Tampa Bay Lightning practice facility to recieve $6 million facelift

By Erik Erlendsson | @Erik_Erlendsson | Like us on Facebook
June 29, 2017

BRANDON – The Ice Sports Forum is getting a major makeover.

And once again, Tampa Bay Lighting owner Jeff Vinik is stepping up to make it happen.

The official practice rink of the team will soon break ground on an 18,000-square foot extension that will give the team a state-of-the art facility that includes a new locker room, film room and workout area. As part of the upgrades, the Lighting inked a 10-year extension with the Ice Sports Forum to remain as the team’s practice facility.

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Vinik, who has poured over $100 million in to Amalie Arena for upgrades since purchasing the team in 2010, will be putting up $6 million toward the upgrades at the Ice Sports Forum while ISF owner Tom Bradley will contribute $500,000 to the project. The extension is expected to be completed before the end of the 2017-18 hockey season.

”When you look at the locker room space we have right now and we talk about world class all the time,’’ Lightning CEO Steve Griggs said on Thursday. “So in talking with Tom Bradley and the folks here at the Ice Sports Forum, it was the logical thing to do to add on an 18,000 square foot add on to it that really creates a world class environment for our players and staff.’’

The project, which was designed by industry-leading sports architectural firm AECOM, is expected to break ground in September with a projected completion date sometime around the end of March, according to Griggs.

The new area will have nearly quadruple the amount of space compared to the team’s current locker room area at the facility, which is approximately 5,500-square feet in size. The team’s space inside Amalie Arena is around 14,500-square feet.

The extension at the practice facility will include a hydrotherapy facility, which includes hot and cold tubs as well as underwater treadmills for rehab use, as well as a video theatre, neither of which are in use at Amalie Arena. There will also be a new rink dasher board system on the north rink as part of the upgrades as well as an auxiliary locker room to accommodate the team during training camp.

All of this will put the Ice Sports Forum on par with many other practice facilities used by other teams around the league.

”We are really excited about,’’ Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman said. “We need to upgrade our locker room here in Brandon, we need to improve our gym and all of the facilities need to be improved. All our players are going to really appreciate it with better off-ice training in the off-season during our camps. When we practice here during the season the medical facility will be updated with all the modern necessities. So we are really excited about it and enhances our program.’’

The team had explored various other options, including building their own practice facility (one option explored was putting one on top of the parking garage adjacent to Amalie Arena similar to the Washington Capitals), but in the end opted to maintain the relationship with the Ice Sports Forum, which has been the team’s practice home since 1997.

”We had been looking around, but we have such a great partnership here,’’ Griggs said. “It just made sense to add on to this building here and working the partnership with (Bradley) to get it done versus going out and building our own.’’

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