Norway: New arenas in Norway.

[Fjorden]

Norway is in the middle of a transformation where old arenas in Norwegian hockey are being shifted out with new arenas. The old arenas from 70s or earlier have very limited potential to generate good income for the clubs due to lack of e.g good vip areas, commerical space etc as old arenas often where built through volunteer work. New arenas will give clubs new sources of income, and be a step into the future towards more proffesionalisation.


It had is early beginning in 2012. with the new DNB arena in Stavanger. Around 4200 seats. Arenas are planned with NHL size rink 60x26 meter.

Now more new arenas are coming.

Frisk Asker- New Risenga Arena about 3800 seats.
This will replace the Old Askerhallen from 1968. Opening february 2022.

Vålerenga Oslo-New Jordal Amfi-about 5600 seats. Finished 2020

New Fredrikstad Arena- Stjernen. Estimated to be finished around 2025. About 3000-4000 seats.

New Bergen City Arena(multiarena). Estimated to be finished around 2026. About 8000 seats.

Click to read more...

 

[HanTykje]

Hope that my childhood town Trondheim, Nidaros Hockey get a new arena. Leangen Ishall is outdated and not good for the region, Norway have much to learn from Finland and Sweden.

 

[Valdemar]

Congratulation to Norway with all the new rinks. It certainly makes a difference for the audience and can probably attract new fans.

 

[Fjorden]

Hope that my childhood town Trondheim, Nidaros Hockey get a new arena. Leangen Ishall is outdated and not good for the region, Norway have much to learn from Finland and Sweden.

Yes Trondheim needs a new arena. Same thing with Sarpsborg. A 2nd arena in Oslo at Løren is also decided to be built with 2000 seats I think that can be used by 2nd Oslo team in FKL.(Grüner or Manglerud??)

I think espescialy Finland have many old arenas in Liiga, that looks like old barns. The one they built in Tampere is nice, but the rest are worse than most of the newer arenas in Norway.(90s and up). In Sweden Djurgården plays at Hovet from 1955 and Frölunda at Scandinavium from 1971 and Luleå at Delfinen from 1970. Arenas that old in Norway are being phased out fast and replaced by new arenas.

So if Trondheim and Sarpsborg decides to build one as well then all the old arenas from 70s or earlier are phased out in the two top divisions in Norway together with the projects mentioned in my post above.

So when it comes to building new modern arenas I think Norway does quite well right now.

 

[Arselona]

Problem in Norway is the general lack of ice surfaces. Bergen is a good example of this. The second largest city of Norway has mere three hockey rinks and one outdoors ice surface. Btw I think the arena in the picture is still at very at early stages of planning/study and the 2026 sounds unrealistic knowing how long such projects tend to take.

 

[Fjorden]

Problem in Norway is the general lack of ice surfaces. Bergen is a good example of this. The second largest city of Norway has mere three hockey rinks and one outdoors ice surface. Btw I think the arena in the picture is still at very at early stages of planning/study and the 2026 sounds unrealistic knowing how long such projects tend to take.

2026 might be optimistic if they run into obstacles. But those working on the project stated last year in norwegian real estate magazine called "estate" that they aim for 2026. – Bergen byarena kan stå ferdig i 2026 - Estate Vest.
So they aim to have an approved zoning plan mid/late 2023. And then three years construction time from 2023 to 2026.

About ice surfaces in Bergen: Only two indoor rinks today. Bergenshallen and Vestkanten.
Opening this month: Åsane ishall being the 3rd ice rink in Bergen
When the city-arena is finished the plan is to demolish the old Bergenshallen and build two new ice surfaces at the same place.
New indoor Slåtthaug ice rink was also decided to be built last year adding two additional ice surfaces and a speed skating track.

So when all those projects are finished hopefully by early 2030s. Number of ice surfaces in Bergen will increase from two today to seven+ a speed skating track.

 

[Fjorden]

Here is a picture of the opening of the new Varner Arena in Asker. Discrete commercial adds only inside the circles. The scoreboard is delayed from China due to covid-19 issues but will arrive later

Restaurant over three floors inside the arena.

VIP facilities

VIP bar serving beer. (Mercedes Benz lounge).

 

[Fjorden]

Before picture.

Upgraded from "Leangen ice rink" to "Leangen Arena" in Trondheim
Leangen arena in Trondheim. By some adjustments a arena can look much better.

Before:
Euro ice 30x60 m wide ice

Now picture. (after upgrade)

-Changed to NHL rink. 26x60 meter. (tighter rink)
-new lighting system
-New chairs.
-internet
-new kiosk facilities.
-new sound system
-walls painted
-new media cube.

-chairs and tribune. concrete painted in white and new chairs mounted.

 

[Fjorden]

Process started on a new arena in Sarpsborg in Norway.
A new icehockey arena with a additional hotel and a addidtional ice surface for practice.

New sources of income from hotels, restaurant, bar, kiosk etc.

 

[Fjorden]

Here are some video links from new arensas newly built in Norway

Jordal Amfi in oslo, opened in 2020


Varner Arene in Asker opened in 2022


Leangen arena in Trondheim, renovated in 2022

 

[apoptygma]

Adding my 2 cent to this. Had the pleasure to visit Jordal and get a behind the scenes tour during the first intermission a couple of months ago, and a modern arena is everything when it comes to getting butts in the seats. Lot of these old barns have terrible sightlines for a lot of the seats, and poor services when it comes to food and drinks etc.

For my local team Stjernen their barn is located deep into residental area, almost in the forrest, and a 25 min walk from city center with poor/no buses. A new arena located 5 min walking from the center will make it much more temting to take the bus to the center, grab a beer, go to the match and grab another beer and a something to eat after the game. Hockey is a superb live sport, and if Stjernen can get a mini-Jordal it should be a huge boost both for pr and the commercial part.

 

[WildFan887]

Norway has been on my travel list forever. I was always curious why Norway is that much behind Sweden and Finland in hockey.

Some of these arenas look fine and I would love to enjoy some beer and a good hockey game there.

 

[Fjorden]

Problem in Norway is the general lack of ice surfaces. Bergen is a good example of this. The second largest city of Norway has mere three hockey rinks and one outdoors ice surface. Btw I think the arena in the picture is still at very at early stages of planning/study and the 2026 sounds unrealistic knowing how long such projects tend to take.

Yes that was the early phase drawings.

Here are newer and more detailed drawings of Bergen City arena planned with 8000 seats.
Estimated construction start is set to 2025 (autumn).

Team ledet av C. F. Møller Architects vant arkitektkonkurranse om Bergen ByArena
Konkurranse om byarena i Bergen avgjort