The Pettit National Ice Center is an indoor

ice skating Ice skating is the self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. Ice skating may be per ...

facility in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, featuring two international-size ice rinks and a 400-meter

speed skating oval A speed skating rink (or speed skating oval) is an ice rink in which a speed skating competition is held. The rink A standard long track speed skating track is, according to the regulations of the International Skating Union (ISU), a double-laned t ...

. Located adjacent to

Wisconsin State Fair Park The Wisconsin State Fair Park is a fairgrounds and exhibition center in West Allis, Wisconsin, a suburb west of Milwaukee. It has been the location of the Wisconsin State Fair since 1892. The fairgrounds are open year-round, hosting various expe ...

, the center opened on January 1, 1993, and was named for Milwaukee philanthropists Jane and

Lloyd Pettit Lloyd Pettit (March 22, 1927 – November 11, 2003) was a sportscaster in Chicago and Milwaukee as well as the owner of the Milwaukee Admirals. Early life Pettit was born in Chicago and moved as a small child to the Milwaukee suburb of Shorewood ...

. Although

owns the land and the building, the Pettit National Ice Center Inc., a non-profit corporation, has operated the site since the facility opened. The Pettit Center replaced, and was constructed, on land once occupied by the Wisconsin Olympic Ice Rink, an outdoor facility that was in operation from 1967 to 1991. The indoor, climate-controlled Pettit Center was a major improvement and continues to attract many skating athletes from around the world. The Wisconsin Speedskating Club, Pinnacle Speedskating Club and DASH speedskating Club all train at the Pettit Center. The Wisconsin Figure Skating Club and Wisconsin Edge synchronized skating team practices on the figure skating rinks, shared with the Milwaukee Jr. Admirals and many other youth ice hockey organizations who use the facility.

The rink

The Pettit is one of only thirty indoor 400-meter ovals in the world, the sixth oldest, and is an official US Speedskating training facility. The Pettit has hosted numerous skating competitions, including the National Short and Long Track Speed Skating Championships, the

World Sprint Speed Skating Championships The World Sprint Speed Skating Championships are annual speed skating championships. The championships are held over a two-day period, with the skaters racing one 500 m and one 1,000 m each day. Since the higher speeds towards the end ...

, and the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Long Track Speed Skating in 2018 and again in 2022. The

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of the facility at street level is approximately above

sea level Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...

. The rink also hosts a skating school that offers classes for children and adults in

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are m ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

, and speed skating. Olympic speed skating gold medalists

Bonnie Blair Bonnie Kathleen Blair (born March 18, 1964) is a retired American speed skater. She is one of the top skaters of her era, and one of the most decorated athletes in Olympic history. Blair competed for the United States in four Olympics, winnin ...

and

Dan Jansen Daniel Erwin Jansen (born June 17, 1965) is a retired American speed skater. A multiple world champion in sprint and perennial favorite at the Winter Olympics, he broke a ten-year Olympic jinx when he won a gold medal in his final race, which ...

were the rink's first skaters.

Facility statistics

*$13 million facility *Area: ** — total building ** — arena * of total ice *400-meter oval designed for

long track speed skating 　 Long-track speed skating, usually simply referred to as speed skating, is the Olympic discipline of speed skating where competitors are timed while crossing a set distance. It is also a sport for leisure. Sports such as ice skating marathon, ...

*Two international-sized () rinks for ice hockey,

, and

short track speed skating Short-track speed skating is a form of competitive ice speed skating. In competitions, multiple skaters (typically between four and six) skate on an oval ice track with a length of . The rink itself is long by wide, which is the same size as a ...

*443-meter, three-lane jogging track surrounding the ice oval *140-person capacity Hall of Fame lounge overlooking the ice arena *Skate rental facilities with figure, hockey and speed skates *Public Skating is available

Track records

Men

Women

Operational Structure

Opened on December 31, 1992, the Pettit National Ice Center combined private and public sources for its construction funding. A financial restructuring in conjunction with the State of Wisconsin in January 2007 allowed the Pettit Center to be relieved of burdensome lease payments and past-due rent to the State through a negotiated payment of more than $5 million funded by bank-sponsored financing and a $2 million private contribution. Today, the Pettit National Ice Center, Inc. operates as a private, 501(c)-3 non-profit corporation, that generates 90% of its revenue from operations, including public skating, skating instruction, youth and adult figure skating and hockey programs, running track, and group and corporate meetings, as well as Olympic training. The balance is received through facility and program sponsorships and charitable contributions. The Center has a balanced annual operating budget, while continuing to raise sponsorships and charitable contributions for improvements to the Center.

References

External links

*{{official, http://www.thepettit.com/ Sports venues in Milwaukee Speed skating venues in the United States Tourist attractions in Milwaukee County, Wisconsin Indoor speed skating venues Indoor ice hockey venues in Wisconsin Wisconsin State Fair Sports venues completed in 1993 1993 establishments in Wisconsin