Russian Billionaire To Build World’s Biggest Ice Hockey Arena...

The billionaire president of Russian ice hockey club SKA Saint Petersburg says he’s planning to build the world’s biggest ice hockey arena in the city, in the hopes that the venue will host games at the 2023 World Championships.
Gennady Timchenko told the Russian media that a 22,500-capacity stadium will be constructed ahead of the world championships in 2023, which Russia has bid for, according to TASS.

The stadium would cost in the region of 20 billion rubles (US$295 million), and building work is expected to start next year.

“We want to build in St. Petersburg the biggest hockey arena in the world,” Timchenko said at the weekend at the team’s launch ahead of the new Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) season.

“We want to thank the city leadership for helping us with this. I hope that in 2023 we will be able to host World Championship games at the new arena,” he added. 

The current record for the largest venue in the world to regularly hold ice hockey games belongs to the 21,288-seater Bell Center in Canada, which is home to National Hockey League (NHL) club the Montreal Canadiens.