I live in Leeds and have done for the past 7 years. I play for a rugby team, a football team, I'm also a member of a cycling club and Chapel Allerton racket club, so have a good idea of what sport is like in Leeds. If the only thing you've heard mentioned is rugby, football and cricket that's because their the professional teams and your talking to fans but to suggest there's a lack of sporting diversity on that basis is just incorrect. I don't know how interested you are in sports (apart from football obviously!) but there's a lot going on in Leeds, pretty much everything but ice hockey!
Fair enough, i assumed and it made an arse out of me. Speedway? And my point remains - why NOT have a permanent ice rink? Every other large city has bloody got one.
There hasn't been any Speedway in Hull for eight years now. Temporary ice rinks at Christmas attract tens of thousands of people, most of whom probably never go anywhere near an ice rink during the rest of the year.
Yeah no speedway your right there, although there's only a handful of places in the country that bother with that! Completely agree the city needs an ice rink, that temporary one in Millennium Square is always packed in the winter. Has Leeds ever had a permanent ice rink?
He wasn't arguing that Leeds didn't need an ice rink, he just said it probably wasn't viable to put an ice rink in an events venue that was aiming to stage so many events. For the record, none of the busiest events venues in the world top ten is also a skating rink, that's possibly why they're all in the top ten.
It's not arguing, it's debating! I agree the city needs and ice rink but I don't think the new arena was the place to do it, it's designed to be an arena capable of putting on acts 7 days a week, an ice rink would have limited that. Based on that list OLM posted there's 21 acts playing in a single month, they wouldn't have the time to set up the ice rink in between shows, so it would either be a choice between an ice rink or an extra 10 acts or so a month, the later is more appealing to the majority I would have thought.
Fair enough if that's your view, I'd argue that they couldve done away with at least half of those acts and had an ice rink. It seems to me they're desperately trying to put on as much as possible to justify it NOT having a permanent sports team based there. Kaiser Chiefs, Status Quo, Wet Wet Wet and a tribute band - really attracting the pinnacle of world's talent there. Maybe not ice rinks but how many of those host a professional sports team regularly?
Tribute band. You've obviously never come across The Australian Pink Floyd Show, it's one of the most watched touring shows in the world, over three million people have seen it.
Only in the same way that Cirque du Soleil are a Michael Jackson tribute act. They are a tribute band, but not in the normal sense of the term, they sell it out easily.
But you laughed at me for calling them a tribute band. Seems a little odd you now refer to them as that yourself.
Three million people have been to see it and you want to paint them as some ****e band from Brough Fakefest. They're massive, they'll sell it out, they'll make lots of money, but unfortunately a few hundred people won't be able to go ice skating.
No I didnt, I never said anything of the sort about their appeal. I said they were a tribute band and you laughed.
Hull Arena is completely in the wrong location, is under utilised by an out-of-touch council who only cater for old people most of the time at all 3 of their venues (bar the comedian shows only), and the Arena isn't in the greatest state either - I went to see Ed Sheeran there in November (the biggest gig the council have put on for about 18 months) and it looked like it hadn't been maintained since ut was opened! ...obe of the things that worries me RE: council ownership of the KC too. A new arena should be built on the site of the former LA's. A 'medium-sized' concert hall was meant to be built in the MyPlace youth facility that was to be built on the site, but the council pulled out of the bid for funding and it ended up being one of only 2 MyPlace of about 25 proposed across the country not to be built. All the rest gained the funding they applied for.
I work in Leeds. Speaking to people who live here, the arena's been put in completely the wrong place from a transport perspective. It's a nightmare getting in and out of the City by road most days. Somewhere on the outskirts or right next to the motorway would be my preference.
