{"id":9981,"date":"2016-03-11T14:20:06","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T14:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/?p=9981"},"modified":"2016-03-11T14:20:06","modified_gmt":"2016-03-11T14:20:06","slug":"long-awaited-cardiff-arena-gets-ready-for-opening-devils-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/03\/11\/long-awaited-cardiff-arena-gets-ready-for-opening-devils-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Long-awaited Cardiff arena gets ready for opening Devils game"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_9993\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9993\" style=\"width: 336px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/12422239_10156597071885103_943731273_o.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9993\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\" wp-image-9993\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/12422239_10156597071885103_943731273_o-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Devils train in new arena for tomorrow's game.\" width=\"336\" height=\"252\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9993\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-9993\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/12422239_10156597071885103_943731273_o-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Devils train in new arena for tomorrow's game.\" width=\"336\" height=\"252\" \/><\/noscript><\/a> <strong>The Devils train in the new arena.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nAFTER an extended wait Cardiff Devils will play their first match in their new arena in the Bay tomorrow (March 12).<br \/>\nThe final preparations for Ice Arena Wales\u2019 opening were taking place \u00a0as the Devils trained ahead of their match against Belfast Giants.<br \/>\nThe \u00a316 million Olympic-standard ice rink was intended to be in use last year, but problems with funding and permission for phone line connections led to extensive delays.<br \/>\nThe arena is part of a \u00a3400 million investment in the city&#8217;s International Sports Village. Devils, an Elite League team, relocated 10\u00a0years ago from the Wales National Ice Rink in Cardiff city centre to a temporary venue in the Bay, the Big Blue Tent.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9997\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9997\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/12722510_10156597073410103_215594826_o.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9997\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-9997 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/12722510_10156597073410103_215594826_o-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"12722510_10156597073410103_215594826_o\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9997\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-9997 size-medium\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/12722510_10156597073410103_215594826_o-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"12722510_10156597073410103_215594826_o\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/noscript><\/a> <strong>The new building has a ground-floor food counter.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nThe new Ice Arena Wales has two ice pads, a bar, and a food counter. The main rink will hold 3,008 spectators in comparison with the Big Blue Tent\u2019s capacity of about 2,300.<br \/>\nLast month\u00a0fans were left disappointed when the Devils&#8217; planned debut game at Ice Arena Wales on February 27 was rearranged back at the tent only the week before it took\u00a0place.<br \/>\nThe campaign group, Save Our Rink Association Committee, has long expressed concern over the delays. The arena\u2019s developer Greenbank Partnerships Ltd signed the build contract for the arena in 2014 and estimated the building would be completed in 2015.<br \/>\n<figure id=\"attachment_9994\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-9994\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/12722281_10156597076620103_1872332255_o.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-9994\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-9994\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/12722281_10156597076620103_1872332255_o-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Vending machines were being delivered this morning.\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-9994\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-9994\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/12722281_10156597076620103_1872332255_o-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Vending machines were being delivered this morning.\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/noscript><\/a> <strong>Vending machines being delivered.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nLast March Greenbank operations director Chris Hartrey, who formerly managed the Wales National Ice Rink and Cardiff Ice Arena, said: \u201cThe worst case scenario is that the new building will be up and running during the first week in January. \u201cI am really confident about that and more than hopeful we can improve on that timing.\u201d<br \/>\nToday Cardiff Devils Commercial Director Kris Agland said: &#8220;It&#8217;s really exciting to be moving into the arena, which has been long overdue for fans and the city. &#8220;It&#8217;s an exciting time as we&#8217;re still in contention for the league.<br \/>\n\u201cThe response to tickets sales for tomorrow\u2019s game has been great \u2013 they&#8217;re as good as sell-out already.&#8221;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cardiff Devils v Belfast Giants will be at 7pm on Saturday March 12.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div style=\"width: 320px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('video');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-9981-1\" width=\"320\" height=\"576\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/video-1457694004.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/video-1457694004.mp4\">http:\/\/cardiffian.jomec.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/video-1457694004.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AFTER an extended wait Cardiff Devils will play their first match in their new arena in the Bay tomorrow (March 12). The final preparations for Ice Arena Wales\u2019 opening were taking place \u00a0as the Devils trained ahead of their match against Belfast Giants. The \u00a316 million Olympic-standard ice rink was intended to be in use last year, but problems with funding and permission for phone line connections led to extensive delays. The arena is part of a \u00a3400 million investment [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":248,"featured_media":9993,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[222,292],"tags":[1291,1185,74,339],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-9981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cardiff-bay","category-uncategorized","tag-cardiff-2","tag-ice-hockey","tag-sport-2","tag-wales"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Long-awaited Cardiff arena gets ready for opening Devils game - The Cardiffian<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2016\/03\/11\/long-awaited-cardiff-arena-gets-ready-for-opening-devils-game\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Long-awaited Cardiff arena gets ready for opening Devils game - The Cardiffian\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"AFTER an extended wait Cardiff Devils will play their first match in their new arena in the Bay tomorrow (March 12). The final preparations for Ice Arena Wales\u2019 opening were taking place \u00a0as the Devils trained ahead of their match against Belfast Giants. The \u00a316 million Olympic-standard ice rink was intended to be in use last year, but problems with funding and permission for phone line connections led to extensive delays. 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