History

Prior to around 2000, most Curling clubs in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 followed the traditional Canadian model, operating in private facilities on dedicated ice sheets. When curling

Curling

Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...

 was introduced to a wider American audience during the 2002 Winter Olympics

2002 Winter Olympics

The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...

, interest in the sport grew dramatically. With the huge and sudden influx of new curlers, many existing curling clubs quickly filled. In addition, there developed strong interest in curling where there had never been before, in seemingly unlikely warm climates such as California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

 and Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

.

The intense capital investment needed to buy or build new private ice facilities was a significant obstacle to the development of new curling clubs in the United States. Instead, many fledgling curling clubs have solved this problem by operating in traditional arena ice facilities, renting ice by the hour and sharing ice sheets with skating sports such as hockey

Hockey

Hockey is a family of sports in which two teams play against each other by trying to maneuver a ball or a puck into the opponent's goal using a hockey stick.-Etymology:...

 and figure skating

Figure skating

Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...

.

Advantages of Arena Curling

The major advantage of arena curling is the ability to form a new curling club without the burden of buying or building a private ice facility. New curling clubs can rent only the ice time they need, reducing their start up costs and risk. This model also is good for club growth, assuming the hosting ice arena has sufficiently available ice to allow the curling club to buy more ice time as it expands.

Locating in an existing ice center also offers visibility to new curling clubs, since there is often other foot traffic in the building at the same time as curling for skating sports such as hockey and figure skating. Curling clubs playing on arena ice also enjoy the relative security of a fixed costs, without the need to plan for or budget variable costs for building maintenance and utilities.

Challenges of Arena Curling

The major challenge in arena curling is ice quality. Since the ice is shared with skaters and is maintained by large ice resurfacing machines, it can be difficult to maintain a perfectly flat sheet of ice, which is necessary for curling. Additionally, ice temperature is a problem for many arena clubs, especially in warmer climates. Ice that is cold enough for skating might not be cold enough for curling. Colder ice is more expensive for the ice facility to maintain. Curling clubs that develop a close relationship with the ice center staff in their hosting arena have the best success at developing quality curling ice under these settings. This challenge is overcomable with some effort however, as evidenced by the fact that nearly 100% of curling clubs in Scotland (the home of curling) operate on arena ice.

A second major challenge of arena curling is rock storage. Arena clubs must develop a system for storing the 42 lb rocks off ice, while scrupulously protecting the bottom running surface. In large arena clubs of 4 or more sheets, it can take considerable man-power to move rocks on and off the ice before and after each game.

A related challenge of off-ice rock storage is rock temperature. To curl effectively, rocks must be maintained at exactly the same temperature as the ice sheet. Depending on storage location, rocks stored off-ice can warm up considerably between games, and must sit on the ice sometimes for several hours to come back down to the proper temperature. Some ice arenas will allow arena clubs to place their rocks on the ice for cooling in advance of a game at no charge, while other, higher traffic ice arenas will require the curling club to pay for that ice time since the ice cannot be used for skating while the rocks are out. Arena clubs without access to pre-game rock cooling time often solve this problem by purchasing freezers in which to store rocks between games.

Arena clubs are often faced with the challenge of the being the lowest priority group in the eyes of the arena management. Hockey, figure skating, and public skating are almost always given scheduling priority over curling despite the fact that the curlers are paying the same money for an equal amount of ice time.
Sometimes, the management of an area might come to the conclusion that curling is more trouble than they bargained for. Curlers often want special markings in the ice, need colder, smoother, and flatter ice than is required for skating, and need storage space for a lot of equipment. This sometimes leads to a falling-out between the curling club and the host arena.
There have been instances of long-established arena clubs suddenly becoming “homeless” due to changes in their host arena management or ownership.

Nearly all curling clubs in private ice facilities include an on-site club room for fellowship before and after games, and sharing a drink or a meal with one's opponents is a major part of the history and tradition of the game. This aspect of the game can be difficult for arena clubs to provide, as most ice arenas are publicly owned facilities with policies against the consumption alcohol on premises and without an onsite restaurant.

While ice arenas in many parts of the United States welcome the sport of curling in their facilities as a new revenue stream and have plenty of available ice to offer, some parts of the country (mostly in states bordering Canada) are already operating public ice sheets at near capacity due to the popularity of hockey and figure skating. In these regions, it can be very difficult to secure ice time during the winter months and on weeknights, which are prime times for curling. Many arena clubs find themselves curling at undesirable times of the day, such as Sunday mornings or late at night, or are restricted to curling in the off-seasons of Spring and Summer. Arena clubs in these situations typically view their arena locations as temporary, and transition to a permanent dedicated facility when their membership outgrows the available ice at their arena.

Resources for Arena Curling Clubs

US Curling Association

Yahoo Group on Arena Curling

Map of Curling Clubs

Arena Curling Clubs in the United States

Club	Location	Ice Rink	Sheets	Year Established	Members	Region
Anthracite Curling Club (formerly Scranton Curling Club)	Wilkes-Barre, PA	The Ice Rink at Coal Street Park	4	2006	49	GNCC
Aspen Curling Club	Aspen, CO	Aspen Ice Garden
Boise Curling Club	Boise, ID	Idaho Ice World		2004	45	Mountain Pacific (MoPac)
Brainerd Lakes Curling Club	Brainerd Lakes, MN			2007	35
Cache Valley Stone Society	Logan, UT	Eccles Ice Center		2002	40	Mountain Pacific (MoPac)
Casper Curling Club	Casper, WY
Charlotte Centre Curling Club	Charlotte, NC	Extreme Ice Center, Indian Trail, NC	4	2010	60	GNCC
Cincinnati Curling Club	Cincinnati, OH	None at Present	0	2008	Forming
Circle City Curling Club	Indianapolis, IN	Indiana/World Skating Academy		2007	50
Coyotes Curling Club	Scotsdale, AZ	Alltel Ice Den		2003	100	Mountain Pacific (MoPac)
Curl San Diego	Escondido, CA	Escondido IceoPlex		2006		Mountain Pacific (MoPac)
Curl Troy	Troy Ohio	Hobart Arena		2010	30
Curling Club of Houston	Houston, TX	Space City Ice Station		1973	40
Curling Club of the University of Denver	Denver, CO			2006
Dakota Curling Club	Burnsville, MN	Burnsville Ice Center		2006	150
Dallas/Fort Worth Curling Club	Dallas, TX	Dr. Pepper Stars Center		2002	45
Edina Curling Club	Edina, MN	Minnesota Made Ice		2006	224
Evergreen Curling Club	Portland, OR	Lloyd Center Ice Rink		2002	80	Mountain Pacific (MoPac)
Gallatin Valley Curling Club	Bozeman, MT	Haynes Pavilion		2008	Just Starting
Great Smoky Mountains Curling Club	Knoxville, TN			2004
Green Mountain Curling Club	Morrisville, VT	LARC Ice Arena		2005	58
Hollywood Curling	Los Angeles, CA	Valley Ice Center		2007	48	Mountain Pacific (MoPac)
Kalamazoo Curling Club	Kalamazoo, MI	Wings Stadium		2008	50
Kansas City Curling Club	Overland Park, KS	Pepsi Ice Midwest		1987/2003	50
Lone Star Curling Club	Austin, TX			2006	35
Massena Curling Club	Massena, NY	Massena Arena		2007	15
McCall Curling Club	McCall, ID	Manchester Ice and Event Centre		2004	100	Mountain Pacific (MoPac)
Nashville Curling Club	Nashville, TN
Ogden Curling Club	Ogden, UT	Weber County Ice Sheet		1998	50	Mountain Pacific (MoPac)
Orange County Curling Club	Westminster, CA	The Rinks Westminster Ice		2010	40	Mountain Pacific (MoPac)
Park City Curling Club	Park City, UT	Park City Ice Arena
Pittsburgh Curling Club Pittsburgh Curling Club The Pittsburgh Curling Club is a curling club located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is one of only three curling clubs in Pennsylvania, the other two being the Philadelphia Curling Club and the Anthracite Curling Club...	Pittsburgh, PA			2002	100
Rushmore Curling Club	Rapid City, SD			2003	40
San Francisco Bay Area Curling Club	San Jose / Fremont, CA	Sharks Ice-San Jose / Sharks Ice-Fremont / Oakland Ice Rink	20	1958	200	Mountain Pacific (MoPac)
SoCal Curling Club	Simi Valley, CA	Simi Valley IceoPlex		2006		Mountain Pacific (MoPac)
St. Louis Curling Club	St. Louis, MO	U.S. Ice Sports Complex, Fairview Heights, IL	2	2007/2010	35...and growing!
Triangle Curling Club	Wake Forest, NC	The Polar Ice House		1995	50	GNCC
Vikingland Curling Club	Alexandria, MN	Runestone Community Center		2005	95
Wasatch Curling Club	Kearns, UT	Olympic Oval
Whitefish Curling Club	Whitefish, MT	Stumptown Ice Den		2009	55
Wichita Curling Club	Wichita, KS	0		2008	Forming
Willmar Curling Club	Willmar, MN			2004	80
Wine Country Curling Club	Vacaville, CA	Vacaville Ice Sports	10	2006	43	Mountain Pacific (MoPac)
Woodstock Curling Club at Union Arena	Woodstock, VT	Union Arena Community Center		2008	30	GNCC