'Serious decisions' needed on Motorpoint Arena's future as crucial halfway mark on contract approaches

"Serious decisions" will be needed about the future of Nottingham's Motorpoint Arena as the contract on the site reaches a crucial halfway mark. Continued refurbishment or the knocking down of the site to build a new one are among the options that could face decision makers when the arena reaches the end of its initial contract.

The Nottingham Arena, known as the Motorpoint Arena under a sponsorship agreement, is part of the city's National Ice Centre. Opened in 2000, the centre was built on the site of the old Nottingham Ice Stadium, which first opened in 1939.

Alongside a Nottingham City Council contribution of £16 million, crucial to the opening of the National Ice Centre was £22.5 million of funding from Sport England. The organisation had given the funding to Nottingham City Council and the National Ice Centre's job is therefore to deliver sporting outputs on behalf of both the council and Sport England.

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The arena side of the business exists to make profits to subsidise the operation and maintenance of the whole building. The contract with Sport England was for 50 years and as the halfway point approaches on that, the arena's boss has spelled out what will need to happen in future.

Martin Ingham said: "Somebody somewhere probably needs to start thinking very seriously about what happens at the end of that 50 years. That's what the money was for - the money was to deliver 50 years.

"At the end of that 50 years, I wouldn't have thought the building would suddenly then fall apart. But at the end of 50 years, somebody somewhere is going to have to make some pretty serious decisions about what happens to it - whether you do what they do in America, which is knock it down and build another one, or whether you just have a process of continuous refurbishment.

"My job as a custodian of the building is to make sure that when I move on, we hand it over in decent nick to whoever else runs it after that. The reality is that as long as we look after the building and as long as we we support it, there will have to be some major capital works."

Mr Ingham has been the CEO of the National Ice Centre for eight years, previously serving as finance director for 14 years. Although the initial ambition was to make the company profitable by 2029, the last financial year ended up seeing the ice centre recording a modest profit of £61,000.

This was largely on the back of the business' National Merchandise company, specialising in handling merchandise for live events at venues across the country. Yet Mr Ingham says such a year of profitability does not offer much of a glimpse into the future given some of the inherent uncertainties in the arena business.

The CEO said: "I don't pick up the phone and say 'Ricky, it's about time you went on tour, come and do a show'. He's got a touring schedule and what we're trying to do is to put ourselves at the forefront of the mind of the promoter, the artist, the agent, the manager.

"Ball and Boe was supposed to happen on the 31st of March. They've moved by one day into the 1st of April. I'm suddenly down by that contribution. Because of one day, it's going to the next financial year.

"I always say in a five year cycle, you're probably going to have one poor year, one bumper year, and the other three years are going to be average. Peter Kay is the single most profitable event we've ever done for hospitality last year, and we had two of them.

"The underlying trend is growth, what's killing us at the moment is the cost increases of our electricity. Utility bills have gone up by 100% in two years."

Alongside the increase in utility bills, managing what is beginning to become an aging building will become a key consideration for bosses at the arena over the coming years. Yet despite all the costs and the continued uncertainties, Mr Ingham believes the ice centre will prove to have been a wise investment.

The CEO added: "By now, in the first 25 years of our existence, we'll have brought in a billion pounds to the Nottingham economy, which is an amazing number. One of the best decisions any council has made in this country in the last 25 years is to invest 16 million quid in a venue like this that's brought a billion pounds into the local economy.

"That was a genius decision. It would be lovely to say we've turned the corner and [last year's profit] is going to be consistent, but I think the nature of our business is glorious inconsistency."