By ED QUINLAN
The closest thing to an Olympic venue site in Utah county is the new ice rink to be built at Seven Peaks Resort in Provo.
The Ice Sheet Authority, Utah County, Provo City and Seven Peaks recently agreed to build the Olympic's practice rink northeast of the Seven Peaks water park in Provo, said Max Rabner, a Seven Peaks partner.
The Olympic Committee will donate a little over $3 million to the building of the ice sheets. Both Utah County and Provo City are putting up $2 million each toward the project. Seven Peaks will furnish the other $1.7 million in land and equipment needed to make the new facility possible, said Rabner. The entities joined in a collective partnership to come to an agreement on the site, Rabner said.
The new facility is being built and partially funded by the Olympic Committee for use by athletes in preparation for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games, said Rabner.
The rinks are not expected to be used for any actual Olympic events, just for practice.
'It's more than just the Olympics, it's for Provo,' Carlile said.
The new rinks are expected to be in great demand by the local population. Rabner said the rinks will be used by the public for general skating, by figure skaters, hockey teams and other ice enthusiasts.
Seven Peaks' agreement with the Ice Sheet Authority made it possible to build two ice rinks for what the Olympic committee was willing to pay for just one, said Rabner.
The second rink is still Olympic size, but there is less seating. During off-season months, the second rink will likely be used for in-line skating and hockey, Rabner said.
'We will get plenty of use out of the ice sheet,' Carlile said.
Carlile said she has visited various ice sheets around Utah and the country. They are in operation for about 18-20 hours a day. The Ogden arena seems to always have someone out on the rink and is in use about 20 hours daily, said Jason Christensen from the Olympic Committee.
The new arena will have 1,200 permanent seats with the space for 800 additional seats when necessary, Rabner said.
Utah County might still be chosen for an Olympic venue site, according to Thorne. 'It's still early, there's a lot to be decided,' Thorne said. Rabner, however, fells that Utah County's chances of getting an ice event are relatively unlikely. The new arena is built for more of a practice size, he said.
There won't be enough seating for a final event, but the facility could handle preliminaries, Rabner said.
The Olympic committee plans to use various Utah ice sheets in addition to the Provo rinks at Seven Peaks. Other ice-sheet locations include West Valley and Ogden. The Olympic committee plans to use these sites as practice rinks for Olympic competitors.
Olympic ice-rink venues are scheduled, however, in Salt Lake and Weber counties.
West Valley, Delta Center, Cottonwood Heights and Ogden ice sheets are planned to be used for actual events. The West Valley Ice Arena will be the location of ice hockey and short track speed skating events. The Delta Center will play host to figure skating and ice hockey competitions. Cottonwood Heights Ice Arena will host curling events. The Ogden sheet will host the women's hockey competition.
The practice sheet at Seven Peaks is the closest thing Utah County's got to an actual venue site so far.
'It's a long time before the games, and we are excited to at least have the preliminaries here,' Thorne said.
The Seven Peaks building will be approximately 80-90,000 square feet. The larger building with the two arenas will offer better program development, Rabner said. The arena will be exclusive for Olympic preparation use 30 days every year, he said.
Seven Peaks and the Ice Sheet Authority entered a lease agreement. Seven Peaks will manage the facility for 14 years. After which, other options will be available. The Ice Sheet Authority, an Olympic-related committee, owns the ice sheet while Seven Peaks leases it, Rabner said. Seven Peaks guaranteed the Ice Sheet Authority that the proposed rink will not cost more than the original price, he said.
The final agreement should be finalized soon, Rabner said.