Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson said that Rexall Place "could be reborn as a six-sheet tournament hockey centre after the Oilers move downtown next season," according to Gordon Kent of the EDMONTON JOURNAL. The idea "involves building a floor at about the mezzanine level, removing seating and putting three rinks beside each other on each of the two tiers." It was one of the options "presented last spring" to the BOD of arena operator Northlands by the arena strategy committee, "set up to look at the future of the 41-year-old facility without NHL hockey." Iveson said that the city, which owns the land, "hasn’t studied the technical merits of the idea or decided whether it wants to build six more sheets of ice anywhere over the next few years, but would look at the proposal if there are tourism and economic development opportunities and the business case is good." He thinks such a facility "could provide a million visits or more each year between tournaments and regular recreation and amateur games." The arena strategy committee "recommended Northlands collaborate with the Oilers Entertainment Group about other uses for Rexall, which could include jointly hosting multi-venue sports events, using it to develop city recreational facilities or turning it into an agricultural education centre." OEG "recommended tearing the arena down for redevelopment, although demolition costs would be roughly the same as the land value" (EDMONTON JOURNAL, 12/22).
