On Monday, February 17, an underground train with motifs of Frankfurt's ice rink started its journey through the city. Beforehand, it was presented to the public by Lord Mayor Peter Feldmann, head of the sports department Angelika Strötz and Thomas Wissgott, managing director of VerkehrsGesellschaft Frankfurt am Main (VGF), during a joint ride from VGF Betriebshof Ost to the main station.
"We Frankfurt residents are proud of our ice rink," stressed Lord Mayor Feldmann, who also drove the train himself during the presentation - not for the first time, by the way. The Lord Mayor went on to say about the popular sports facility: "Not only is the foundation stone laid here for important successes in the various ice sports disciplines. It is also a meeting place for young and old to be active themselves and of course to cheer on our Lions Frankfurt."
The rink features the rink's mascot "Kufi" and advertises skating on more than 9000 square meters. It is intended to bring even more attention to the ice rink, which will have its 40th anniversary in 2021. The rink will be a feature of Frankfurt's cityscape for the next three years and, fittingly, will also run between Enkheim and Praunheim (Heerstraße) on subway line 7 with the Eissporthalle station.
"Frankfurt's Eissporthalle has to offer the largest contiguous ice surface for public skating nationwide," Angelika Strötz, head of the sports department, said at the presentation. "We are pleased that we could win VGF for this beautiful cooperation."
The attraction of the ice rink has never been greater. In 2019, the team of the Ice Sports Hall Frankfurt recorded a record: around 617,500 people visited the sports venue on Bornheimer Hang, more than ever before. Compared to the previous year, this is an increase of around 33,000 visitors.
The large number is also made up of members of the eleven ice sports clubs who regularly train there (121,000 in 2019) and people who attend events at the ice sports hall (224,000). For example, every year around 4000 visitors come to "Family on Ice", the opening event at the beginning of the main season, when admission is free and, for the first time in the season, the outer ring is also open to the public. In addition to the size of the ice rink, the 400-metre outer ring is also a special feature. This area can be skated on daily during the main season, i.e. from November to mid-March. In addition, 2000 pairs of rental skates are available.
The ice rink is not only the venue of the DEL2 ice hockey team Frankfurter Löwen. The wide range of events held at the Eissporthalle include, for example, the VeloFrankfurt two-wheel trade fair, the amateur dance tournament "Hessen tanzt" and the Award Ceremony of the Mainova IRONMAN European Championship.
In order to maintain the attractiveness of the Eissporthalle, several areas have been successively renovated since 2018 without any restrictions for users. For example, the hall lighting was recently completely converted to energy-efficient LED technology. The valuables compartments in the strap-on hall and the floor there are expected to be renewed this year. In addition, the ice rink will be brought up to the latest fire protection standards. In total, the investment costs amount to around 3.8 million euros. The renovation should be completed next year.
Information on opening hours, prices, children's birthday parties and other offers such as curling and curling can be found at http://www.eissporthalle-ffm.de
