Only if they have the money to do it I imagine - I can see the KC in a state of disrepair in the future if in council hands, as Assem has the money to maintain the the stadium, but won't do it (via the SMC) out of his own pocket, but obviously would if he owned it. The council wouldn't pay for it either, and we know they wouldn't.
Living on t'other side of pennines - I would say the arguments about Hull not being able to attract the bands because people can easily travel to Leeds are not proved by the fact that the Liverpool concert venue built recently (and Manchester is not really that far away from scouse land) does attract the big name acts as well as Manchester. But it needs a council and business men with vision, and that is the problem in so many towns. The old guard councillors get re-elected time after time and they will not put into places the changes needed. Perhaps a campaign for a directly elected mayor should be started
Seeing as Leeds is the 3rd largest city in England then only 2 cities come into this comparison. Hereis a list of the places with ice rinks. A lot of them are very insignificant places. http://www.birminghamiceskating.co.uk/icerinks/ I think Leeds not having an ice skating team like Hull,playing in front of a handful of people and reliant on council subsidies for years, will not unduly concern the councillor the citizens of Leeds. I would swap the forward looking councillors of Leeds for the dinosaurs on Hull council any day of the week. There is not the interest in ice skating obviously. Every major city in Europe has an ice rink, often more than one but there doesn't seem to be the demand here.
See the comments re the winter ice rink from the 2 Leeds residents on this thread. You wouldnt believe how packed it gets. Except Leeds, obvs.
Ice rinks generally lose money, even the ones that are dual ice rinks/event venues often lose money, standalone event venues are far more profitable, so it's down to simple economics. Even London only has four ice rinks and that's for a population of over eight million people(there were five, but one shut due to lack of interest). Even the outdoor Christmas ones that attract a lot of people are often not financially viable without a major sponsor. Birmingham had one of the biggest, it attracted 60,000 visitors every year, but when the sponsor pulled out they had to bin it, as it wasn't self supporting. Simple fact is, barely any bugger goes ice skating apart from one week at Christmas.
We missed the opportunity to build a 5000 capacity arena as part of the Superstadium development - wasted money on the Gemtec (or whatever its called at the moment) Arena and a skateboard park (now long gone) albeit I accept the cost the stadium rose above budget and there wouldn't have been the money for such a venue then. 5000 would probably be big enough to attract all but the mega acts/bands whilst not costing a fortune to build. The site of the Gemtec Arena would be ideal IMHO. A new venue to replace the Ice Arena would also be a good spot.
It is a novelty. Would an indoor rink be packed all year? New York has a popular outdoor one and also has indoor ones. German cities with indoor rinks have outdoor ones which are popular because they make a change. I think if there is any possibility of running a uccsessful ice rink which didn't lose money Leeds will have one. I don't think the one in Hull brings any financial benefits.
Have I missed the moment recreational ice skating became the biggest thing since a sliced Jacksons loaf???? The Arena in Leeds is primarily a concert venue. Why compromise and make it a ice rink with one stand too??? They couldnt sustain a professional Ice Hockey team, come on lets look at the sporting achievements of my West Yorkshire neighbours at the moment. They can only just manage to keep one professional football team in the Championship? The other football teams nearby are Farsely Celtic and Guiseley. Between T'white ****e and T'Rhinos they wouldn't know what to do with an ice rink all year. Anyway if they want to get their rocks off skating around like girls they can just come to Bradford, there is really ****ty (in worse condition than the Hull Arena) Rink in the city centre! Let just leave the ice thing. Boring!
They had the Christmas ice rink in Manchester too, but the rink in Altrincham I think it was, not that popular, maybe because its not in the city. I don't think bands come to Hull because of the location. Hull has had a bad reputation for years but even though we know it isn't bad. It's not promoted in the right way to show off the best bits & the positives. Maybe this culture city thing will turn it around. It seemed to do wonders for Liverpool.
