Quote:
Originally Posted by Manhattanboy
That's why I was so disappointed that a community rink was scrapped from the design. It would have been cool if somehow the rinks could have been connected in some manner - with public skating going on at the same time as a Flames practice. You take a break from skating on the community rink, grab a coffee and take in the Flames practice for a while.
You make the team accessible to people who would never go to a game.
I think this is the model in places like Vegas (which built a very cool practice facility).
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That's not really what the community rink would have been. It would have been like what they have in Edmonton where "Community Arena" is just a fancy way of saying, "We want the city to pay for our practice rink, and we'll let the public skate on it if we're not using it -- sometimes."
You wouldn't have public ice time available at the same time as a practice because they'd be using the ice for their practice.
Basically, Calgary already has what you're talking about at Winsport, where the Flames practice sometimes, and will probably do so even more now that the Corral is rubble.
Really, having a practice rink at the arena is good for the teams, but it's not really a great community asset because to use it, the public has to make their way to Stampede Park and likely will need to pay for parking and the ice won't likely be available any time there's something going on in the main arena.