Spokane will serve as the U.S. trials for the Vancouver Olympics.
Vick444~No
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Spokane landed a big one Monday - the 2010 U.S. Figure
Skating Nationals, an event that also doubles as the
Olympic trials for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games.
The city won the event on the strength of its strong
performance hosting the same event in 2007, when it set
event attendance records of more than 154,000 fans. Men's
champion Evan Lysacek said skaters "felt like rock stars"
in the Lilac City.
"There is huge support for this event from the city of
Spokane that goes well beyond the figure skating
community," said Ron Hershberger, U.S. Figure Skating's
president. "These factors, and the excellent facilities
in Spokane, will provide an extraordinarily positive
atmosphere for our athletes. The enthusiasm we
experienced in 2007 certainly proved that Spokane can
host a truly outstanding event."
The venue again will be the 10,500-seat Spokane Arena,
built in 1995. NBC will provide more than 10 hours of
live coverage for the event.
The event will take place from Jan. 14-24, 2010; its
scope has recently been expanded to spread major
competitions across consecutive weekends, to maximize
prime-time TV exposure. Men's and pairs competition will
take place during the first weekend; women's finals and
ice dance finals will fall on the second weekend.
All-event ticket packages will go on sale May 31 by
calling 800-325-SEAT or online at www.spokane2010.com.
Single tickets typically are sold later, but they're
often very limited because package buyers get dibs on
prime events.
U.S. Figure Skating didn't name the other candidate
cities, but two were rumored to be Providence, R.I., and
Portland, Ore.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/othersports/2004394404_skate06.html
Vick444~No
wrote:
May 12, 2008
"U.S. Figure Skating is extremely pleased to announce the
city of Spokane as the site for the 2010 U.S.
Championships," U.S. Figure Skating President Ron
Hershberger said. "As the 2010 U.S. Championships will be
the final event prior to nominating our athletes for the
2010 Olympic Winter Games, it was extremely important to
select an experienced and enthusiastic host for the
event."
The U.S. Championships annually attract more than 1,500
figure skating athletes, coaches and officials to the
host city. Spokane hosted the U.S. Championships in 2007,
when the event experienced unprecedented success,
including an all-time attendance record. The 2007 U.S.
Championships received the prestigious honor of being
recognized as the "Sports Event of the Year" and "Amateur
Sporting Event of the Year" by SportsTravel magazine.
"There is huge support for this event from the city of
Spokane that goes well beyond the figure skating
community. These factors, and the excellent facilities in
Spokane, will provide an extraordinarily positive
atmosphere for our athletes," Hershberger said. "The
enthusiasm we experienced in 2007 certainly proved that
Spokane can host a truly outstanding event."
NBC will provide more than 10 hours of live coverage of
the event, including all senior-level finals, while the
remainder of the competition will be shown on
icenetwork.com.
The Spokane Arena, a 10,500-seat, multi-use facility that
opened in 1995, will serve as the sole venue for the
event. The arena has been the site for a number of major
sporting events including 2002 Smart Ones Skate America,
the 1996 U.S. Olympic wrestling trials and the 1998
Memorial Cup (the Canadian Hockey League’s championship
event).
The 2010 U.S. Championships will be managed locally by
Star USA. Star USA spearheaded the effort that led to
Spokane’s hosting the 2007 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating
Championships, which attracted a record crowd of 154,893.
Star USA also hosted 2002 Skate America, which attracted
a record attendance of 28,664 for the four-day event.
"We couldn’t be prouder or more excited for our
hometown," said Toby Steward, president of Star USA. "The
world will be riveted to the excitement of the Olympic
Winter Games, and the Pacific Northwest will be in the
spotlight. Spokane will now have a direct connection to
that excitement."
With the 2010 Olympic Games beginning in Vancouver soon
after the completion of the 2010 U.S. Championships, the
U.S. Championships event schedule has been adjusted to
provide approximately a four-week training period from
the end of each senior-level event to the start of the
same event within the Olympic schedule. Therefore, all
the senior events will be taking place over two weekends,
with senior-level men’s and pairs the first weekend, and
senior-level ladies and ice dancing the second weekend.
Vick444~No
2010 U.S. figure skating tickets go on sale May 31
Comments All-event ticket packages for the 2010 U.S.
Figure Skating Championships in Spokane will go on sale
at 10 a.m. May 31.
The all-event package costs $595 and includes a ticket
to at least 16 skating competitions between Jan. 15 and
Jan. 23, 2010. For ticket information, check
www.spokane2010.com or call 1-800-325-SEAT.
Tickets for the Exhibition of Champions show on Jan. 24,
2010, which will feature the U.S. champions 18 days
before they compete at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver,
B.C., will be sold separately at $75 a seat.
The all-event package costs $100 more than the 2007
championships in Spokane, but the competition also will
run two days longer.
The 2007 championships sold a record 154,893 tickets.
"Like last time, there is a payment plan available," said
Toby Steward, of skating promoter Star USA. "You pay an
initial payment, and then they charge you three or four
other payments until you make the total."
Included in the 2010 package is a pass to all practice
sessions at Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.
And unlike last time, "all the competitions and all the
practices are at the Arena," Steward said. "That's going
to be great for fans."
If individual tickets remain after the all-event package
sale, they will be sold shortly before the championships.
"The pressure on the ticket inventory is going to be much
greater this time," Steward said. "Based on history, in
an Olympic year, and when the Olympics are pretty much in
your backyard, there is going to be so much more demand."
Because the championships are the final qualifier for the
2010 Olympics, fans are expected to buy tickets earlier.
"We don't have a crystal ball, but by October of '09 I
don't see that many tickets being open," Steward said,
"and by then, many of the open seats will be all the way
up in the rafters."
Vick444~No
Figure skating ticket sales break record
Emily Sue Pike sat enthralled through 21 figure skating
performances and competitions when the U.S. Figure
Skating Championships hit Spokane last year.
Because she was an all-events ticketholder, the
63-year-old Spokane woman was offered the chance to buy
those same seats again when the skating championships hit
town in 2010.
And she jumped at it.
"I replied right away - then I ran out into the living
room and asked my husband if I could go again," said
Pike.
The first two days of ticket sales for the 2010 U.S.
Figure Skating Championships in Spokane surpassed initial
sales for the 2007 ice skating event. Those sales
included customers like Pike who were given the
opportunity to commit to buying tickets early as well as
those who dialed and re-dialed the phone until they got
through.
Tickets went on sale Saturday morning. In the first 48
hours, more than 2,690 all-event tickets were sold, along
with 2,026 Skating Spectacular tickets, officials said.
"The 2007 U.S. Championships in Spokane set the all-time
attendance record for the Championships," David Raith,
executive director of U.S. Figure Skating, said in a
newsrelease. "When Spokane was selected to again host in
2010, it was done with the mission to provide our
athletes and fans an exciting atmosphere for the week.
Spokane raised the bar in 2007, and we fully expected the
city to do it again. I think the initial results show
that our fans are excited about 2010."
"These initial results make us more excited and proud
every day," said Toby Steward, president of Star USA, the
Spokane-based producer of the 2007 and 2010 skating
events. "We are humbled that so many people have shown
their support of Spokane hosting these championships by
their actions. By buying tickets, the fans have shown
that they want to come back to Spokane, and we are even
more thrilled to host them for the championships during
this most important year."
The 2010 Spokane event will end just 18 days before the
winter Olympics begin in Vancouver, B.C., and will
culminate in the crowning of 12 national champions in
ladies, mens, pairs and ice dancing in the senior, junior
and novice levels.
"We are so stoked," Barb Beddor, executive director of
Star USA. "This is exactly what Spokane needed."
Tickets are still available. The all-event package being
sold for 2010 costs $100 more than the championships in
Spokane in 2007, but the competition will run two days
longer.
The Spokane Arena, a 10,500-seat facility, will serve as
the sole venue for the event.
Tickets can be purchased online at www.spokane2010.com,
over the phone at (800) 325-SEAT or by visiting the
TicketsWest box office at the Arena starting May 31.
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/breaking/story.asp%3fID=15181