Riga Sports Palace () was an

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 hock ...

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. It was built in 1970 with 4,500 permanent seats with a total capacity of 5,500 including room for 500 standing spectators. In the 1970s and 1980s, it was the home arena for the renowned ice hockey club

Dinamo Riga Dinamo Riga ( lv, Rīgas Dinamo) is a professional ice hockey team based in Riga, Latvia. It is a member of the Latvian Hockey Higher League. The club is affiliated with HK Zemgale/LLU. The club was re-founded on 7 April 2008 as a successor of ...

and also frequently hosted

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 me ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

events. From 1990 until 2006 it was the home to the

Latvian national ice hockey team The Latvian men's national ice hockey team represents Latvia in international ice hockey. The team is ranked 10th in the world by IIHF as of 2019. The team is controlled by the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation. Their best ever finish at the World Ch ...

and until end of the 1990s was host of almost all

Latvian Hockey League The Latvian Hockey Higher League ( lv, Latvijas Virslīgas hokeja čempionāts), also known as the Optibet Hockey League ( lv, Optibet hokeja līga) since 2017 due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Optibet, is the top tier Sports league, lea ...

teams. However, since 2006

has been played its home games in the 10,300-seat

Arena Riga Arena Riga ( lv, Arēna Rīga) is an indoor arena in Riga, Latvia. It is primarily used for ice hockey, basketball and concerts. Arena Riga holds a maximum of 14,500 and was opened on 15 February 2006. It was built to be used as one of the v ...

that was built to host the

2006 Men's World Ice Hockey Championships The 2006 Men's Ice Hockey World Championships was the 70th such event hosted by the International Ice Hockey Federation. Teams representing 45 countries participated in four levels of competition. The competition also served as qualifications for ...

. Chief of arena for long term was legendary ice hockey player

Helmuts Balderis Helmuts Balderis-Sildedzis (born 31 July 1952) is a Soviet former ice hockey player. He played right wing, participated in the Soviet team's losing effort in the Miracle on Ice, and played part of a single season in the NHL after being drafted in ...

. The last owner of arena Jānis Leimanis announced his plans to renew the arena and area near arena (starting at summer 2007). His aim was to make it more suitable for residential and commercial needs – to build flats, offices, hotels and keep renewed ice hall itself. Rīgas Sporta Pils was demolished in 2007.

Notes

{{reflist Buildings and structures in Riga Sports venues completed in 1970 Buildings and structures demolished in 2007 Indoor arenas built in the Soviet Union Indoor arenas in Latvia Indoor ice hockey venues in Latvia