Dear Rink Managers

This is an open letter to all Ice Rink Managers in the NYC area. Dear Managers: The cries, hopes and desires of figure skaters have been unheard. Apparently, you don't care. You believe you won't make enough money with us in the evening hours. I am here to tell you that you are wrong. Recently, I skated two evening sessions; the ONLY evening sessions offered by any rink in the NYC area. There were 32 skaters on the ice at $22 per skater. That equals $704 for 50 minutes. There were two sessions. The second session had 28 skaters. For two sessions, the rink made $1,320.00. That's a healthy chunk of change. And you'd continue to make that money because skaters are hungry for evening ice. I know, I know, hockey is your big money maker, but I am here to say that if you schedule it, we will come. I can hear you saying, "what about those Friday evening sessions during the summer with only a dozen skaters on it?" Well, here's your problem: no advertising and camp. If most of your customers are in camp during the day, they're not going to stick around for evening ice. And many skaters didn't know you had evening ice during the summer. Besides, think of the money you did make; originally, you had nothing on the schedule. Lost revenue opportunity. In case you did not know, evening is 6:00pm onward, until about 9:00 and then it's night. Evening is NOT 3:30. THAT is afternoon, when almost all adult skaters are still at work and most kids are just getting home from school. 4:00, 4:30, 5:00 and even 5:30 is considered "early evening". You know, when it's time for the early bird special meals. No, an evening session is 6:00pm onward. Those of us who commute over an hour to work, would appreciate being able to skate after work, then jump into our mode of transportation and go home. Some of us aren't good in the morning and the thought of taking public or even private transportation at 5:00am is not a welcomed thought. There hasn't been a winner from NYC at Adult Nationals in a while, if at all. No, those skaters with available ice time win. Even New Jersey, our neighbor across the water, provides more ice time than have here in NYC. Long Island has many rinks. NYC may just have the one all-year rink, but Queens and Brooklyn have rinks. And yet, none of you have a decent number of sessions. This is New York. It is inconceivable that in a city that "never sleeps" we can only scrap together an evening session that is really just an over-priced public session once a week. I can't find another evening session, yer I can order and receive sushi at 2:00 in the morning and I don't live in Manhattan. Dear Rink Managers, throw us a bone. Wouldn't you like to support the people who support you? Maybe see your name in print in an article? Please. You'd make a lot of adult (and some older kids) very, very happy. Thank you. Sincerely, Adult Figure Skater (who is in too much pain early in the morning to skate at 6:00am)