I was watching some of the World Figure Skating Championships on TV the other night.
The event is being held at the
Budweiser Gardens in London Ontario. This is a facility held up by many as an example to emulate for our own proposed downtown events centre.
I must admit that the arena seems very impressive, with a full second tier of seating around the entire ice surface and it appears to have excellent sight lines throughout. Apparently the seating capacity for the arena in 9,090 for ice hockey, but somewhat greater for other events. On TV, it looks much bigger than it's stated size, almost a mini Air Canada Centre.....
I do think that this is a facility that we should use as an example for our own downtown centre. It has apparently been very successful at attracting major events and has been an engine for downtown revitalization in London.
The website is
http://www.budweisergardens.com/
There are integrated bars and restaurants in the facility. With our own Molson/Coors brewery in town, I wonder what the potential is here for major tie ins, corporate support and for naming rights.....