DE PERE – More than a half-century old and riddled with problems, the building at 1450 Fort Howard Ave., is also a point of pride for many of its users.
Built in 1974 with the help of a lot of local volunteers, the arena draws almost 64,000 spectators from 393 different zip codes each year. Out-of-town visitors and tournament participants choose to stay at De Pere hotels because of their proximity to De Pere Ice Arena, according to Director of Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Marty Kosobucki.
“Our ice arena is a bit of an economic draw; we have people coming from all over the state and then some,” Kosobucki said.
Kosobucki gave the De Pere Common Council a primer on the ice arena at a recent council meeting.
The upshot is the arena is worth saving.
“We’re not giving up on the facility,” City Manager Kimberly Flom said.
“The De Pere ice arena has a very strong cultural significance in local history,” Kosobucki said.
In 2024, De Pere commissioned a study of the ice arena to assess its weaknesses and strengths and come up with a path forward.
The study identified a number of repairs and upgrades and categorized them into four groups, depending on when they should be done.
They include:
Priority 1 (do within one year): $260,000
Priority 2 (do within two years): $770,000
Priority 3 (do within three to five years): $341,000
The study came up with three options for moving ahead: preparing the facility for year-round use ($2 million); replacing the front half of the building, which is where most of the problems occur ($4 million); or replacing it with a new facility ($10-15 million).
In recent years, repairs have cost thousands of dollars. In 2018-2019, new bleachers and repair of a chiller cost $346,000; a copper coil erupted to the tune of $22,000 in 2019-2020; a hot water tank replacement cost $15,000 in 2021; roof repairs in 2021-2022 cost $10,000; and a compressor went awry in 2023, costing a $2,500 insurance deductible, according to Kosobucki.
The arena generates about $109,000 per year in revenue.
As of Dec. 1, the ice arena’s fund balance was $104,284.
“We’re in a bit of a quandary,” Kosobucki said. “We have a lot of repairs that are suggested to the ice arena, and we really do not have the funding to make those repairs.”
Brown County Ice Management takes care of repairs under $10,000, while De Pere is responsible for problems above that amount.
The city owns the ice arena building and the land it sits on but leases out operations to Brown County Ice Management.
Generally, the ice arena fund operates similarly to an enterprise fund. Most of its money comes from the contract with Brown County Ice Management and a rink fee surcharge.
“We have not put any money into the rink from our tax levy,” Kosobucki said.
Back in 2018 when the chiller blew up, the ice arena instituted a surcharge, an hourly fee attached to the ice fee of all of its users, according to Kosobucki.
“For every hour that’s charged, $35 an hour goes right to the city into our ice arena fund,” Kosobucki said.
In addition to the surcharge, there’s also a management fee that De Pere Ice Arena charges Brown County Ice Management.
“Those two combined revenues that we get are not adequate to complete the repairs that are suggested in our facility study,” Kosobucki said.
A number of groups use the ice arena, including De Pere Youth Hockey, Greater Green Bay Figure Skating Club, the De Pere Voyageurs program, including the high school hockey team and the parent group, as well as the De Pere Deacons adult hockey league.
The general public uses it, as well, Kosobucki said. “We have open skates, we have tournaments that bring in people from all over the place.”
The rink currently operates in the fall, winter, spring, but not in summer.
That’s because the heater beneath the refrigeration system in the floor of the rink doesn’t work, according to Kosobucki.
The purpose of the heating system beneath the refrigeration system is to limit how deep down frost can build.
“If frost continues to keep going down, your building will go up,” Kosobucki said. “So we have to take the ice out during the summer to allow the frost to come out of the ground; that’s why we are not able to operate year round.”
The arena isn’t a very complex facility and that’s not a bad thing. “It provides very good sightlines for people to watch a game, so it’s a very good facility to enjoy a hockey game at,” Kosobucki said. “Even with the new sheet planned at the Cornerstone, the De Pere Ice Arena is still needed to meet the regional needs.”
He said without De Pere Ice Arena, 70% of its activities wouldn’t have anywhere to go.
Kosobucki said he’s hopeful that in early 2026, Common Council will provide direction on which way to go.
Mayor James Boyd said a new $15 million ice arena is likely out of the question, unless a donor were to step forward.
“We will continue to have dialogs,” Boyd said.
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