Another thing to consider is price. real rinks are closing up shop right and left. A NHL size sheet of real ice runs about 2.5 5 Million per sheet of ice. A real rink has a monthly electric bill of $5,000 - $7,000 a month.
The best run rink near me (suburban Washington, DC, which is a fairly warm climate, but isn't the deep south) estimated electric costs (compressors, lights, distillers [I think], de-humidifiers, and miscellaneous) at a little under $700/month.
But they do a lot of maintenance, and replace compressor motors every few years. I've been told about $1000/month electrical costs is more typical for my area.
Maybe electricity costs vary a lot by climate?
Electricity is a small part of the picture. There is a lot of labor involved in running any public facility, and all the ice associated machinery needs a lot of maintenance. Total expenditures seem to be about $900,000/year - and they only have a 10 month season.
I looked up a few other government run rinks. Around $1,000,000/year/ice sheet seems to be typical operating costs. On a rink that is old enough they aren't talking construction cost debt.
Here is another proposed rink budget, from Pasedena, CA
http://www.eewna.org/ice_rinks/FinanceComm_090713/icerink_090713_FinanceComm_Staff_PPT.pdfIf I read that very complicated document correctly, they assume much lower operating costs (are they optimistic?)- but one heck of a construction cost and debt service.
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I'm very confused that operating costs could be so high!
Can costs be this high for private (real ice) rinks too?
It's easy to see how "artificial" ice rinks are attractive to budget managers.
If someone invents a moderately priced artificial ice that works as well as the real thing, real ice rinks won't stand a chance.