Quote:
Originally Posted by Table 5
From a functional perspective the Oval would be just fine for the Olympics, as it did receive a new roof a few years ago, and still has some of the fastest ice in the world (world records are basically all held in Calgary or Utah). The biggest issue for an Olympics seems to be the lack of seating. I think they could probably add some temporary seats to the center of the rink (which currently houses two hockey rinks), because otherwise I don’t see them being able to do so without some major reconstruction.
I think it’s one of those "conditions" that the IOC would have to accept because spending hundreds of millions on a new oval would be silly. Outside of the new Winsport arenas (which could house something like short-track and some pre-lim hockey), I think the Oval is the closest existing venue that one can say is more or less ready to go as-is if you can accept some compromises with crowd size.
Most of the other venues would require some serious upgrades.
|
The infield is for the use of the athletes and officials. During ISU competitions the hockey and short track rinks are removed for this purpose.
Additional temporary seating would have to be added above the running track between the permanent seating. I believe that's also what was done during the 1988 games.