Ex-venues thriving — or struggling

The 2002 Winter Olympics left Utahns with more than just memories of torches and athletes. They also left luge tracks, hockey arenas and ski jumps just waiting to be used — and funded.

With initially low hopes for turning Olympic venues into viable tourist attractions, some sites are exceeding expectations as others struggle to stay afloat nearly three years after the Games.

A $75 million Olympic endowment is helping the Utah Athletic Foundation maintain Utah Olympic Park near Park City and the speedskating oval in Kearns for world championship events. The foundation is also working to bring visitors to both sites.

Other venues such as The Peaks Ice Arena, however, have had to go it alone with limited funding and lackluster public interest.

Financial difficulties at The Peaks, a Provo hockey venue that received no Olympic profits for future operations, is about to land manager Max Rabner in court over $191,409 in overdue rental payments and charges that the Seven Peaks Management Co. failed to make repairs to the arena, allowed insurance coverage to lapse and had utilities disconnected for lack of payment.

Although the ice sheet did not even begin to make a profit until this fall, Rabner said activities at the rink are flourishing. The Peaks offers youth and adult hockey programs and hosts college teams. The arena is also home to the Utah Winter Games figure skating competition, as well as indoor soccer, lacrosse and public skating.

Other former Olympic venues such as the Soldier Hollow cross-country and biathlon site have also had to be innovative to stay viable. Although Soldier Hollow was initially funded by the foundation, a private group created by the state to oversee Olympic venues, it was cut loose in June because of the foundation's tight budget.

"While we think it makes sense that we should have some of that money, that's not the scenario at the moment," said Howard Peterson, general manager of Soldier Hollow, located near Midway in Wasatch Mountain State Park. "There were very low expectations that this would be a viable location."

Now, the Soldier Hollow Legacy Foundation supports its venture solely with the $680,000 in tourism dollars generated at the site each year by about 90,000 visitors, Peterson said.

Originally created as a temporary venue, Soldier Hollow has has been the classroom for 29,000 Utah youths learning to cross-country ski on its course. In addition to hosting the U.S. Cross County Skiing championships every year, Soldier Hollow has added a tubing hill and summer events such as the International Sheepdog Classic.