Arena curling

History

Prior to around 2000, most Curling clubs in the United States followed the traditional Canadian model, operating in private facilities on dedicated ice sheets. When curling was introduced to a wider American audience during the 2002 Winter Olympics, interest in the sport grew dramatically. With the huge and sudden influx of new curlers, many existing curling clubs quickly filled. In addition, there developed strong interest in curling where there had never been before, in seemingly unlikely warm climates such as California, Arizona and Texas.

The intense capital investment needed to buy or build new private ice facilities was a significant obstacle to the development of new curling clubs in the United States. Instead, many fledgling curling clubs have solved this problem by operating in traditional arena ice facilities, renting ice by the hour and sharing ice sheets with skating sports such as hockey and figure skating.

Advantages of Arena Curling

The major advantage of arena curling is the ability to form a new curling club without the burden of buying or building a private ice facility. New curling clubs can rent only the ice time they need, reducing their start up costs and risk. This model also is good for club growth, assuming the hosting ice arena has sufficiently available ice to allow the curling club to buy more ice time as it expands.

Locating in an existing ice center also offers visibility to new curling clubs, since there is often other foot traffic in the building at the same time as curling for skating sports such as hockey and figure skating. Curling clubs playing on arena ice also enjoy the relative security of a fixed costs, without the need to plan for or budget variable costs for building maintenance and utilities.

Challenges of Arena Curling

The major challenge in arena curling is ice quality. Since the ice is shared with skaters and is maintained by large ice resurfacing machines, it can be difficult to maintain a perfectly flat sheet of ice, which is necessary for curling. Curling clubs that develop a close relationship with the ice center staff in their hosting arena have the best success at developing quality curling ice under these settings. This challenge is overcomable with some effort however, as evidenced by the fact that nearly 100% of curling clubs in Scotland (the home of curling) operate on arena ice.

A second major challenge of arena curling is rock storage. Arena clubs must develop a system for storing the 42 lb rocks off ice, while scrupulously protecting the bottom running surface. In large arena clubs of 4 or more sheets, it can take considerable man-power to move rocks on and off the ice before and after each game.

A related challenge of off-ice rock storage is rock temperature. To curl effectively, rocks must be maintained at the exact same temperature as the ice sheet. Depending on storage location, rocks stored off-ice can warm up considerably between games, and must sit on the ice sometimes for several hours to come back down to the proper temperature. Some ice arenas will allow arena clubs to place their rocks on the ice for cooling in advance of a game at no charge, while other, higher traffic ice arenas will require the curling club to pay for that ice time since the ice cannot be used for skating while the rocks are out. Arena clubs without access to pre-game rock cooling time often solve this problem by purchasing freezers in which to store rocks between games.

Nearly all curling clubs in private ice facilities include an on-site club room for fellowship before and after games, and sharing a drink or a meal with one's opponents is a major part of the history and tradition of the game. This aspect of the game can be difficult for arena clubs to provide, as most ice arenas are publicly owned facilities with policies against the consumption alcohol on premises and without an onsite restaurant.

While ice arenas in many parts of the United States welcome the sport of curling in their facilities as a new revenue stream and have plenty of available ice to offer, some parts of the country (mostly in states bordering Canada) are already operating public ice sheets at near capacity due to the popularity of hockey and figure skating. In these regions, it can be very difficult to secure ice time during the winter months and on weeknights, which are prime times for curling. Many arena clubs find themselves curling at undesirable times of the day, such as Sunday mornings or late at night, or are restricted to curling in the off-seasons of Spring and Summer. Arena clubs in these situations typically view their arena locations as temporary, and transition to a permanent dedicated facility when their membership outgrows the available ice at their arena.

Resources for Arena Curling Clubs

[http://www.usacurl.org/goodcurling//index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=28&Itemid=52 US Curling Association]

[http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/arena_curling/ Yahoo Group on Arena Curling]

[http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=115034124465061985795.000438ed08bbc16eaafea&z=3&om=1 Map of Curling Clubs]

Arena Curling Clubs in the United States

The following list is potentially incomplete. Edits are welcome to supply missing information.

{| class="wikitable"
-! Club! Location! Ice Rink! Year Established! Approx. members
-
[http://www.circlecitycurling.com/ Circle City Curling Club]
Indianapolis, IN
[http://www.iwsa.org/ Indiana/World Skating Academy]
2007
50
-
[http://www.coyotescurling.com/Leagues.htm Coyotes Curling Club]
Scotsdale, AZ
Alltel Ice Den
2003
100
-
[http://www.curlsandiego.org/ Curl San Diego]
Escondido, CA
Escondido IceoPlex
2006

-
[http://www.socalcurling.org/index.html SoCal Curling Club]
Simi Valley, CA
Simi Valley IceoPlex
2006

-
[http://www.bayareacurling.com/ San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club]
San Jose / Fremont, CA
[http://www.sharksiceatsanjose.com/ Sharks Ice at San Jose] / [http://www.sharksiceatfremont.com/ Sharks Ice at Fremont]
1958
80
-
[http://www.winecountrycurling.org/ Wine Country Curling Club of Northern California]
Vacaville, CA
[http://www.vacavilleicesports.com/ Vacaville Ice Sports]
2006
40
-
Aspen Curling Club
Aspen, CO



-
[http://www.du.edu/orgs/curling/ Curling Club of the University of Denver]
Denver, CO

2006

-
[http://www.boisecurlingclub.org Boise Curling Club]
Boise, ID
Idaho Ice World
2004
32
-
[http://www.mccallcurling.com/index.php?page=Home McCall Curling Club]
McCall, ID
Manchester Ice and Event Centre
2004
100
-
[http://www.kccurling.com/ Kansas City Curling Club]
Overland Park, KS
Pepsi Ice Midwest
1987/2003
50
-
[http://www.vikinglandcurling.org/ Vikingland Curling Club]
Alexandria, MN
Runestone Community Center
2005
95
-
[http://www.dakotacurlingclub.org/ Dakota Curling Club]
Burnsville, MN
Burnsville Ice Center
2006
150
-
[http://www.brainerdcurling.org/ Brainerd Lakes Curling Club]
Brainerd Lakes, MN

2007
35
-
[http://www.edinacurlingclub.org/ Edina Curling Club]
Edina, MN
Minnesota Made Ice
2006
224
-
[http://www.willmarcurling.org/ Willmar Curling Club]
Willmar, MN

2004
80
-
[http://www.trianglecurling.com/ Triangle Curling Club]
Wake Forest, NC
The Factory Ice House
1995
35
-
[http://www.columbuscurling.com/ Columbus Curling Club]
Columbus, OH
The Chiller North
2004
50
-
[http://www.evergreencurling.org/ Evergreen Curling Club]
Portland, OR
Lloyd Center Ice Rink
2002
80
-
[http://pittsburghcurlingclub.com/ Pittsburgh Curling Club]
Pittsburgh, PA

2002
100
-
[http://www.scrantoncurling.com/ Scranton Curling Club]
Scranton, PA

2006

-
[http://www.rushmorecurling.com/ Rushmore Curling Club]
Rapid City, SD

2003
40
-
[http://www.curlknoxville.com/ Great Smoky Mountains Curling Club]
Knoxville, TN

2004|
-
Nashville Curling Club
Nashville, TN



-
[http://www.houstoncurling.com/ Curling Club of Houston]
Houston, TX
Space City Ice Station
1973
25
-
Armadillo Curling Club
San Antonio, TX
The Ice Center at Northwoods


-
[http://www.dfwcurling.com/ Dallas/Fort Worth Curling Club]
Dallas, TX
[http://www.drpepperstarcenter.com/default.asp?strRinkName=Duncanville&strNews=dvnews Dr. Pepper Stars Center]
2002
45
-
[http://www.lonestarcurling.com/ Lone Star Curling Club]
Austin, TX

2006
35
-
[http://www.ecclesice.com/curling/curling.htm Cache Valley Stone Society]
Logan, UT
Eccles Ice Center
2002
40
-
[http://www.utahcurling.com/ogdencurling/ Ogden Curling Club]
Ogden, UT
Weber County Ice Sheet
1998
50
-
[http://utahcurling.com/ Wasatch Curling Club]
Kearns, UT
Olympic Oval
|
-
[http://utahcurling.com/ Park City Curling Club]
Park City, UT
Park City Ice Arena
|
-
[http://www.greenmountaincurlingclub.org/ Green Mountain Curling Club]
Morrisville, VT
LARC Ice Arena
2005
58
-
[http://www.casperwy.gov/content/leisure/cia/usergroups.asp Casper Curling Club]
Casper, WY

|
-
[http://stlcurling.blogspot.com/ St. Louis Curling Club]
St. Louis, MO
None at Present
2007
|
-
Massena Curling Club
Massena, NY
Massena Arena
2007
15
-
[http://www.hollywoodcurling.org/ Hollywood Curling]
Los Angeles, CA
[http://www.valleyicecenter.com/ Valley Ice Center]
2007
43
-
[http://www.kalamazoocurlingclub.com/ Kalamazoo Curling Club]
Kalamazoo, MI
[http://www.wingsstadium.com/directions.htm Wings Stadium]
2008
Just Starting
-
[http://www.gallatinvalleycurling.com/ Gallatin Valley Curling Club]
Bozeman, MT
Haynes Pavilion
2008
Just Starting
-
[http://wichitacurling.blogspot.com/ Wichita Curling Club]
Wichita, KS
None at Present
2008
Forming
-
[http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/cinci-curling/ Cincinnati Curling Club]
Cincinnati, OH
None at Present
2008
Forming
-
[http://www.unionarena.org/icesport1.htm Union Arena Curling Club]
Woodstock, VT
Union Arena
2008
Just Starting
-