Blackburn Arena is an

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

-size ice arena in

Blackburn Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...

, England. It is the home of

Blackburn Hawks The Blackburn Hawks (formerly known as the Blackhawks and the Lancashire Hawks) are a British ice hockey team based in Blackburn, Lancashire. They are currently members of the EIHA Moralee Conference (NIHL N1), and have previously played in the ...

and Blackburn Eagles

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 ...

clubs. The arena, which was opened in January 1991 by

Christopher Dean Christopher Colin Dean, OBE (born 27 July 1958) is a British ice dancer who won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics with his skating partner Jayne Torvill. They also won a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. Early life Dean grew u ...

and

Jayne Torvill Jayne Torvill, OBE (born 7 October 1957) is a British professional ice dancer and former competitor. With Christopher Dean, she won a gold medal at the 1984 Winter Olympics and a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics, becoming one of the ...

, holds 3,200 people and has an ice pad of . The arena was built to coincide with Manchester’s 1996 Summer Olympic bid, with the possibility of boxing contests being held there. It was refurbished in 2005. The arena was originally owned by

Blackburn Council Blackburn with Darwen is a borough and unitary authority area in Lancashire, North West England. It consists of the industrial town of Blackburn and the market town of Darwen including other villages around the two towns. Formation It was foun ...

before being sold to the

Peel Group The Peel Group is a British infrastructure and property investment business, based in Manchester. In 2022, its Peel Land and Property estate extends to of buildings, and over of land and water. Peel retains minority stakes in its former ports ...

. It was subsequently sold to the Silver Blades in 2015.

WCW World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nationa ...

(World Championship Wrestling) held a tour event at the arena in October 1993, as did the WWF (World Wrestling Federation) the following year, and rock band

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

held the only concert to date there in November 1994 as part of their ''Thirsty Work'' world tour. A junior developmemt scheme for ice hockey is based at the arena, with teams for under 10s, under 12s, under 14s, under 16s and under 18s. These teams all go under the name of Blackburn Junior Hawks. The arena is open seven days a week for public ice skating sessions, and includes a café and hockey shop.

References

Buildings and structures in Blackburn Indoor ice hockey venues in England Sport in Blackburn {{England-sports-venue-stub