The O2 arena will be modernized for tens of millions! The World Championship will celebrate its 20th anniversary

The Ice Hockey World Championship in the Czech Republic next May will be a big event. And a big event requires a lot of preparation and a lot of investment. The O2 Arena in Prague will not be spared.

During the World Ice Hockey Championship, the arena will celebrate 20 years in Libeň. Fans first visited it in 2004 during the final series of the Extraliga between Slavia Prague and Zlín. It was a kind of dress rehearsal before the World Championship, which the Czech Republic hosted that year.

Since then, the largest hall in the Czech Republic has been the venue for many unique sporting and cultural events. In addition to big concerts, it has also hosted NHL matches or the premiere edition of the Laver Cup tennis tournament. Now, after twenty years, the World Championships will return to it.

The arena must stay on course

During the 20-year history of the O2 Arena (originally SAZKA Arena), the arena has undergone several modernisations. Just as it did through the 2015 World Championships, it must swallow further investment to remain at the highest possible level, as the IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation) demands.

According to preliminary estimates, this time the hall’s renovations will swallow approximately 64.5 million crowns. The spectators will feel the investment first-hand, literally. There will be new seats on the entire first floor, a total of 7,513 seats.

A similar number of seats is also on the fourth floor, but this will come later, as it is not as busy for spectators. The drink holders will disappear from the seats, which, according to the O2 Arena operators, took up too much space at the expense of spectator comfort. The new seats will also be metal, so they should have a much longer life. This replacement has already started last summer.

Fans can also look forward to a new multifunctional cube above the ice. Although it will remain the same in terms of dimensions, it will provide an HD image. A brand new TV technology will take care of the content broadcast on this cube.

Changes also inside

Elements that are not visible at first glance, but at the same time are very important for the smooth and high-quality operation of the arena, will also be modernized. These include, for example, the repair of the air handling units, the inspection of the ice cooling, as well as the replacement of the cooling equipment in the catering department.

The arena will also get new lighting as part of the reduction in energy consumption. This will be done in both the public and non-public parts of the arena. Fans will soon be able to walk in the newly illuminated corridors. The ice surface will also get new LED lighting.

“In conjunction with the spring hockey championship, there will also be minor changes to the changing rooms. Of course, the roof will also be inspected, but this takes place annually,” O2 Arena’s chief operating officer Alexandr Kokuňko tells the magazine. The summer period is ideal for these modernisations, as from September the ice will once again be used by the Sparta Extraliga hockey team.

“It also means that we have to meet the requirements of large foreign organisers in order to be able to host such top-class events,” adds Kokuňko. It looks like the fans really have something to look forward to.

Source: O2 Arena Magazine