The Ice Sheet at Ogden

History

Following the passage of Utah's 1989 Olympic referendum, Ogden City submitted a proposal to the Utah Sports Authority and Utah's Olympic organizers to construct an Olympic-sized practice ice sheet in the city. On September 10, 1990, the Utah Sports Authority selected a site near the Dee Events Center in Ogden as the site of an Olympic ice sheet, over other locations in downtown Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah. The property for the venue would be leased from Weber State University for 50 years at a cost of $1. A groundbreaking ceremony at the start of construction was held December 17, 1992. The facility was to cost $5.9 million, with $3 million coming from the State of Utah (as authorized in the 1989 Olympic referendum), $2 million from Weber County, and the remainder from private donations.

Following the venue's completion, a two-day grand opening was held on April 2–3, 1994, which included performances by Olympian Scott Hamilton, and U.S. Champions Todd Sands and Jennifer Moreno. By the time it was completed the price had gone up to $6.2 million, it had seating for 2,000 spectators, and was 52500 sqft in size. It was originally designed to be used for practice and preliminary competitions among ice skaters and hockey teams for the 2002 Winter Olympics. It was later decided that the ice sheet would be used for curling events, and on May 2, 1999, the ice sheet closed to replace the sand-based floor with a more efficient concrete floor. The sand-based flooring allowed freezing tubes to shift, causing uneven ridges in the ice. The new concrete floor was finished July 1999, and the ice sheet reopened for public use within weeks.

Winter Olympics

The Ice Sheet at Ogden hosted curling at the 2002 Winter Olympics, which had been first introduced during the 1998 Winter Olympics. The venue held about 2,000 spectators, and 96.7% of tickets were sold, with a total of 40,572 spectators witnessing events at the Ice Sheet.

References

References

1. Douglas D. Palmer. (June 16, 1990). "Utah Cities, Counties Submit proposals for Sports Facilities". Deseret News.
2. Joel Campbell. (September 11, 1990). "Ogden wins Figure-Skate, Hockey Rink". Deseret News.
3. Beverly DeVoy. (December 19, 1992). "Ground is broken for Olympic Ice Rink in frosty ceremony". Deseret News.
4. Lisa Riley Roche. (April 3, 1994). "$6 Million Olympic Ice rink opens in Weber County". Deseret News.
5. Tom Quinn. (April 3, 1994). "2002 Ice rink Dedicated". The Salt Lake Tribune.
6. Don Baker. (May 26, 1999). "Ice Sheet scores new boss, new concrete floor". Deseret News.
7. Salt Lake Organizing Committee. (2002). "Official Report of the XIX Olympic Winter Games".