SKA Arena general director Dmitry Svatkovsky said the late commissioning of the facility was due to the refusal of foreign companies to cooperate and sanctions that made it impossible to purchase the necessary equipment.
On Sunday, a journalists’ visit will take place at the SKA Arena. The facility has already been put into operation and its cost is 60 billion rubles. On December 9 and 10, the Fonbet KHL All-Star Game 2023 will take place here.
— The arena was to be built by May 2023, for the home world championship (the tournament was moved by decision of the IIHF from St. Petersburg to Finland and Latvia — editor’s note). Why was it only completed in November?
– We were in no hurry. Additionally, they have been included in different penalty packages in terms of equipment. We planned to use many technologies from the best arenas in the world, but many companies refused to work with us. We had to re-equip ourselves and transferred many of our services to Russian companies and technologies. This was our fundamental task. And I can say that Russian companies are no worse than foreign ones.
In the near future, several palaces will be built in Russia – these are Luzhniki and CSKA… We know that it is possible to work with Russian companies.
— How many tickets have already been sold for the KHL All-Star Game?
– I know the excitement is huge. According to my information, there will be a full house,” reports the correspondent according to Svatkovsky’s words.
SKA Arena is a multifunctional sports and cultural complex located in St. Petersburg, designed to host hockey competitions as well as public cultural and entertainment events. The Ice Palace is designed to accommodate more than 21,500 people during various hockey events. The arena will host the St. Petersburg SKA team, which plays in the KHL.
Watch live broadcasts of the Fonbet KHL championship matches on the channel, as well as on the matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru sites.
Source : MatchTV
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
