Owners of the ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers are planning to invest $4M in a 45,000-square-foot, "fabric-shell structure to house a hockey rink and seating for 3,500 on the roof of the Plaza Hotel casino," according to Alan Snel of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. Wranglers President Billy Johnson said that the structure "would be insulated, with the ice rink expected to open for league play in November." He added that the roof of the casino was "once part of a parking structure and can handle the weight of fans, ice and a Zamboni without additional structural work." Snel noted the Wranglers have hired Las Vegas-based building company Vision Building Systems "to erect the metal structure, which will be covered with a fabric shell." The team recently signed a five-year deal with the Plaza Hotel after Boyd Gaming three weeks ago "declined to renew the Wranglers' current lease on Orleans Arena." Johnson said that the team's lease with the Plaza "can be renewed for another five years after the initial agreement expires" (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 2/19).
