No word yet.
I wish they could do it in Richmond, but while at the time they talked about being able to re-assemble the speed skating setup, which, according to Wikipedia, had a capacity of 8,000,
Richmond Olympic Oval has been divvied up into two Olympic-size rinks
swoon
, a sport simulation theater, a bunch of different training rooms, hard courts, a day care centre, medical clinic, pharmacy, etc. etc., and has become a functionality community recreation center and elite conditioning center. While the facilities are regulation, I don't see where enough seating could go. The
Minoru arenas (two), also in Richmond, are NA, not Olympic, regulation size, and the larger rink has seating for 2,000.
The Canucks play at Rogers Arena, but probably not feasible, even if the Canucks are out of town. (Capacity is just under 19,000). PNE schedule isn't filled in for Fall 2018; Pacific Coliseum
capacity for the Olympics was 14,239, according to Wikipedia.
BC place doesn't have an ice surface. Capacity is nearly 55K.
I think they need to use PNE, because 7,200 seats at Thunderbird Arena is not going to cut it with Vancouver so easily accessible from Japan. If they go with the Thunderbird Arena, if we can even get tickets, it's the same story as Nationals.
If they go with PNE, there's a Holiday Inn two blocks away. I don't know if they'll grab it for the skaters or go with another hotel and bus people in. If you're driving anyway, you could look into hotels in Burnaby: there are large hotels with six miles of PNE, and while parking and traffic around the arena will be the usual parking and traffic around an arena, the commute to there should be better.
For people who are using transit, Burnaby and New Westminster are also reasonable options, if you're close to one of the Skytrain Stations, which a number of hotels are. Then it's Skytrain to 29th Avenue, and the #16 bus to in front of the Holiday Inn.
From the hotels around Robson in the center of the West End, you can get an express bus to PNE from Burrard around Robson. It's about a 10-minute walk from Davie to Robson, and there are hotels like the Sandman Suites on Davie, which have small kitchens.
I'll be so tempted to go, even though December is not the greatest weather-wise.
of course we finally get another competition and I will likely not be in this part of the world then. At least if I have to end my trip early, this will be a great consolation prize.
