C.R. leaders hoping to temporarily move state volley tournament to ice arena

It wouldn't be ideal.

But, according to Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union executive director Mike Dick, a one-year arrangement for the state volleyball tournament at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena “appears to be workable.”

Dick and many of his assistant directors took a two-hour tour through the arena Monday morning. He left optimistic that the four-day, 32-team tournament could be held there.

“I'm very pleased,” he said afterward. “There are inherent advantages. Nearby parking is fantastic, and it's free. The (nine) locker rooms are bigger than those at the U.S. Cellular Center, and there are more.”

The concern is seating. The Ice Arena has 3,800 permanent seats, with the option for 200 standing-room seats, plus the luxury suites at the top.

“That is a major concern,” Dick said. “We had several sessions last year in which the paid tickets exceeded that number.”

Cedar Rapids has been the host of the volleyball tournament since 1991, when the U.S. Cellular Center (then the Five Seasons Center) became the first arena venue, replacing high schools around the Des Moines area. Renovation to the arena will begin before the 2011 tournament (Nov. 9-12), forcing the Union to look elsewhere.

Scott Schoenike is the executive director of the U.S. Cellular Center, the Ice Arena and Paramount Theater. He hosted Monday's tour.

Also in attendance were Marilee Fowler and Mary Lee Malmberg from the Cedar Rapids Convention and Visitors Bureau, as well as Cedar Rapids Kennedy athletics director Aaron Stecker and Marion High School principal Greg Thomas, a member of the IGHSAU board of directors.

“The Ice Arena is a wonderful facility that offers a lot of benefits the Cellular Center doesn't,” Schoenike said. “The seating will be tight; a lot depends on the schools (that qualify). That's the biggest variable.”

Schoenike said that the contract - which runs through 2015 - charges the Union $27,500 for renting the U.S. Cellular Center. The Ice Arena would be made available for a much lower fee, he said.

The arrangement would be for two courts, end to end, for the first three days of the tournament, then one court on championship Saturday. The main rink is 200 feet long, 85 feet wide. A volleyball court is 60-by-30, plus the surrounding playing area.

A 2-inch layer would be placed between the ice and the SportCourt playing surface.

Troy Dannen, athletics director at the University of Northern Iowa and a former IGHSAU executive director, has placed a bid for the 2011 tournament at the McLeod Center. Other possibilities include Wells Fargo Arena and the Knapp Center in Des Moines and Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City.

“We want to be in the best venues for the kids,” Dick said. “We want to put them in a facility in which they're proud of playing in and we're proud of hosting.

“We're not talking about a permanent home. We're just talking one year.”

The IGHSAU board of directors meet Jan. 19, and a decision could be made then.

As for the tournament's future, Dick said the U.S. Cellular Center's breach of contract means that “I can't give a 100-percent guarantee” that the tournament would return downtown in 2012, though he said the renovations will make it “a wonderful home” for the event.