Britain has some seriously impressive indoor arenas. But how many of them could become major ice hockey venues?
Ice hockey in the UK has a fascinating problem. The sport has passionate supporters, established professional leagues and some of the most dedicated fans in British sport — yet many of the country's biggest cities don't have an indoor arena capable of putting ice hockey on a truly large stage.
That raises an interesting question:
Which of the UK's biggest indoor arenas could host ice hockey?
From Glasgow and Aberdeen to London, Liverpool, Birmingham, Cardiff and Bristol, there are some huge venues either already operating or currently being built.
Some already have experience with ice-based events. Others have the capacity, flexibility and infrastructure that could make them interesting candidates for future hockey games.
Here are eight UK arenas worth watching.
1. OVO Hydro, Glasgow
Capacity: Up to 14,300
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Status: Existing arena
The OVO Hydro is one of the UK's biggest indoor arenas and one of the most recognisable venues in Scottish entertainment.
With a maximum capacity of around 14,300, the Glasgow venue regularly hosts some of the world's biggest musicians, comedians and entertainment productions.
It is also becoming increasingly interesting from an ice hockey perspective.
In December 2026, the OVO Hydro is scheduled to host EIHL hockey for the first time, with Glasgow Clan, Dundee Stars, Fife Flyers and Belfast Giants involved across a series of games. The event has been promoted under the idea of bringing "Hockey. But bigger."
That makes the Hydro particularly interesting.
Rather than asking whether Glasgow could support ice hockey in a large arena, we're about to get a chance to see what that actually looks like.
The challenge is whether occasional major games could translate into something more permanent.
Glasgow already has the Clan. The question is whether the city could eventually support regular ice hockey on a significantly larger scale.
Could the OVO Hydro become a regular ice hockey venue? It's no longer purely hypothetical.
2. The Sage, Newcastle
Capacity: 12,500
Location: Gateshead/Newcastle
Status: Planned
The North East could soon have another enormous indoor entertainment venue.
The new Sage development on the banks of the River Tyne is planned to include a 12,500-capacity arena, alongside conference, entertainment and hospitality facilities. The wider development is expected to bring significant regeneration and an estimated £350 million investment to the area.
For ice hockey, Newcastle is an especially interesting city.
The region has a history with professional hockey, but Newcastle's current major indoor arena isn't home to a professional ice hockey team.
That makes the new Sage an intriguing proposition.
A 12,500-capacity arena would potentially put Newcastle in a completely different category from many traditional British ice hockey venues.
Of course, capacity alone doesn't make an arena suitable for hockey. The venue would need the appropriate floor dimensions, ice-making infrastructure, refrigeration, player facilities, sightlines and operational setup.
But if those requirements were incorporated into the arena's design, the North East would have an enormous new opportunity.
Imagine a major ice hockey game on the banks of the Tyne.
3. The O2, London
Capacity: 20,000
Location: Greenwich, London
Status: Existing arena
Few UK venues would make a bigger statement for ice hockey than The O2.
With a capacity of up to 20,000, The O2 is one of the largest indoor arenas in the country. It has hosted some of the world's biggest entertainment events since opening in 2007.
London already has professional ice hockey, but the city's hockey scene is spread across venues that are considerably smaller than The O2.
That creates an obvious question: what would UK ice hockey look like if a London game could regularly attract an arena-sized audience?
The O2 isn't simply big. It is also one of the UK's most recognisable entertainment brands.
A major domestic ice hockey fixture there would instantly give the sport a very different profile.
It could also provide an opportunity for the sport to experiment with something Britain doesn't often see: a genuine large-scale hockey spectacle.
The NHL has demonstrated the power of taking ice hockey into major arenas and stadiums around the world.
Could Britain do the same?
The O2 might be the biggest statement UK ice hockey could make.
4. Cardiff Bay Arena
Capacity: 16,500
Location: Cardiff Bay, Wales
Status: Under construction
Cardiff's new arena could be one of the most interesting future venues for British ice hockey.
The Cardiff Bay Arena, also known as the Atlantic Wharf Arena, is being developed as part of a major regeneration project in Cardiff Bay. The new indoor venue is planned to accommodate around 16,500 people, with an expected opening in 2028.
That's a huge step up from Cardiff's existing indoor arena infrastructure.
And Cardiff already has one of the UK's most established professional ice hockey organisations in the Cardiff Devils.
That combination makes this particularly interesting.
Unlike some of the other arenas on this list, Cardiff wouldn't be starting from scratch when it comes to building an ice hockey audience.
There is already a passionate hockey fanbase in the city.
The question is whether a future Cardiff Bay Arena could accommodate a suitable ice hockey configuration — and, if so, whether the Devils or other major hockey events could make use of it.
The prospect of 16,500 people watching ice hockey in Cardiff is difficult to ignore.
Cardiff already has the hockey culture. Could it eventually have the arena to match it?
5. P&J Live, Aberdeen
Capacity: 15,000
Location: Aberdeen, Scotland
Status: Existing arena
Aberdeen has one of the UK's most impressive modern indoor arenas — and it doesn't currently have a regular professional ice hockey tenant.
P&J Live describes itself as the UK's most northerly arena, with a 9,000 square metre arena floor, automated retractable seating and a maximum seated/standing capacity of 15,000. Its fully seated capacity is 10,000.
From an event perspective, that flexibility is significant.
The arena was designed as a modern, multi-purpose venue capable of hosting major entertainment and sporting events.
For ice hockey, the obvious question isn't simply whether 15,000 people could theoretically fit inside. It's whether the arena's physical dimensions, refrigeration requirements, sightlines and supporting infrastructure could make a regulation ice surface practical.
If they could, Aberdeen would suddenly have one of the largest potential hockey venues in Scotland.
And geographically, it would provide something the sport currently lacks: a major arena capable of bringing large-scale ice hockey further north.
Could Aberdeen become one of Britain's next big hockey cities?
6. Utilita Arena Birmingham
Capacity: Up to 15,800
Location: Birmingham, England
Status: Existing arena
Birmingham is another city with a fascinating ice hockey question.
Utilita Arena Birmingham is one of the UK's largest indoor arenas, with a capacity of around 15,800 and a long history of hosting major sporting and entertainment events.
Its scale makes it an obvious venue to consider when discussing the future of large-scale ice hockey in Britain.
Birmingham is also one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, making the potential audience particularly interesting.
The key issue is that arena capacity and hockey capacity are not the same thing.
A venue capable of holding 15,800 people for a concert won't necessarily accommodate 15,800 spectators around an ice hockey rink.
The rink itself takes up significant floor space, while sightlines, seating configuration, access routes, technical requirements and ice plant requirements all have to be considered.
But even allowing for those limitations, the possibility of putting major ice hockey events into one of Birmingham's biggest indoor venues is compelling.
And Birmingham actually has another large indoor arena in the city, making it an unusually interesting market when considering the future growth of British hockey.
If hockey is going to become bigger in Britain, Birmingham is a city worth watching.
7. M&S Bank Arena, Liverpool
Capacity: 11,000
Location: Liverpool, England
Status: Existing arena
Liverpool might have the strongest practical argument on this list.
Why?
Because the M&S Bank Arena doesn't just describe itself as a flexible event venue — its own published specifications include an ice rink layout.
The arena has an overall capacity of 11,000 and approximately 3,400 square metres of floor space. Its retractable seating allows the venue to be configured for different events, including sporting events and ice skating.
That makes Liverpool particularly interesting for ice hockey.
The venue already has experience with ice-based productions, and the arena's flexibility is designed around changing configurations depending on the event.
It doesn't necessarily mean that a permanent professional hockey team could simply move in tomorrow.
Ice hockey has very specific requirements, and an occasional ice show is a different proposition from operating a professional hockey schedule.
But the fundamental question — can this arena be configured around ice? — already has a much clearer answer.
Liverpool is a huge city with a major sporting culture.
Could ice hockey eventually become part of it?
The arena already has the ice. The bigger question is whether Liverpool wants the hockey.
8. Aviva Arena, Bristol
Capacity: 20,000
Location: Bristol
Status: Under construction
Perhaps the most exciting future venue on this list isn't even open yet.
Bristol's new Aviva Arena is being created within the historic Brabazon Hangars, the birthplace of Britain's Concorde aircraft.
When it opens in late 2028, the arena is planned to hold 20,000 people, putting it alongside the UK's very largest indoor entertainment venues.
The arena is being designed as a major multi-purpose venue for music, sport and entertainment, with flexible end-stage and centre-stage configurations. It is expected to host more than 120 major events every year.
For ice hockey, the timing is particularly interesting.
Bristol doesn't currently have a top-level professional ice hockey team playing in a 10,000-plus arena.
That means the city has an opportunity to build something from the ground up.
Could the new arena eventually host major ice hockey events?
At this stage, it would be speculation to say that it definitely could. The venue's final sporting configurations and technical capabilities will matter.
But a brand-new 20,000-capacity arena designed with flexibility at its core creates an interesting possibility.
If ice hockey is ever going to become a genuine major-arena sport in the South West, this could be the building that changes the conversation.
Bristol is about to get the arena. Could hockey eventually give it another reason to fill it?
So, could these arenas actually host ice hockey?
This is where things get interesting.
Having a capacity of 10,000, 15,000 or even 20,000 doesn't automatically make an arena suitable for ice hockey.
A professional ice hockey venue needs much more than seats.
There needs to be enough floor space for a regulation rink, suitable refrigeration and ice-making systems, appropriate player and officials' facilities, safe access around the playing surface, suitable sightlines and an operational model that makes converting the venue worthwhile.
That's why some of Britain's biggest arenas aren't necessarily the best hockey candidates.
Conversely, an arena with a smaller headline capacity can sometimes be a much better hockey venue.
The M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool is particularly notable because it already publishes an ice-rink configuration as part of its venue layouts.
The OVO Hydro is also about to provide an important real-world test, with EIHL hockey scheduled there in December 2026.
Meanwhile, the new Cardiff Bay Arena, The Sage and Aviva Arena provide something else: the opportunity to consider hockey before the venues are fully established.
Does UK ice hockey need bigger arenas?
That's the bigger question.
British ice hockey has traditionally operated in dedicated ice rinks and smaller multi-purpose arenas. That model makes sense. The buildings are designed around ice, the operating costs are understood and the venues can create a strong home atmosphere.
But bigger arenas could offer something different.
They could expose the sport to audiences who wouldn't normally attend an ice hockey game.
They could create major one-off events.
They could allow clubs to experiment with premium games, rivalries, outdoor-style spectacles indoors, international fixtures and showcase events.
And, perhaps most importantly, they could change the perception of ice hockey.
Because Britain already has some enormous indoor venues.
The question isn't whether the country knows how to build arenas.
It's whether ice hockey can become big enough to fill them.
The future of ice hockey in the UK
From Glasgow to Bristol, there are now some fascinating possibilities emerging.
The OVO Hydro is preparing to welcome major EIHL hockey.
Cardiff is building a 16,500-capacity arena.
Newcastle is planning a 12,500-capacity entertainment venue.
Bristol is building a 20,000-capacity arena.
Liverpool already has an 11,000-capacity venue with an ice-rink configuration.
And London has The O2 — one of the biggest indoor arenas in the country.
None of that guarantees a new era of large-scale ice hockey in Britain.
But it does raise an important point.
The buildings are there.
Maybe the next stage of British ice hockey isn't about building more rinks.
Maybe it's about thinking bigger about the ones we already have.
Rooted in hockey. Worn worldwide.
— Gardeot