Hm... That certainly is intriguing... It would get more people interested in PvP. Plus, Alliance Tournament teams could use it for practice. Plus, you could have different divisions, like 1v1, 5v5, 10v10, etc.

They aren't proposing a safe style of combat beyond anything other than two people being able to fight in high sec without drawing the ire of concord. The word arena doesn't show up in the blog at all.

Just because 2, 5, 15, or even 100 people are able to engage in a massive knockdown-dragout for a few minutes in highsec without Concord interference doesn't mean it's automatically bad. It also doesn't mean other players won't try their damnedest to spoil it.

The only way i'm going to get upset with this is if they take it outside the bounds of the normal game play into an instance.

Low-sec low-level complexes have, apparently, already created an arena-like atmosphere. This just legitimizes limited forms of it in high-sec while removing the need for players to go through a (relatively) convoluted process to do something that should be more than possible were EVE "real."

I can see your point, but I don't see why it's an issue now.

The real issue with PvP in low and null-sec isn't "dueling" in high-sec, it's that low and null-sec aren't attractive enough for a lot of non-PvP'ers. If official "dueling" drew off a large number of low/null-sec pilots into becoming high-sec quasi-carebears then the real problem isn't dueling, it's that low/null-sec isn't attractive enough.

If they were designed right "arenas" might actually be a good thing.

Creating PvP-based (blood)sport events would fit the EVE I've been playing since 2006 without adding anything you don't think it needs.

Players control gambling? You are joking, right? I bet I can destroy your ship in a duel. I win. Now, pay up. What, no?!

Who said it would be fair? For that matter when have I said it should be fair? Hell, if you'd bothered to read even half of the stuff I've posted you'd understand that I've only suggested using NPC/server mechanics to implement a structure which players can use, abuse, or ignore to their hearts' content. I've even pointed out, repeatedly in some cases, just how downright unfair some of this crap could be even in high-sec.

Where is the fair in:
Nuking someone in a low/null-sec NPC arena fight to make money because the bets on them are high enough and everyone betting against them are on "your" side.
Providing off-grid boosting to any duel/arena fight.
CONCORD sitting back and snarfing in their coffee as the person you're dueling, a person who agreed to stop at hull, continues shooting into your hull until your ship blows up just because they wanted your stuff.
A poor loser decides that because everyone in an NPC "arena" are assholes he's going to be a major douche bag and nuke the "bookie" NPC after everyone's placed some heavy bets on a fight, all so that they lose all their money.

I don't really see much of anything fair in those scenarios, and those are scenarios that could play out under pretty much anything and everything that I've either suggested or agreed with.