SKA Arena

Multi-purpose indoor arena in Saint Petersburg, Russia

SKA Arena

Location| 8\. Yu. Gagarina Av.
Saint Petersburg 196105
Russia
Coordinates| 59°52′09″N 30°20′31″E﻿ / ﻿59.86917°N 30.34194°E﻿ / 59.86917; 30.34194
Owner| Concession between the Government of St. Petersburg and SKA Arena LLC[1]
Operator| SKA Arena LLC
Capacity| Ice hockey: 22,500
Field size| 60×26 m
Acreage| 189.5 thousand sq.m
Construction
Broke ground| 2020
Built| 2020–2023
Opened| 9 December 2023; 20 months ago (2023-12-09)
Construction cost| ₽ 60 billion[2]
(€ 645.9 million in 2023)
Architect| Wolf Dieter Prix (Coop Himmelb(l)au) & Partner
General contractor| GC Gorka
Tenants
SKA St. Petersburg (KHL) (2024–2025)
Shanghai Dragons (ice hockey) (KHL) (2025–present)
Website
www.skaarena.ru

SKA Arena (Russian: СКА Арена) is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 2023, it is the home arena of SKA Saint Petersburg of the Kontinental Hockey League. With a seating capacity of 22,500 (originally 21,542) for ice hockey games, it is the largest hockey arena in the world, a title that used to be held by the Bell Centre in Montreal, Canada.

The arena was originally planned to host the main games of 2023 IIHF World Championship, but, in April 2022, the IIHF stripped Russia's hosting rights while the International Olympic Committee called for Russia and Belarus to be stripped of hosting rights to all international sporting events due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[3]

## History

[edit]

SKA Arena

In 2017, proposals were made to turn the Saint Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex into a new arena for the SKA St. Petersburg hockey team. During the discussions at the St. Petersburg Urban Planning Council between 2018 and 2019, two concepts of the reconstruction of the SCC were discussed: capital reconstruction with the preservation of the appearance of the building or the complete demolition of the building with the construction of a new ice arena in its place. As a result, it was decided to build a new ice arena on the site of the SCC, which should become the largest in the world. At the same time, it is indicated that the dimensions of the new complex should be larger than that of the previous complex, otherwise it will be impossible to place an arena with a capacity of more than 20 thousand people that meets modern requirements. It is also planned to build adjacent territory with social infrastructure and residential buildings.

On September 18, 2019, a tender for the first stage of the reconstruction of the complex was announced. On October 24, 2019, documents for the liquidation of the State Unitary Enterprise Petersburgersburg were signed, a representative of Gazprom as appointed chairman of the liquidation commission, and the installation of the fence for survey work on the ground began. On October 30, 2019, the contractor organization "SKA-Arena", which conducts these works, began to dismantle the seating bowl and hinged metal structures, light and sound equipment. During demolition on January 31, 2020, the roof and a large portion of the walls collapsed during the process of dismantling, resulting in the death of one worker.[4] In the spring of 2020, the demolition of the St. Petersburg SCC was completed, and in June, the area was cleared of construction debris. In July, SKA Arena received permission to start construction work on the reconstruction of the outskirts of the arena, which are planned to be turned into sports grounds. In the same month, constructuion began to prepare the pile field of the arena.

In April 2021, the State Construction Supervision of St. Petersburg issued a permit for the construction of a new ice arena. The winner of the closed international architectural competition to choose the concept of the facade of the new sports complex was the Austrian architectural bureau Coop Himmelb(l)au, which proposed to base the architectural image of the arena of the Monument to the Third International, posters of El Lissitzky, the dynamics of sport and the trajectory of figure skating of Russia's first Olympic champion, Nikolai Panin. In May 2023, the press service reported that the arena is ready for "almost 90%" and its opening is scheduled for September of the same year and for the beginning of the 2023-24 KHL season. On December 9, 2023, the arena opened to the general public for the first time to host the skills competition as part of the 2023 KHL All Star Game festivities. On January 28, 2024, Russian president Vladimir Putin and Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko visited the arena as a part of Lukashenko's diplomatic visit to Russia. On February 11, 2024, SKA St. Petersburg played their first game at the new arena, defeating HC Sochi 8–1, with Sergey Tolchinsky scoring the arena's first goal 43 seconds into the game.

Before the 2024 KHL playoffs, the capacity of the arena was extended to 22,500 seats.[5]

On June 9, 2024 the arena was damaged in a fire,[6] as a result of which SKA had to return to the Ice Palace for the start of the 2024/25 KHL season.[7] It was reopened to host the 2024 Channel One Cup on December 12-15, 2024, and on December 17, 2024 SKA played their first game of the season at the arena, a 2-3 defeat against Lokomotiv Yaroslavl.

## See also

[edit]

* List of European ice hockey arenas
* List of ice hockey arenas by capacity
* List of indoor arenas by capacity
* List of indoor arenas in Russia

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Правительство Петербурга и ООО "СКА-Арена" заключили концессионное соглашение по реконструкции и эксплуатации спортивно-концертного комплекса "Петербургский"". fontanka.ru - новости Санкт-Петербурга (in Russian). 2020-01-15.
2. ^ "Директор стадиона назвал итоговую стоимость "СКА Арены"". fontanka.ru - новости Санкт-Петербурга (in Russian). 2023-11-26. Retrieved 2023-11-30.
3. ^ Iveson, Ali (25 February 2022). "Strip Russia and Belarus of events and do not display their flags, says IOC". Inside the Games. Archived from the original on 26 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
4. ^ "ВИДЕО. Как рухнула крыша. Трагедией завершился снос спорткомплекса в Питере".
5. ^ "«СКА увеличил вместимость домашней арены еще на 200 зрителей" (in Russian). Match TV. 2024-03-01.
6. ^ "«СКА Арена» пострадала в результате пожара" (in Russian). 2024-06-09.
7. ^ "СКА проведет сезон 2024/25 в Ледовом дворце" (in Russian).

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to SKA Arena at Wikimedia Commons

* v
* t
* e

Current arenas in the Kontinental Hockey League

Eastern
Conference|

| Chernyshev Division|

* G-Drive Arena
* Barys Arena
* Fetisov Arena
* Platinum Arena
* Sibir Arena
* Ufa Arena

|

Kharlamov Division|

* Arena Metallurg
* KRK Uralets
* Lada Arena
* Neftekhimik Ice Palace
* TatNeft Arena
* Traktor Ice Arena

Western
Conference|

| Bobrov Division|

* Bolshoy Ice Dome
* KRK Nagorny
* Megasport Sport Palace
* SKA Arena
* Vityaz Ice Palace

|

Tarasov Division|

* Arena 2000
* CSKA Arena
* Ice Palace Cherepovets
* Minsk-Arena
* Mytishchi Arena
* VTB Arena

* v
* t
* e

Sports and music venues in Saint Petersburg

Outdoor|

* Gazprom Arena (56,196)
* Petrovsky Stadium (21,405)
* Smena Stadium (3,000)
* MSA Petrovsky (2,835)

Arenas|

* SKA Arena (21,500)
* Ice Palace (12,300)
* KSK Arena (7,120)
* Yubileyny Sports Palace (7,044)
* Lakhta Hall (5,000)
* Zenith Sports Palace (3,500)
* Nova Arena (2,000)

Theaters /
nightclubs|

* A2 Club (5,000)
* Oktyabrsky Concert Hall (3,727)
* Aurora Concert Hall (2,000)
* Kuryokhin Center (2,000)
* Mariinsky II (2,000)
* Mariinsky Theatre (1,625)
* Shostakovich Philharmonic Hall (1,500)
* Cosmonaut Club (1,500)
* St. Petersburg Music Hall (1,500)
* Alexandrinsky Theatre (1,378)
* Mikhailovsky Theatre (1,151)
* Mariinsky Theatre Concert Hall (1,100)

Historic|

* Bolshoi Theatre
* Karl Knipper Theatre
* Kirov Stadium
* SKK Peterburgsky

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