I went to champs in LA. Both lower final and upper final. It was my first time at an actual event and it was pretty dang good.

I'll do my best to answer what you had with my experiences:

• I bought both day tickets through seat geek, upper final was significantly more expensive than lower final.
• Lower finals I sat in 2nd level, it was fine. Upper finals decided to ball out and go lower level, was worth the extra imo. My suggestion buy what you can afford.
• We arrived about an hour and half to check out what was outside the venue, gekko had just been launched so was cool to see the gekko shit
• Yes the games started on time.
• I honestly don't remember the policies in LA, we just bought food at venue.
• Both days I was there, didn't make it on stream.
• It was loud, EG for both lower and upper final - NA crowd.

If you're considering going, do it. It's worth it, I also am considering going to Toronto. The vibes are good.