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NORTH SUBURBAN EDITION• WWW.TWINCITIESCOM
<br /> METRO AREA S" /e- 03
<br /> s s eze cities
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<br /> Wakota Arena ° -1r
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<br /> Built: 1H62 4. :
<br /> Number of hockey rinks: 2 - . . ' . - '-'" r �'r' 'sr.......-- 11 revenues r .penses•
<br /> Approximate seating: 1,501 ii' e929,005
<br /> IT, pP g :,y, ,_ 5767 000 $W- $929,000. •
<br /> Daily rental tee: $1,Snn
<br /> Trivia:Arena was originally 't V'7'. " ''�y;, . . r " 'i
<br /> lamed The Cow Palace, and tt --- �s- �_>e�.0 - -L�i:1' : ;, - ,
<br /> scenes from the 1979 movie"Ice Top: South St. Paul's Wakota Arena has been losing money in recent
<br /> Castles" were filmed there. years, and arena managers are trying to recruit more "dry-floor"
<br /> Source:city of South St.Paul events like concerts, trade shows and the recent Mexican Rodeo.
<br /> Above: Bull rider Juan Zureno hits the ground in the first ride of
<br /> the evening during the May 11 event.The rodeo returns June 1.
<br /> But some ice-hockey facilities can't manage to get out of the red
<br /> BY BRIAN BONNER For ice-sport enthusiasts, Lhe nas look at the increasing sup- '19ie Dakota County suburb
<br /> Pioneer Press new places to skate and play ply of arenas differently. Local last year lost $162,000 on the
<br /> have been a godsend, creating taxpayers are getting squeezed, two-rink building,Itakuess said,
<br /> Minnesota cities have been more convenience and keeping they say, especially for arenas and the multi-use arena could
<br /> on a building spree of ice-hockey a lid on rental rates. New con- that took on debt to build sec- be in the red again this year
<br /> arenas since the mid-1990s, struction or expansion projects and ice rinks. Debt-service payments unl.il
<br /> 'steel by a slate grant pro- are under consideration in sev- "If we were privately owned, 2018 are the main reason why.
<br /> a That helped construct 61 eras cities,driven by demand for the building would be closed," The city spent$2 million to add
<br /> new rinks.The boom has helped ice time during the peak week- said Rich Rakness, general a second rink in 1997.
<br /> boost,to roughly 70, the number day hours of 6 to 9 p.m. manager of South St. Paul's Tighter municipal finances,
<br /> of publicly owned small arenas But city officials and man- Wakota Arena,one of the metro
<br /> in the metro area alone. agers of municipally owned are- area's oldest indoor rinks. ARENAS IN RED,7D
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