Poll about freestyle costs and availability and contract ice

[ZilphaK]

Is your rink in a small, medium or large city/town?

Is freestyle ice offered by your rink or your club or both? (That is, is the rink running the sessions or is the club buying ice from the rink and running the sessions?)

How many freestyle sessions a day/week does your rink offer?

Are sessions leveled by ability (e.g. low, medium, high) and/or use (special dance or MIF-only sessions)?

How much are sessions?

Does you rink offer contract ice and, in general, what are the costs/savings offered by contract ice, and what are the parameters for use (e.g. Do you HAVE to sign a contract to skate at the rink? Does contract ice give you unlimited access to all freestyle sessions, or do you have to choose sessions each week?)

Thanks! Just doing some comparisons.

 

[misskarne]

A small city of approximately 400,000 people.

Freestyle ice is offered only by the rink and it is only by the discretion of the rink's grouchy manager that figure skating is suffered to continue.

On Mondays, three sessions, on Tuesdays one, on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays two, Saturdays one.

Sessions are not levelled, any skater of any level can skate on them.

$14 a session, $130 for a 10-visit card, and $180 for a monthly pass that allows access to as many sessions as required.

No contract ice.

 

[purple skates]

Medium sized city (probably 200,000 people in the area).

Rink pass-through in the very early morning. Club pass-through during the day. Both are drop in and in $5 per 1/2 hour increments. Contract ice after 3:00, with varying ending times depending on the synchro ice. This is M-F. There’s also contract ice on Sunday. You sign up for specific 50-minute sessions, and I think it’s around $16 each. I don’t skate contract ice.

There are dance only sessions, and I think one or two stroking sessions. Some of the contract ice is leveled, and there’s also restrictions on linked skaters - on some sessions you might get four synchro skaters practicing together and on others they are not allowed.

It’s a large club, though. Sometimes I skate at a different rink where it’s rink-owned drop-in ice in the afternoon ($16/hour), or at adult-only open skate ($4 per session) at yet another rink. There’s lots of choices in our area.

 

[Skittl1321]

Small city- about 20,000 (metro area about 160,000).

No contract ice. Everything is drop in.
Some years the club offers ice, but it is pretty unusual-

The rink has 3 hours of freestyle a week, and I think it is $9 an hour.
Public skate is $6 a session, length varies (some are 8 hours long). You can practice anything you want depending on the crowds (some are very uncrowded, others quite crowded)- I mean, we had a guy (not his regular training rink, he was visiting) working on a 3A on deserted ones.

 

[clairecloutier]

Boston area, North Shore (northeastern suburbs of Boston)

The ice time/cost situation in this area is a little hard to describe. There are at least 7 rinks within 30 minutes of my home. One of them is seasonal. A couple of them are linked to schools; in those cases, their priority is the school's hockey program. There is almost no public or freestyle ice at any of the rinks after 6:00 pm. Pretty much all evening hours are filled with hockey.

Public skate varies from $5 to $7 an hour. Most public skate hours are either on weekday mid-mornings (10 am-noon, not crowded) or weekend afternoons (very crowded). Non-leveled.

Open freestyle ice is available at 2 rinks and is $12-$15/hr, mostly in the early mornings or afternoons. Non-leveled. However, most of the local freestyle ice is controlled/offered by the figure skating clubs. There are 3 clubs in the area. For members, freestyle ice is between $16-$19/hr, I think, and $18-$21/hr for walk-ons. You can save some money by contracting freestyle ice (I think maybe a couple dollars per session?), but so far we have not been consistent enough in our schedule to take advantage of that. Club freestyle sessions are mostly non-leveled, but I think some may be leveled at the biggest club. The number of club freestyle sessions per week varies according to the club size--for the smaller ones, I think it's maybe 4 hours of freestyle a week, for the biggest club, much more than that, at least 10 hours.

If you are trying to skate and maintain regular school, the picture really is not very pretty. A single visit to a rink for a lesson during after-school hours will run you a minimum of $45 for the ice time & lesson combined.

 

[Theoreticalgirl]

Is your rink in a small, medium or large city/town?

In a small town 10 minutes outside of the 5th largest city in the United States (Philadelphia).

Is freestyle ice offered by your rink or your club or both? (That is, is the rink running the sessions or is the club buying ice from the rink and running the sessions?)

The skating club owns the building; sessions are figure skating only.

How many freestyle sessions a day/week does your rink offer?

During the club season, there are sessions 7 days a week. In the off-season, it goes down to 5.

Are sessions leveled by ability (e.g. low, medium, high) and/or use (special dance or MIF-only sessions)?

Yes, grouped by test level and discipline (dance), as well as sessions exclusively for adults everyday. Also, there is a daily session designated for figures (i.e. patch) during the club season.

How much are sessions?

Club season: I keep a spreadsheet with the per-session breakdown (after fees) and it can range from $16-10 per session, though it depends on what membership level you are at.

Off-season: The club runs on a coupon system and is open to the public. They offer discounts if you order in bulk. I guess it's around $16 per session otherwise.

Does you rink offer contract ice and, in general, what are the costs/savings offered by contract ice, and what are the parameters for use (e.g. Do you HAVE to sign a contract to skate at the rink? Does contract ice give you unlimited access to all freestyle sessions, or do you have to choose sessions each week?)

See above re: cost of sessions. It depends on what membership tier you are at.

 

[overedge]

Is your rink in a small, medium or large city/town?
Suburb of a large metropolitan area.

Is freestyle ice offered by your rink or your club or both? (That is, is the rink running the sessions or is the club buying ice from the rink and running the sessions?)
The club buys ice time from the city which owns/operates the rink. The city also offers its own learn-to-skate program for adults and kids, and also has adult-only public skates (as well as open public skates). The city also has one session each day that is "club ice" which skaters can buy on to, but they have to pay the city, i.e. regular facility admission fee, rather than the club (don't ask me why or how this works).

How many freestyle sessions a day/week does your rink offer?
When anyone registers with the club they register in the sessions for that level, 4-6 a week depending on level. There are two open freeskate sessions each weekday that anyone can buy in on (as long as they are not in learn-to-skate or the program that transitions skaters from learn-to-skate to private lessons).

Are sessions leveled by ability (e.g. low, medium, high) and/or use (special dance or MIF-only sessions)?
Anyone who isn't a beginner can go on the open ice. I don't think I've ever seen anyone practice dance on these sessions, although I suppose they could if they wanted. The skaters on the session tend to be pretty respectful of each other's space.

How much are sessions?
The "club ice" from the city is $8 CDN for the hour. I don't know the drop-in rate for the club's open sessions are but I would guess it's around $15 CDN.

Does you rink offer contract ice and, in general, what are the costs/savings offered by contract ice, and what are the parameters for use (e.g. Do you HAVE to sign a contract to skate at the rink? Does contract ice give you unlimited access to all freestyle sessions, or do you have to choose sessions each week?)

You have to be a Skate Canada member to skate on any of the club sessions. I don't think we have the equivalent of "contract ice" but in the competitive/test stream, skaters have to sign up for a minimum number of on- and off-ice sessions per week at their level. I believe there is a package price for certain numbers of those sessions. The "club ice" from the city isn't included in any registrations - everyone has to pay to go on that session.

 

[Deleted member 53443]

Is your rink in a small, medium or large city/town?
Princeton, NJ area

Is freestyle ice offered by your rink or your club or both? (That is, is the rink running the sessions or is the club buying ice from the rink and running the sessions?)
Freestyle is offered in every rink, almost daily. No club stuff. I have 4 rinks within 30-40 mins, I think all of them about 3-6 (yes, 6, 3h 6-9am then 3-6pm) hours in one day.

How many freestyle sessions a day/week does your rink offer?
4-5 days a week, one rink 7 days a week.

Are sessions leveled by ability (e.g. low, medium, high) and/or use (special dance or MIF-only sessions)?
One of the rinks have low free which is cheaper. Tends to be very busy though, honestly as an adult skater the "high" freestyle is a better option. Best of all though is public during working hours in fall and spring when kids are in school.

How much are sessions?
Around $18 per hour.

Does you rink offer contract ice and, in general, what are the costs/savings offered by contract ice, and what are the parameters for use (e.g. Do you HAVE to sign a contract to skate at the rink? Does contract ice give you unlimited access to all freestyle sessions, or do you have to choose sessions each week?)
No.

 

[Theoreticalgirl]

@Per I did not know you are in Princeton—do you ever skate at Baker Rink? I host a radio program on WPRB, so I literally walk past the rink to get to the station and I have never seen it open.

 

[Deleted member 53443]

@Per I did not know you are in Princeton—do you ever skate at Baker Rink? I host a radio program on WPRB, so I literally walk past the rink to get to the station and I have never seen it open.

Nope, Baker is not very active for the public, I have actually never skated there... My rinks are mainly Proskate and Flemington Rinks.

 

[vesperholly]

Is your rink in a small, medium or large city/town?

Medium city in the Northeast.

Is freestyle ice offered by your rink or your club or both? (That is, is the rink running the sessions or is the club buying ice from the rink and running the sessions?)

Both - the club buys ice in the afternoon/early evening, and the rink offers figure skating-only public ice during the day about lunchtime. One rink offers figure skating-only public ice, the other rinks in the area all have freestyle ice that are run by clubs.

How many freestyle sessions a day/week does your rink offer?

2-3 per day, Mon-Sat.

Are sessions leveled by ability (e.g. low, medium, high) and/or use (special dance or MIF-only sessions)?

Only club sessions are leveled. My club does Pre-Juvenile and up, other rinks are Prelim and up. Dance/MIF only sessions quite rare but do exist.

How much are sessions?

Anywhere from $8-20/hour. Public skates at my rink are $3 if you live in the town (town-owned rink) or $6.

Does you rink offer contract ice and, in general, what are the costs/savings offered by contract ice, and what are the parameters for use (e.g. Do you HAVE to sign a contract to skate at the rink? Does contract ice give you unlimited access to all freestyle sessions, or do you have to choose sessions each week?)

Yes, most club ice is is contract ice and the savings is a discount on the per-hour price of the session. Only one rink that I know of offers unlimited contract ice, but they only have 4 sessions/2 days per week. All other contract ice forces you to pick a session. You can also buy ice cards if you don't want to commit to a particular session, but they are typically more expensive per hour.

 

[Yazmeen]

Is your rink in a small, medium or large city/town?

Small suburban town about 25 miles north of Philadelphia. Rink has 3 ice surfaces; two together in one building, and one that is strictly for hockey in a separate building.

Is freestyle ice offered by your rink or your club or both? (That is, is the rink running the sessions or is the club buying ice from the rink and running the sessions?)

There is freestyle ice offered through the club/rink together, it's run by the club AFAIK

How many freestyle sessions a day/week does your rink offer?

On weekdays, morning freestyle ice from 8:15 to 9:45 AM, then afternoon ice from 12:15 to 5:00 or 6:00 depending on season with an ice-cut in the middle. Saturday freestyle from 10:15 to 11:45. No freestyle on Sunday.

Are sessions leveled by ability (e.g. low, medium, high) and/or use (special dance or MIF-only sessions)?

No, but we have a synchro program shared with another rink club, and they have early morning Saturday ice during the season.

How much are sessions?

$4 for 15 minutes, $8/30, $12/45 and $16 for 60. 45-minute session cards are sold at $115 for 10 sessions, $252 for 24 sessions, and $380 for 40. Basic session is 45 minutes. I buy the 40 session cards which breaks down to only $9.50 per session.

Does you rink offer contract ice and, in general, what are the costs/savings offered by contract ice, and what are the parameters for use (e.g. Do you HAVE to sign a contract to skate at the rink? Does contract ice give you unlimited access to all freestyle sessions, or do you have to choose sessions each week?)

Not that I know of for figure skating. You don't have to be a club member to skate here, just pay for the ice.

 

[likevelvet]

Is your rink in a small, medium or large city/town?

My rink is just outside a city with a population of 600 thousand. It's the closest rink to the city.

Is freestyle ice offered by your rink or your club or both? (That is, is the rink running the sessions or is the club buying ice from the rink and running the sessions?)

The rink runs most sessions. There is one club session a week.

How many freestyle sessions a day/week does your rink offer?

My rink has multiple freestyle sessions 7 days a week. My club offers half-price freestyle once a week for a 45 minute session.

Are sessions leveled by ability (e.g. low, medium, high) and/or use (special dance or MIF-only sessions)?

There are like two sessions per week that are low-only. Otherwise, they are not leveled or designated.

My arena is a large two-rink facility and weekday freestyle especially is not crowded. Usually, there are only one or two people/coaching groups on the ice at any given time.

How much are sessions?

$14 drop-in per session. Rink sessions are an hour long with a couple of shorter 45 minute evening sessions on certain days.

Tuesday night club ice is $5 if you pay ahead through entryeeze, and $10 at the door.

Does you rink offer contract ice and, in general, what are the costs/savings offered by contract ice, and what are the parameters for use (e.g. Do you HAVE to sign a contract to skate at the rink? Does contract ice give you unlimited access to all freestyle sessions, or do you have to choose sessions each week?)

We just have monthly passes and punch cards.

Copy-pasted from the rink website:

Punch cards:

• 20 Pre-Paids - $224.00
• 30 Pre-Paids - $315.00
• 40 Pre-Paids - $392.00
• 50 Pre-Paids - $455.00

passes (by age/level):

• Ages 3-5 $175.00
• Adult 21+ $195.00
• Non-Test – Pre-Juvenile $275.00
• Juvenile – Senior $330.00

Monthly passes allow you to skate all freestyle and public sessions. Punchcards are just for freestyle sessions. There are also public session punch cards. You just have to sign in when you arrive to skate to keep track of your sessions, not sign a contract beforehand, although you must have a credit card on file for charges incurred.

 

[sk8indel]

Is your rink in a small, medium or large city/town?
About 40 minutes south of a large city

Is freestyle ice offered by your rink or your club or both? (That is, is the rink running the sessions or is the club buying ice from the rink and running the sessions?)
Club owns the rink

How many freestyle sessions a day/week does your rink offer?
There is ice weekdays from 6am (sometimes earlier) to 5 or 6pm
Weekends there are 3-5 hours of ice a day

Are sessions leveled by ability (e.g. low, medium, high) and/or use (special dance or MIF-only sessions)?
There are low, med, high, and adult (25+) sessions, but most are general all levels. One session on the weekend is dance priority.

How much are sessions?
$16 for full (40min)
$9 ? for half (20min)

Does you rink offer contract ice and, in general, what are the costs/savings offered by contract ice, and what are the parameters for use (e.g. Do you HAVE to sign a contract to skate at the rink? Does contract ice give you unlimited access to all freestyle sessions, or do you have to choose sessions each week?)
Unlimited ice is $550 a month for individual / $610 for family
If you pay the entire year upfront at the beginning of the season, there is some kind of discount

There are also different levels of membership for families at different price-points, they give a little bit of savings
- 5 sessions a month ($75)
- 11 sessions a month ($165)
- 20 sessions a month ($300)

Or you can buy punch cards in increments of 10

Annual membership dues are an additional $200