/hot inside. Did they not run the AC? If so, was it broken? - It's showing its age, but I think many college basketball arenas are. - Steep views, even when you're sitting close to the court. - $14 per adult ticket and $12 per senior/youth ticket, general admission is a great value for power conference women's basketball in the Bay Area. For perspective, I've attended college basketball games regularly since the late 90s. First, Wake Forest (season tickets). Then, Georgia Tech (student section then season tickets; just completed my 18th year as a season ticket holder). I've also attended my fair share of road games. For example, this season (2022-23), I watched Tech play at the Dean E Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (UNC), PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina (NC State), and the Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (Wake). All ACC schools. So, I had several examples in which to compare the Haas facilities, atmosphere, and overall gameday experience. This is only the second Pac-12 basketball venue I've been to (the first was UCLA's Pauley Pavilion). To elaborate upon the above, I was kind of surprised at how warm it was inside the arena, especially since this is a Power Five conference arena (higher expectations). We sat in Section 15, Row J, so we were in the upper (hotter) level. Then again, this is California and the Bay Area and I guess it's not uncommon to not run AC, especially in the winter, and to conserve energy. Haas felt a bit dated, but I've also felt that with some of the aforementioned arenas. College basketball attendance is past its prime, I think. Also, I'm admittedly "spoiled" by Georgia Tech's home arena, McCamish Pavilion in Atlanta, which is relatively modern (renovated in 2012). Haas was last renovated in 1999. A lot of college basketball arenas have modernized over the last two decades in terms of things like extra big screens and various amenities. Some have more of an NBA feel. Of course, there's nothing wrong with playing in a historic venue (e.g., Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium) and Haas has a bit of that historic and very collegiate feel. I was thoroughly entertained by the flag wavers who ran out onto either side of the court during timeouts. They wore rugby polo shirts in Berkeley Blue and California Gold. Unless you're sitting courtside, you're elevated and separated from the floor. Georgia Tech's old Alexander Memorial Coliseum used to be like that too, kind of (not all the way around). Same with PNC Arena. It's not my preference because I feel higher up and further away from the action. Haas has a seating capacity of 11,858, which is more than I expected. The arena had somewhat of an intimate feel to it, which I think is great for college basketball. Haas is currently in the middle of the Pac-12 when it comes to seating capacity. It's the sixth biggest out of 12 arenas. When we first checked out the upper level, we ran right into Cal's mascot, Oski the Bear. Having never seen Oski before, I thought he was an usher or someone cosplaying as the Cal Golden Bear. Oops. We got food and drink from the "Bear Cave" concession stand on the upper level. All-beef hot dogs, soft pretzels, and nachos with cheese were $7 each. Popcorn, served in Cal-themed boxes, was $5 per box. Fountain drinks, including lemonade (which my oldest niece got), were $8 in a souvenir cup (we got a couple of those) and $5 in a regular cup. Dasani bottled water, $5. Everything was par for the course. Standard fare, nothing special. We ended up throwing away a pretzel because it was so plain and bland (not salted). The pretzel is the only thing I don't recommend. The hot dogs were A-OK. Just like other sporting venues, you dress the dogs yourself. I pumped ketchup, mustard, and relish on mine. The court at Haas Pavilion is named Pete Newell Court after the coach who led Cal to the 1959 NCAA championship. Two of the retired numbers on the men's side who I'm familiar with are NBA All-Stars Kevin Johnson (1983-87) and Jason Kidd (1992-94). Both played for the Phoenix Suns and Kidd eventually won an NBA championship with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011. Steph Curry recently attended the Cal vs Stanford women's game on January 8, 2023. read more

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A great place to check out an indoor game. It is a fun atmosphere for a sporting event. I got to see the BAR Tournament featuring College Women's basketball. Cal has a great facility. read more

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Low rating is for the concessions (great place to watch a game). They gave us bad, expired old candy in a beat-up deteriorated box (box of Skittles tasted off with mealy texture, so I checked and saw they were way past the expiration date. Doesn't candy have a VERY long expiration date?!). ALSO, we got nachos and the cheese wasn't edible. Most fake cheese is edible but this tasted 100% like chemicals and nothing else. Have never had something so bad. So skip the concessions. read more

I've been going to games since 1976 and I truly love watching basketball games here. The arena was originally built in 1933 as the Men's Gym. It was renamed Harmon Gym in 1959, after Oakland financier A.K.P. Harmon, who donated the funds to build Cal's first indoor athletic facility in 1879. Harmon was renamed Pete Newell Court in 1987 in honor of Pete Newell, who led Cal to the national championship in 1959 (yes, Cal won the national championship! But similar to the Rose Bowl, it was a long time ago and going to the national championship or Rose Bowl again won't happen in my lifetime). Proposals for replacing the old gym was toss around from the 1970s onward, but sentiment was strongly in favor of rebuilding it instead. As a result, the arena was heavily renovated from 1997 to 1999 after a donation of about $11 million from Walter A. Haas, Jr. of Levi Strauss & Co., building a new seating bowl within the existing walls. The new facility retains the intimate atmosphere, while having almost two times the seating capacity at 11,858. In particular, there are no soundproofing devices, a great scoreboard and fantastic sound system. The arena contains The Bench, a courtside section that holds approximately 900 student fans (the student actually had court side seats in my day). The amount of student seating doubled from the old arena, up to 2,600 from 1,300. It also holds the Pacific-10 Women's Basketball attendance record of 10,525 people, set during a game against rival Stanford University on February 23, 2008. The renovation, which cost $57.5 million, began after the final home game in March 1997 and was finished for the start of the 1999 season. read more

Great venue for a graduation ceremony. Had the honor of attending the 2019 Winter Commencement at the Haas Pavilion and listening to the keynote address from Robert D. Haas. What an inspiring man. If all businesses could be run with the same ethical practices, this world could be much more hopeful, positive, and impactful. Congratulations! To the Class of 2019 and to Kobe Damaso! "When the world zigs, zag." read more

Haas Pavilion - Robert D. Haas "64 Keynote Address, Winter 2019 Commencement - Stadiums & Arenas Near Me - Berkeley, California

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BEAR TERRITORY - I PREFER HARMON GYM I attended the UCLA game last Thursday night and noticed the change of atmosphere in the basketball crowd at the once mighty, intimidating Harmon Gym. Growing up as fan of the Cal Golden Bears Men's Basketball team I always loved watching on TV the team play its home games at Harmon Gym. It had the intimate feel of a high school gymnasium but on a bigger scale. Before the Warriors crowd at "Roracle" I believe the best basketball crowd in the Bay Area was at Harmon Gym. It was shaped like a shoebox and smelled like funk inside - I loved it because it provided a true home field advantage. The capacity of Harmon Gym was between 6,000 and 6,500. Because the rows of seats were vertical the crowd felt it was on top of the basketball court similar to the intimate feel of AT&T Park in San Francisco. The noise inside Harmon Gym wasn't loud but jet loud. Former NBA great and UCLA basketball player Reggie Miller hated playing at Harmon Gym. He said the crowd was rude and loud. When Cal beat UCLA, who at that time was ranked No. 1 in the country with Reggie Miller, the crowd rushed the court. I described the crowd at Harmon Gym as the "Cameron Crazies of the West", a reference of Cameron Indoor Stadium at Duke University. I was a student at Cal during the time Harmon Gym was renovated and expanded into Haas Pavillion. I agreed with renovating the arena but not expanding the seats to about 12,000 to make it more look like an NBA arena. Trying to compete with the Warriors I believe was a mistake. What made Harmon Gym special was due to its small capacity as getting tickets to Cal basketball games were near impossible to get despite if the team was good or not. There were significant moments I attended at Haas Pavilion. I was there at Cal's first Pac-10 home game when Haas Pavillion was completed against the No. 1 in the country Arizona Wildcats. Cal was leading by about 10 points at halftime. Even though Cal lost the game the noise inside Haas Pavilion was the loudest basketball game I ever attended including any NBA games. (The only other loudest sporting event I ever attended was in 2007 when the Tennessee Volunteers played Cal Golden Bears at California Memorial Stadium.) I was there at Haas Pavillion when Cal beat Arizona State to become the regular season Pac-10 Champions - the first conference championship since 1960. As I expected the overall expansion of seats has hurt the exuberance atmosphere crowd watching basketball games at Haas Pavillion. During seasons when the Cal Basketball team wasn't doing well the attendance was half the capacity. Even now with success of Cal basketball this year the attendance isn't full to capacity due to the Golden State Warriors' success. In addition the student section isn't along the baseline and sideline when Haas Pavillion first opened but now the student section appears to be only the baseline as the sideline is only for the press. The noise that was generated throughout the arena during Harmon Gym and when Haas Pavillion first opened is now limited to the baseline. Overall I loved Harmon Gym better than Haas Pavilion. read more

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Gooooo Bears!!!! We watched the Berkeley women's basketball team play hard vs UCLA. Prices: Adult tickets = $10 Youth tickets = $1* *Special "Cal Kid's Day" pricing on select days. It comes with: *admission *Cal Berkeley silly bands (first 500 kids) *poster making *face painting *jumpy, bouncy fun *kids' basketball booth *free team poster & special autograph signing Next "Cal Kid's Day" event will be on: *2/12- vs Washington State @7:30pm (adults wear pink & get in for $3) *2/26- vs Oregon State @7:30pm Gooooo Bears! read more

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Pretty building to see a college game at. Security is pretty tight around the it, but you can definitely feel the team spirit. We even got to see the Bear Mascot walking around. :) read more

Haas Pavilion - Stadiums & Arenas Near Me - Berkeley, California

I was fortunate enough to attend Cal during the glorious basketball era that saw J. Kidd on the team, an appearance in the Sweet 16, and old skool ballin' at Harmon Gym. We were all excited when old Harmon magically reopened as Haas Pavilion - instantly doubling the capacity of the place from 6,000 to 12,000. It was ultramodern, and just as exhilarating and awe-inspiring. We should be proud that our house is widely recognized as one of the loudest, most intimidating venues in all of college basketball. I LOVE this place! Go Bears!!! read more

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I can't wait to watch the Women's Basketball WNIT championship game here tomorrow! Going to Haas Pavillion has been great this season. Not only is watching basketball (men's and women's) great here, it's more affordable and more entertaining than most other pro sports in the area. And...now my kid wants to go to Cal Berkeley for college. How cool is that?!! read more

Just attended the Cal women's basketball game versus Louisville. To boost attendance, they were giving away tickets for a measly $1. It was in the nosebleed section but since this is a relatively small venue, even the cheap seats had a great view of the court. Before the game, they had Oski wandering around the courtyard taking pictures with the fans. They had face painters and tiny hoops for the kids. They were also giving out free t-shirts to the fans. At half time, they had Shaolin monks and their students perform martial arts acrobatics. There was a tiny girl of maybe 5 or 6 years old who was really giving it her all. The dance team and the band was also in attendance. I remember taking finals in the old, pre-renovated relic years ago. It was cold and drafty. Today's facility was clean, bright and very accessible. Despite being disappointed that Cal lost the game today, I was impressed with everything the school did to support the team. I will be back. read more

Haas Pavilion - women's basketball - Stadiums & Arenas Near Me - Berkeley, California

Haas Pavilion is a fun venue for some heated Pac-10 basketball and the crowd (provided the Bears are doing well) is usually very much behind the home team with plenty of boos, cheers, and profanity. The venue itself is very clean, modern, and fairly new looking. Even the men's bathrooms are nice and the seats (bench) were comfortable. Most importantly, the stadium is small enough to where even the nosebleeds make for decent seats. My last game here I came away impressed at the noise behind the crowd and a laughable student section trying to reve up the team. In the wild conference of the Pac-10 where UCLA, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Stanford are battling for titles each year, the Haas Pavilion gives Berkley a fairly good home advantage. read more

Welcome to Berkeley. This is Bear Territory. Haas Pavillion is one of the most underrated venues in all of sports, and one of the oldest. Home to California basketball and volleyball a few Pac-8, Pac-10 and Pac-12 Championship teams have called this home. New for the 2015 season is all new camera equipment, lights, scoreboard and stereo. Roll on you Bears! read more

I hope that one day my kids will be able to go to Cal. It's my second favorite school. I find an opportunity to drop on to campus a few times a year either for some sporting event, self guided campus tour, or after a visit to the Laurence Hall of Science. What about Haas Pavillion? Facilities are clean. The Cal band is amazing. It's right on campus and a short walk to downtown. Parking isn't a problem for the women events. read more

Haas Pavilion is the home to men's and women's basketball, women's volleyball, other sporting events, and non-sporting events. Amongst them, final exams. Haas Pavilion hosts final exams, usually the STEM ones. I inquired what exams were taking place when I headed to the RSF Gym to workout. One was a mathematical branch final and another time was a chemistry one. Haas Pavilion is where the Winter Commencement takes place for the December Graduates. I received my baccalaureate degree in film in the postal mail. I decided to celebrate by walking amongst the December graduates at Haas Pavilion. (It was too late to get my name in the program, I did not care. This was going to be a personal, quiet celebration and a final victory lap for me in finishing my UC Berkeley undergraduate career.) The Winter (Fall/Autumn) Commencement is different from the Spring Commencement at Haas Pavilion. It is a smaller commencement ceremony, there were only about 500 graduates versus the 5,000 plus this past spring. There are speeches from the one of the deans, the chancellor, the student speakers, the guest commencement speaker, the presentation of degrees, and the tassel switch. All 500 graduates' names would be announced at the ceremony and presented with a commemorative graduation scroll. The six doctorate candidates were first, they were hooded by their respective advisers, given scrolls, and invited to sit on stage with their professors. Then the masters and baccalaureate are called to the stage, hand in their cards to have their names announced, be given a commemorative scroll, pose for a couple GradImages photographs, and then return to their seat. At the Spring Commencement, the names are not read. The deans of the respective colleges have the candidates stand up and beseech the chancellor to confer the degrees. As the graduates walk out of the stadium, they are given commemorative pins with their graduation year. Commemorative scrolls are handed out in the departmental commencement exercises. I got mine in the Rhetoric and Film Commencement a few days later. The Winter Commencement was carefully planned and well-organized. Participating graduates were to report to Gate 9 near Edwards Diamond, it would be marked by balloons. The event organizers were still setting up when the early birds and myself arrived. We were to check in and report to the holding area, the Haas Club room. There were little bottles of water at the bar for the graduates. And we filled out cards for our names to be read and for GradImages to contact and encourage us to order commencement pictures. I managed to luck out positioning myself to be one of first graduates to line up at one of the two Haas Club Room doors. I spoke with one of the monitors who was kind enough to help me with my graduation attire while waiting for the processional to begin. I assisted her with minding the other graduates such as getting them to keep walking inside, to not block the doorways, and directing them to the bathrooms. I could not believe my luck when I saw one of the vice chancellors wearing his Marshall banner coming to collect the graduates on my side. And I would be walking right behind him. I had to get a selfie with him to commemorate the moment. We were advised to line up single file at 9:50 A.M. behind the good vice chancellor on our side of the door. We walked behind him single file and had to walk alongside the wall as we were guided by one of the event coordinators. We stopped at one point while the vice chancellor checked his phone for his signal to bring us in. It really hit me as we entered the Haas Pavilion court this was real, I was officially finished with my undergraduate career. I am a UC Berkeley Graduate, a member of the Class of 2016. The Vice Chancellor stood in the middle of the path as the graduates walked on either side of him. I scored a front row seat, that was cool! When I went to get my scroll, the commencement speaker the Olympic swimmer Dana Vollmer (BA, Anthropology '10) handed me mine with a handshake. I then stopped for GradImages' two cameras to take my pictures before returning to my seat. After the tassels were switched from right to left, we were sent off into the world. On my way out, I scored two photo opportunities. Dana Vollmer congratulated me while I complimented her on her inspirational and emotional speech. Her words of wisdom: "I challenge you to tackle the unknown, be open to learn from everything and everyone, and whatever you do, stay positive! Your dream life is out there; you just have to be brave enough to create it." When another student approached her for a selfie, I thanked Dana for her time, and she surprised me by giving me a hug. The next thing I knew, I walked into an opportunity to have a photo opp. with the UC Berkeley Chancellor too. It was an honor to walk with the December UC Berkeley Class of 2016 at Haas Pavilion. Chiara Roarin' Out! https://youtu.be/foyAOoVagWw read more

Well this place is an interesting smaller venue. I have been here primarily to shoot USC vs Cal Basketball. Consequently I have a different view of this place. However many of the comments are standard to just the area and campus in general. For example parking for Haas Pavilion is ridiculously bad. I think they do it to encourage public transit on bart or the bus but I have no clue for sure. I have found parking on the street several blocks away from campus. The will-call and ticketing booths are not next to the pavilion. This makes it a bit difficult to get in, if you are not used to coming here and are unfamiliar with the process. It took me about 20 minutes to find where to go my first time here. The restrooms reminded me of any other stadium restrooms, a bit below par but handling the workload barely. I know that they also have food and drink stands around the entire facility. These stands seem to crank out a lot of food but who knows what it tastes like as I haven't had an opportunity to try the grub as I have always been The view of the court to all of the seats seemed fairly uninterrupted and direct. I know from having looked up from the floor to the rafters. The staff seemed extremely helpful and courteous! They offered to guide me to the press room so that I could transfer, upload, or send photos via WiFi. This would really help when I am under a deadline for submitting photos. Overall though I see this place as a decent place for a game of hoops or a concert. Hope you enjoy a visit here. read more

Who loves Haas Pavillion? EVERYBODY LOVES HAAS PAVILLION!! I think my favorite part about this place is that there are no bad seats. I don't recommend the food, but if you're coming to a college basketball game for the good eats, you probably wouldn't be on yelp... ProTip: For any but the most popular games, ,buy the CHEAPEST seats possible and then just walk to any seat you would like. Nobody cares! read more

Only giving it a 5 star not because I'm a Cal fan, but went there to see my my Wildcats take on the Bears in the 2010 season. WHAT A GAME!!! Arizona pulled out the win in a triple OT thriller 107-105. There was this 60 year old drunk Cal fan who started just talked crap the entire game to my friends and myself. At the very end of the game when Cal lost "What kind of retarded parents would send their kids to UA?" Stay classy Cal. read more

I am not a Cal alumnus, but always love public schools as I went to one myself. I have gone to 2-3 Cal Bears football games and 2-3 basketball games in the last 6 or so years. I never wear gear for the opposing team and I root for Cal. The last time we went we took my son to a Cal basketball game. My son got squirmy, as all young boys do, and an old lady in her late 50's or 60's grabbed his leg, looked him straight in the eye and told him to stop moving around so much. Of course, as you'd expect, my son began to cry because he was 3 and we had to take him into the tunnel. I waited 5 minutes for my blood to cool and then told her that if she has issues, whether valid or not, that she should raise them with me and not a 3 year old and to never touch my son again. .... then yesterday, I took my wife, who is 7 months pregnant, my 14 year old girl and my son. The Cal basketball team played pretty poorly and it was clear they would lose so we got up to leave. A middle-aged man who I am pretty positive had been "pre-gaming" who sat right behind us yelled at us to sit down. I told him we got up because we were leaving. He said he "didn't give a shit" and that "he was missing the game." These things are happening in the alumni section, not the student section. I don't get it. What's wrong with people? Basketball games are for families too, not just for drunkards and curmudgeons. I am pretty sure I won't go back to Haas and won't go to Cal basketball games. read more

Came here to watch the CAL basketball team & this was my first time here. This venue is a good size - it's not the biggest venue but certainly bigger than my high school gym - so that's good in my book. All the employees that work here seem to be nice & probably go to school there. The venue was somewhat confusing at first but once you knew where you were seated it wasn't so bad. Plus there is plenty of people to help you if you got lost. They are all wearing yellow and dark blue jackets. The venue itself is nice. Very bright and clean. There wasn't trash everywhere and the place seem to be kept up which is always nice to see in places like this. Parking was the only issue for this place. The parking lot right across the seat was for season pass holders only which is good to keep in min when paying for a season pass. Parking on the street isn't the easiest thing to find on an evening , so try and find public parking lots which are no more than $5 to park for a few hours, other than , I think it was a beautiful spot. read more

Haas Pavilion, the home of the Bears. Men and women's basketball is played at this facility. Location is easy to find, parking is located across the street from the gym and or find parking on the street. Great place to catch a college game, students are loud. The pavilion has great views, you actually feel as if your looking down on the players. Will continue going and looking forward to my next visit. Go BEARS!!!!!! read more

Haas Pavilion-Cal Berkeley - 3 Stars: University of California-Berkeley basketball pavilion. Nice venue for the Cal-Bears, all above ground and right on the main campus. Seats are padded and easy on your fanny. Not known for its food, but Haas Pavilion is a nice upgrade from the old Harmon Gym. Parking is problematic, but then you are on the campus of Cal-Berkeley, so don't be surprised. read more

Go Bears! I love my Golden Bears, and Haas has a great feel to it. If only Coach Ben Braun wouldn't make the same mistakes each year, we might get a great team one year. I usually sit in section 17, about half way up, and there are lots of good loyal familiar fans in the vicinity to say hi to. Cal fans are good people. You can count on 'em. This is Ubaka's senior year, so hopefully a new point guard can step up. Women's games you can usually sit really close to the action, which this year is pretty hot. Coach Joanne Boyle's doing a great job in her 2nd year! read more

Came to my first mens Cal basketball game the other night and it was really fun! It was about a 10-15 minute walk from the Downtown Berkeley BART station but with all that's going on around you it doesn't feel like such a long walk. The Pavilion itself was well lit, clean and not too crowded. We sat in Section 24 and they were good seats. Even though we sat high up I still felt connected tot he game and had a good view of the action. My only complaint is that when the game was over it took a long time to get out of the stadium. read more

Be forewarned: seating in the upper levels isn't exactly all that. If your row is a numbered row, and not a lettered row, you won't have a seat back. It's just benches up top. And they're very cramped benches. So I guess the lack of a seat back maybe isn't so bad, since someone's lower appendages will be right up on you anyway. Also, if you're in the upper upper portion of the arena, your direct line of sight will be obstructed. That is, the gamefloor view is unaffected, but you won't see any of the scoreboards. All of those negatives, and the seat was still $35. Not cheap! A similarly-priced ticket at Eugene's Knight Arena, for example, provides you with an actual seat and a much better view of the entire arena. Still a fun place to watch a game, though. Nice and small enough so that it's usually packed. And I enjoyed the raucous crowd at the recent game against UCLA. Although I had to groan at the Bay Area's ever-present complex with southern California -- a "BEAT LA" chant erupted as the game drew to a close. Whatever. GO BRUINS! U-C-L-A-FIGHT-FIGHT-FIGHT! read more

In terms of college basketball arenas, it certain does the job. I can't tell if it's old--even though it is----because of renovations, yeah building face lifts! And forgive the Goldilocks reference, but it's not too big, not too small---it's just right. Overly robust college stadiums are just silly...and this one is clearly marked so you can't really get lost or confused. Even I can make my way and back track if I need to do so. The seating is padded so no uncomfortable butts afterward, and even though Cal lost last night, I still enjoyed myself immensely. There are obstructed views though farther up...just an fyi. Admission: $1 admission for the youngins...otherwise $10 general admission for adults. They do serve food and beverages....most are of the fried or junky variety.... so do what I do and byos. read more

Went to the Cal-Stanford match last night in this hotbed of school spirit. Literally. This place was freakin' hot with human bodies. Maybe because it was the dead of winter, they figured they did not need the HVAC on, but hot air rises, and when you can only afford the nose-bleed seats, you are gonna get a steam bath. But this only added to the excitement. You know how when it's down to the wire and everyone is on their feet and screaming? Well when Stanford comes to town, every second is like that. My ears are still ringing. Every point counts, every defensive stop means everything, and dunk will make your ears bleed. I love Cal and the Bears, but this review is supposed to be about the venue. It's a great place to watch a game, but if you can afford it, the lower you can sit, the better. And bleacher seats abound, which kind of sucks. Parking is a bitch. If you love sports, I highly recommend checking out a game here, the energy is incredible! read more

I was told by my friend who is a senior in college at CAL that they are forced to take FINALS in this space! Can you imagine?! Tables a foot and a half wide, folding chairs, echoing silence. Yuck. But for a basketball game I say YES. You must have the following items with you for an enjoyable experience: 1) CAL gear: sweatshirt is best (it's winter after all) 2) noise-canceling headphones (or earplugs) 3) a friend or two (I went alone once, and it was just a lot of noise and no one to gossip with about the TALL and amazingly athletic players) read more

I love this place! The floors are always squeaky clean and the environment makes you feel like a champion with athlete photos on the walls and trophies everywhere. My Cal spirit goes up by a lot when I step into this building. I also love the little corridor that connects the RSF with this building. It's very convenient when you want to use the restroom of the RSF and using the corridor to Haas to use the restroom is much more convenient. read more

Haas is cute and I have enjoyed basketball games there, but a good or loud or tough venue it is not. Seriously, "The Bench" would be a joke at ANY real basketball school, and if you think Haas crowds are loud you need to get out to more competitive sporting events. That all being said, it's a nice enough gym and none of the seats are particularly awful, although that upper deck is steep and weird. Now that I'm not a student I find the ticket prices galling-- upper deck $20!!!-- for basketball that is pedestrian at best. Never pay face-- get some cheap tix off craigslist. read more

Cool venue to watch a game especially to watch UCLA stomp the Bears. But, why did I have to leave my umbrella in a bucket by the door. Did they really think people would be honest. Of course my umbrella was stolen. They need some type of check in system if they are going to be so strict about it. RIP umbrella I hope you are in good hands. read more

This place is a glorified high school gym. There's not very much seating, and the benches are really cramped, so you'll have someone's knee jammed up into your back the whole game. They need to get the engineering students into this place and let them work some of their magic. The walkways around some of the midlevels are really narrow, without a lot of clear signage, so you have no idea where you're supposed to be going. I also noticed that a lot of the athletic staff have their offices here? Maybe you could expand the pavilion and move their offices somewhere else. Is there even a dedicated student section? If there is, it's hard to tell where. This isn't about Haas Pavilion itself, but the stuff they do at halftime during the basketball games. Man, I haven't seen halftime activities this sad since ... well, ever. You give $100 to a guy that can steer a remote control car around some cones and make a layup? Lame. read more

Wow, I got scooped within 5 minutes - that sucks. While I definitely agree that this place can get hot and parking sucks, I'll counter that if it was pleasantly cool and you weren't pissed off by riding BART over or searching for a parking space for 2 hrs, there's no way that you would be able cheer and boo and holler so much. It gets loud here! Really loud. Loud like older folks wear earplugs. Loud like last night the Stanford "cheerleaders" couldn't perform once or twice because they couldn't hear their "band." If you think you don't like college basketball, try a game here and take some boisterous and maybe slightly buzzed friends (preferably alums). Just a great place to see a game. read more

Thanks to a friend, this is the place where I have developed my pride for my Alma Mater men's basketball team 20 or so years since attending school and graduating from here. Go Cal Bears! read more

It continues to amaze me how awful the sound system is. It is even more unintelligible than a BART train car's. read more

Haas Pavilion - Cal rematch w/USC. Refs are letting them play. Only 3 fouls each with 7:47 left in 1st half. SC physical play gets no fouls. - Stadiums & Arenas Near Me - Berkeley, California

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After years of wanting to check it out, I finally went here for a Cal men's basketball game in December of 2008 (Cal spanked Portland 81-61). My wife and I enjoyed ourselves, and we could easily see all the action (part of this had to do with the Pavilion being less than half full- a lot of students were away for winter break). +The Pavilion is large (the seating capacity is 11,877), but intimate. It feels very cozy inside. +The fans are cool (they're loud, enthusiastic, and rarely obnoxious). There's truly a home-court advantage (the men are currently 13-0 at home this season, and are 1st in the Pac-12 with a 16-5 record). +The awards displays around the Pavilion are nice and impressive. +Every seat is a good seat (the seats are dark blue). +The seats are comfortable and pretty easy to get to. +It only takes 10 minutes to walk to the Pavilion from the Downtown Berkeley BART Station. +The Pavilion is very close to Telegraph Avenue (there are also some good places to eat and shop near the BART station). +Most tickets to sporting events are only $10-$20. +The atmosphere is nice, and everything is modern, including the restrooms (restrooms are finally being added to Memorial Stadium- fans shouldn't have to use portables). Haas Pavilion was renovated in 1999 (it used to be named Harmon Gym- the seating capacity at Harmon was only about 7,000). +Pete Newell Court really stands out, and the outside of the Pavilion was designed quite well. +The employees are friendly, and they truly seem to like where they work (at one point, a food vendor I dealt with a few minutes earlier watched the game for awhile while eating a hot dog- I initially thought that the guy was being lazy, but the Cal game was part of a doubleheader, and so he was probably on break). +The Cal band and the cheerleaders and Oski are always worth seeing (my dad and I like to make fun of Oski, but the mascot really is cute and lovable). +/-Some nice Cal T-shirts that I got for Christmas were purchased here. In general, though, not a large selection of merchandise is sold here (it's better to go to the Cal Student Store or Bancroft Clothing Co.). -As I expected, the walkways are a little narrow (I was happy to see that they're wider overall than the ones at Oracle Arena- getting to your seat before or during a Warriors game can be a real pain). This is mainly an issue when games are over and everyone is leaving (this is what Henry S. is alluding to at the end of his review). -The banners could be displayed better (this matters to me as a Cal alumni). They're a little hard to see. -The scoreboard is weak. It's not very big, and the images could be clearer (a commercial I saw featuring Cal players looked terrible on the screen). -The food is good, but the selection isn't (you really only have hot dogs, polish sausage, nachos, and candy to choose from). The prices are okay (when I went, bottled water was $3, and hot dogs were $4). -Parking in Berkeley is very limited. If you drive to the Pavilion, you'll need to park on the street or in a parking garage (almost all the parking spaces on the U.C. Berkeley campus are reserved). If you go to a parking garage, expect to pay at least $6. -As Sara A. has mentioned, the seats could be closer to the court. It's easy to see everything, but the court does seem a bit distant if you're not sitting really close to it. On another note, the seats are just places to sit. They don't have armrests or seatbacks (they're comfortable regardless). They're wide, but hopefully you won't get stuck next to someone massive or who wants to stretch out behind you (the seating at Memorial Stadium is similar, but much more tight). I look forward to going here again in the future. Haas Pavilion provides a beautiful and comfortable setting to watch a game. read more