The Message is the Same but the Amounts Have Changed

Last month, REALice Canada sent out a newsletter to ice rink managers about how to cut rising operational costs. The image used to illustrate was recycled from a newsletter sent five years ago!!! The message was the same, but the dollar values were changed to reflect today's realities.

No Chump Change

Okay, this is rather evident, but here goes. Five years ago, the higher costs weren't as large as they are today. $1K, $2K, $3K were significant then, but chump-change in comparison to what arenas are facing now. Today it's much more expensive, due to everything from inflation and higher material and labour costs, to higher utility costs and, in Canada, carbon taxes. (In North America, we might whine about the high cost of electricity - just count your lucky stars you're not running a rink in Norway where they're paying around $1.10/kWh).

The financial challenge for many ice rinks is real. Hammered with COVID-19 closures and regulations, the 2022-23 season let them finally loosen their belts a bit, with a renewed demand for ice time once again. Registered hockey players in Canada, according to Statista, slumped down to 345,481 players during the 2020-21 season, rebounding to 513,674 for 2021-22 -- around 75,000 short of the 2019-20 season. A similar, but less dramatic trend was seen in the USA.

Aging Infrastructure Doesn't Help

Compounding the financial challenge is aging infrastructures. According to the National Hockey League, the 4,800 indoor ice rinks in North America have an average age of 30 years. Unfortunately, very few of those older rinks were built with energy efficiency in mind. Worse yet, especially with privately-owned facilities, owners are shy to attack large retrofit projects due to the downtime required and accompanying loss of revenue. So they wait (Business-As-Usual) and pass the higher operating costs on to their user groups, resulting in higher registration fees (which might account for the decline of registered hockey players). The user groups might be willing to pay those hiked hourly rates (organize more bottle drives or pizza nights) -- or they just might pack up and take their ice time elsewhere, if elsewhere happens to be available.

Or the rinks find clever ways to reduce costs. REALice is a case in point, reducing heating and ice plant costs significantly, lowering run time of the compressors, pushing out overhaul intervals, extending the ice plant's life... and installed in a few hours.

If rinks continue to follow their Business-As-Usual pattern, a couple things will happen. Ice time will become even more unaffordable, less kids will skate and those who do will be the ones blessed with parents with deep pockets.

Is that the future we want for ice sports?