How Much Does It Cost To Open A Skating Rink [& Proper Way]

If you have been thinking of opening a skating rink but are not sure of the expense, you may consider the following costs. 

You can expect the cost of opening a skating rink to cost you an investment of at least $400,000 to as much as one to three million depending on if you can find an old rink to renovate or if you start from scratch.

According to Sportstotry.com, a 17,000-square-foot building will cost an estimated $85,000 to $170,000 to renovate the wood floor. Renting a big enough building will cost on average around $4,000 per month.  There are other costs like licensing costs, insurance, additional renovation costs, and initial set-up costs in the beginning. 

Whether you should find an old skating rink or similar building to renovate or build one from scratch will depend on market conditions and cost.

How Much Does It Cost To Open a Skating Rink?

Flooring

To open a skating rink, you will need a rather large building of at least 17,000 or more square feet. Many are much larger. Skating rinks usually have either a wood or concrete floor, although occasionally, you will find a plastic tile floor. The plastic tile floors do not hold up nearly as well as the other two.  

Concrete is by far the cheapest option. It is very durable but does get slick. People often complain that concrete is too noisy. They also say it is often too bumpy and can make it hard to get your speed up. It is also much more likely to have people hurt from falls on it. 

Wood is considered the best solution for flooring for a skating rink. It gives skaters excellent traction. The give of a wood floor lessens the chances of a severe injury when falling, and it is less harsh for joints than harder surfaces like concrete.  Lastly, the wood looks much nicer. 

Steel Structures

If you start building a building for your skating rink, you may want to consider steel buildings. Steel buildings offer several advantages for businesses needing large amounts of space. You can have a vast building without needing the support beams that you need with more traditional structures that would typically be in the way of skaters. 

 You can use thermal insulation, which can reduce the heating and air conditioning bills significantly. Even if you were building an ice rink instead of a skating rink, you could still save from having a steel structure. 

Steel buildings give adequate circulation to help prevent mold and other conditions caused by too much humidity. Another advantage of having a steel building is that it takes much less time to construct than a traditional wood building and gives occupants long service life and low maintenance costs. 

A steel building can cost between $10 to $25 a square foot on average (you can get a FREE Quote). But you can add stuff, and the price can go up to $120 a square foot. For a 17,000 square foot building on the low side, you would need $170,000 at $10 per square foot. If the cost is $25 per square foot, the exact size building cost will cost $425,000. 

If you rent a building, you will probably need around $4000 per month in rent. 

Other Start-Up Expenses

There are numerous other expenses you will likely have to start a skating rink. Some of the estimates include the following:

Flooring and Installation	$170,000 to $425,000
Specialized Lighting	$12,200
Sound System	$41936
Rental Skates	$32,000
Skate Storage Racks	$13,451
Counters	$24,000
Locker Room Furnishings	$9850
Concession Dining Tables	$22,500
Exterior Lighting	$25,320
Parking Lot, Curbing System, and Striping	$144,400
Signage	$12,858
Heating and Air Conditioning	$235,000
Plumbing and Restroom Partitions	$50,000
Insurance	$30,000
Computerized Registers	$3561

These are only estimates, and depending on your location and whether you find a building to renovate or start construction from the ground up will make your actual costs fluctuate.

You will need to have a maintenance plan in place to keep your rink going. The overall monthly costs of most rinks are about $1166 per day or around $35,000 per month. At the same time, this may seem like an extraordinary amount it can be achieved.

Earning Potential

Currently, in the United States, there are 443 skating rinks, and they bring in $419 million per year in revenue. They have about 11,500 employees and an annual payroll of $114 million. 

If you incorporate many ways to recoup your investment, you should have no problem achieving your daily goals and above. Things that a skating rink typically charges money for include: entry fees, skate rental, food, and drinks, and selling skates. Skating lessons and parties are held at the rink. 

Roller derbies are making a comeback and could provide more income sources for a skating rink that promotes itself properly. 

However, to make money, you have to spend money ad if you want to sell skates, you have to buy them first. If you’re going to rent skates, you have to purchase them and a way to display them.  So, you have to figure out what you will do to promote your business and make sure you budget the cost to get started in your start-up budget. 

Concessions have huge earning potential for skating rinks, so you will need to include everything you need to set up a kitchen and tables and chairs for customers to eat while at the rink into your business plan and budget. If you do not want to cook and plan for food items, you might consider providing a kitchen and leasing it to help cover part of your rent while still providing an added service to your customers. 

Other Costs

You may need to plan a portion of the budget for the landscape outside of the building to be attractive to patrons. We previously discussed making sure to pave the parking lot and outside lighting. According to some sources, landscaping could cost as much as  $16 881. 

Will you decorate your skating rink in some way, and what will the decorations cost? Will you have a theme on different nights? What will the costs involve?

Have you planned permits, accounting fees, and legal fees into your budget? How much will it cost to hook up to public sewer and water systems where you live? Do you need to provide utilities during construction, and have you figured in construction insurance if a worker is injured? These things alone could add another $100,000 to your start-up budget. 

Will you need to partition off a section of the building for offices? Will there be general carpentry costs involved? These could add another $45,000 to your price. Phone wiring and equipment, if needed, and computers, if any are required, are other costs to consider and could add thousands of dollars to your budget. 

Payroll Costs  

How many people do you need to hire to run your skating rink in the first weeks? What will your payroll budget be for the first month before you have served your first customer? You will have a team of people who need to be paid to prepare the building to receive your first customers? To get these costs, figure out how many people you need to hire and what each should pay an hour of a salary. 

Will you hire a payroll firm to do your payroll, or will you be doing it yourself? How much will they charge? Do they require a long-term commitment from you? Payroll companies can charge as little as $27 a month to hundreds a month, depending on how many employees you have. 

Deposits

Will you have any deposits to pay for utilities or other services? How much will they cost? Usually, utility deposits are based on what they project your monthly bill to be each month.

This task may be more challenging if you are in a new building that has not been occupied before. In that case, they may use your square footage and compare it with other companies’ bills with similar-sized facilities. 

Will, you rent or lease any equipment that may require a deposit? Sometimes office equipment or specialty items require a deposit. 

Advertising

Will you do anything special for your grand opening that you will want to advertise, so people will know to come out? What kind of advertising do you want to do? Simple press releases can be free, but ads can cost up to $1000 in a newspaper, and commercials on tv and radio can cost several thousands of dollars. 

To Conclude

Starting a skating rink can cost as little as $400,000 to as much as one to three million dollars, depending on whether you find an existing location with a suitable building or if you have to start from the ground up.

There are several other cost factors to keep in mind, from renovations and equipment costs to permits, insurance, and legal fees.  You will need to carefully plan your strategy and include the items that are necessary to your success.

Writing a business plan can help you figure out the must-haves from the want-to-have. Remember, little things can add up quickly and push the budget quickly higher. You may also be interested in the cost to build an indoor sports facility that can house an ice rink.