Hartford Connecticut's Adriaen's Landing Convention Center Arena

[FSWer]

Does anyone know if the Arena at the Adriaen's Landing Convention Center going up in Hartford,CT. and opening in 2005 will be Olympic Size or at least sutable enough for the USFSA. to finually start bringing Major Competitions to this part of the World? Thanks.

[CanAmSk8ter]

We *could* be having major competitions at the Civic Center. Worlds were held there in 1981. We were actually in the running for 2001 Nationals, but Boston got them instead. The problem is that the clubs in the area haven't been bidding for events. I'm not positive which club was bidding for Nationals. I know my club didn't think it was worth it because it's hard to make money off of major events, and often clubs end up losing money. Some clubs lose money even hosting Sectionals.

It's not only the rink they look at, either. There has to be enough hotel space for hundreds of skaters, coaches, officials, and members of the press, not to mention fans who travel to the competition. There also has to be a major airport reasonably nearby, so the skaters and officials can get in. There has to be another rink nearby for practices, and it has to have a fair amount of seating for spectators. If you think about it, Hartford has all of this. But no club wants to bid for the big events. Why? $$$

At any rate, I hadn't heard anything about Aedrian's Landing having an arena. If there is a rink there, I think it'll be a small, public-skate type rink. We have three twin-rink training centers within half an hour of Hartford, so I don't think we need another one, and the Civic Center is in good enough shape that I don't think they'd be building another arena.

[FSWer]

Because I'd love to know what they do for the fans that find it hard to travel a long distance,and would say that a place is too far for them to get to?

[CanAmSk8ter]

Originally posted by FSWer
Because I'd love to know what they do for the fans that find it hard to travel a long distance,and would say that a place is too far for them to get to?

They don't "do" anything for fans. That's not the purpose of the ISU. Their first concern is getting skaters and officials in safely, and usually if that can be done, fans can get in ok too. A place that's too out-of-the-way for a substantial number of people to get to would not be awarded a major competition in the first place. Lake Placid is a good example; they get events like Junior Nats, Adult Nats, and whatever synch event it was that they had. They do ok getting the skaters in, but I think very few fans would want to travel to Lake Placid in the winter. There's no major airport nearby (Montreal and Albany are both 2+ hours), and the access roads are supposed to be awful in bad weather, which they have for much of the winter. I doubt the club has even bid on regular Nationals in years, because they would not be likely to get it. The 1980 Olympics were, I've heard, awful in terms of logistics. I wouldn't know, I wasn't born yet ;))