Peaks Ice Arena - History

History

Provo was chosen as the site for an Olympic venue because the leaders of Utah County refused to support Utah's 1989 Olympic referendum unless they were promised at least one Olympic event would be held in the county. Originally county leaders wanted a speed skating oval built somewhere in Provo or on the campus of Utah Valley University; others suggested the game's Closing Ceremony could be held at Brigham Young University's football stadium. After the 1989 Olympic referendum passed, and Salt Lake City lost its 1991 bid to host the 1998 Winter Olympics, the Utah Sports Authority and Provo City decided to wait until Salt Lake City bid again for the 2002 Winter Olympics before any venue planning would start.

After Salt Lake City won the 2002 Olympic bid in 1995, planning began again for what venue Utah County could host. It was decided that the city of Provo would host the venue, but that it would only be a practice ice sheet, mostly like to be built in the planned Provo Towne Centre Mall. Eventually plans changed and a larger, yet still only a practice ice facility, was planned to be constructed near Provo's East Bay Golf Course. Utah County, Provo, and SLOC all okayed the plans and committed to building the $7.7 million dollar facility. But in July 1996, before construction had started, the owners of Provo's Seven Peaks Waterpark approached the city and asked that the arena be built on the park's property, and Seven Peaks would pay for an additional ice sheet to be constructed in the same building. The plan was approved by county officials October 14, 1996, with Provo paying $2 million, Utah County $2 million, SLOC $3 million, and Seven Peaks donating land for the arena and parking spaces. Valentiner, Crane, Brunjes, Onyon Architecture was chosen to design the arena.

On September 17, 1997 ground was broken for construction next to Seven Peaks Waterpark. It was to be 84,000 square feet (7,800 m2) in size, with two ice sheets side by side. One ice sheet would have seating for about 2,000 spectators while the other would seat 300. By the time ground was broken the price had increased to $8.5 million, $1.5 million more than originally planned; the extra cost would be paid for by Seven Peaks.

Soon after construction had begun SLOC decided to host competitive hockey events in the new arena, versus the original plan to use the arena for practices, and using Utah Valley University's McKay Events Center for the competitions. SLOC would contribute $5.25 million towards the project, the cost of which had just jumped to $10.75 million, with the addition of 12 locker rooms instead of four, extra seating, and other minor additions to the original plan.

The arena opened November 20, 1998 in what was considered a "soft opening", and following the completion of minor work, the arena was supposed to have a grand opening in January or February 1999. But in December 1998 allegations of a scandal involving SLOC members, and members of the International Olympic Committee concerning the 2002 Olympic bid surfaced, pushing back the grand opening. As a result, the grand opening celebration was held September 29, 1999, and the venue hosted its first event, a hockey game between the University of Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs and the University of Calgary Oval Extremes, two days later. The completed arena cost $12.4 million to build, included two ice sheets, had seating for over 2,000 spectators, and was 110,000 square feet (10,000 m2) in size.