Iowa State University


Inside Iowa State
Oct. 4, 1996

Consultant: At least $800,000 needed for ice arena upgrade

A consultant who has reviewed the Ames/ISU ice arena said it will take a minimum of $800,000 to make some basic improvements (new flooring, dasher boards and Plexiglas) to the facility. A complete renovation would cost at least $3.75 million; the renovation plus the addition of a second rink would cost at least $4.5 million. (A use study showed that major ice users wanted about 2,000 hours of ice time last year-- or about 500 more hours than was available.)

VSC Sports Consultants, Sherman Oaks, Calif., was hired by the city to calculate the demand for ice time and the cost of various upgrades to the existing facility. A local committee, with representatives from the city, ISU and user groups, has been asked to come up with a long-range plan for the ice arena by the end of the year.

The ice arena was built in 1978 with used equipment. ISU owns it, but the city's parks and recreation department manages it. The arena is used primarily by Ames figure skating and youth hockey programs, the ISU hockey club and ISU broomball intramural teams. The city schedules public skating time as well.

Neither the city nor Iowa State has the capital improvement dollars to renovate the ice arena. City and university officials agree that private fund raising is crucial and that those who use the arena need to be behind any fund-raising effort.

What do you think?

If you have an idea, suggestion or opinion on options for renovating the Ames/ISU ice arena, please consider sharing it. Ideas and opinions will be tabulated and passed on to officials involved in the issue.

ISU officials particularly are interested in your thoughts on these questions:

E-mail your response to ithink@iastate.edu. Or go to the "today's news" section of the World Wide Web and click the "What do you think?" button.

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Revised 10/3/96