Ice Rinks as Money Makers

Ice rink construction is becoming a popular trend with investors as most of them are drawing towards the sector.

The main thing you need to successfully run an ice rink is a lot of money. The source of the money could be tax payers, investors or non-profit organizations. The money rarely comes from profits made by the rink operation despite the fact that most rinks are highly profitable.

Profitable rinks have one common trend. Their debt services is either low or none existence. Debt service is an important element for any successful ice rink, absence of which a rink faces financial problems. This is a problem many new ice rinks. Debt service remains constant and unavoidable by ice rinks regardless of whether they are government owned or privately owned. Sometimes debt services can be negotiated for even though lenders want huge profits.

A rink has three life phases. The new construction phase is the first and can last up to three years. This phase has everything new and the main challenge is maintaining the building by keeping it clean and oiling the equipment. The repair phase is the next phase. Here the building and equipment is still original but needs repairs. The third phase is the replacement phase that happens after a decade and accelerates by the fifteenth year. It involves replacement of old facilities with new ones.

Ice rinks are profitable in many ways. Debt service does not increase over time thus inflations help ice rinks make profit. Ice rates are sometimes increased in order to increase cost of operation and meet debt service. Time also favors ice rink owners.

Even though most ice rinks have had a trend to close down as seen in the past, good management of existing ice rinks will see surviving rinks generate profit and pay expenses.