Come Skate With Us

The Olympic Oval is a community facility offering public skating, running and events for all Calgarians and Canadians alike. The public gets to skate on The Fastest Ice in the World™, where 26 Olympic medalists have trained, earning 36 Olympic medals. The 400m ice surface is the largest in the province and can hold thousands of guests annually from July to March. It’s an incredible space for everyone — inclusive, diverse, safe, and welcoming.

A collaborative partnership with the Olympic Oval aims to foster an engaged community dedicated to health, well-being and fitness for all

Let's Partner

Community Engagement

The Olympic Oval is a community facility offering public skating, running and events for all Calgarians and Canadians alike. The public gets to skate on The Fastest Ice in the World™ where 26 Olympic medalists have trained, earning a total of 38 Olympic medals. The 400m ice surface is the largest in the province and can hold thousands of guests every year from July – March. It’s an incredible space for everyone — inclusive, diverse, safe, and welcoming. Our most successful engagements are when organizations engage the public directly. Placing yourself at the heart of the action is where you want to be. That action is during our recreational public skating season (our largest audience) during key public skating events and highlights throughout the year. Partners engage with our audiences with activations, games, booths, kiosks, and giveaways. Additionally, partners are welcome to engage with our audience and supplement our real estate spaces with ads, graphics and materials.

Special Public Skating Events

Special public skating events allow guests free and discounted access to the facility and unlimited opportunities for partners to engage with our guests. Each event carries its own set of unique engagement opportunities commensurate with the season. Thousands of people have a fantastic time skating during our special event days.

Monday Night Toonie Skate

The Oval’s No.1 partnered event, the Monday Night Skate, is one of our busiest nights, with thousands of guests skating at the Oval with special promotions and sponsor engagement.

Running Engagement

Weekly public running allows runners to access the facility for free and unlimited opportunities for partners to engage with our guests.

Ice-Out Events

Every April thru June, the Oval is transformed into a large format venue for major sporting events, science fairs, car shows, trade shows and conventions. All 150,000 sq. ft. make the Oval the largest unobstructed space in Alberta. It's also the perfect time to engage with an entirely different audience.

Nov. 23, 2024

Holiday Market & Skate
Public Skating Event & Market
Nov. 23, 2024

Learn more

Nov. 29, 2024

CanAm International
Long Track Competition
Nov. 29 - Dec. 1, 2024

Dec. 8, 2024

Skate with Santa
Public Skating Event
Dec. 8, 2024

Jan. 2, 2025

Grand Prix / Canada Cup One
Long Track Competition
Jan. 2 - 5, 2025

Jan. 11, 2025

Alberta Open
Long Track Competition
Jan. 11 - 12, 2025

Jan. 13, 2025

Blue Monday Skate
Public Skating Event
Jan. 13, 2025

Jan. 24, 2025

ISU Long Track World Cup Speed Skating No. 3
Long Track Competition
Jan. 24-26, 2025

Feb. 1, 2025

RU Fast
Short Track Competition
Feb. 1 - 2, 2025

Feb. 7, 2025

Winter Classic
Long Track Competition
Feb. 7 - 9, 2025

Feb. 15, 2025

Skate-Tec WEC Three
Short Track Competition
Feb. 15 - 16, 2025

Feb. 17, 2025

Family Day Skate
Public Skating Event
Feb. 17, 2025

Feb. 27, 2025

World Jr. Short Track Championships
Short Track Competition
Feb. 27 - Mar. 02, 2025

March 8, 2025

Speed Skating Alberta Championships
Long Track Competition
Mar. 8 - 9, 2025

March 14, 2025

Canada Cup Final
Long Track Competition
Mar. 14 - 16, 2025

March 20, 2025

Oval Finale
Long Track Competition
Mar. 20 - 23, 2025

March 24, 2025

Ice-Out
Mar. 24, 2025

Athlete Engagement

The Olympic Oval was built for the 1988 Olympic Winter Games – originally intended as a speed skating facility only. It has grown to so much more, but at the core of what we do is developing athletes. High-performance sport plays a significant role in our culture; it brings people together, promotes sound values, provides role models for society, creates a sense of history, builds connections and helps create a culture of health, fitness and well-being. Sport is a unifier, and speed skating is a big part of that.

Our most successful athlete engagements are when organizations support high-performance athletes, the Olympic Oval Athlete Bursary and our speed skating competitions. All athlete engagement pieces provide real estate, branding, interaction, and naming options.

Olympic Oval Athlete Bursary

The Bursary awards $1,000 to select athletes annually, helping alleviate the financial strains associated with high-performance training and competitions. The Bursary is an opportunity to sponsor select recipients, partially or all the athletes in the program. The program has awarded over $300,000 since its inception.

Learn more

Athlete Kickoff

This event is the primary kickoff for the training season. This event/orientation is a combination of lunch for 150 athletes, coaches and support staff, training gear, headshots, and a welcome from Olympians and the Dean of Kinesiology.

Athlete Gear

The Oval provides our athletes with dryland training gear >> a hoody, T-shirt and pair of training shorts every year. This piece removes the cost from their annual fees.

Every two years, athletes require a new skinsuit. The wear and tear of competitions require the Oval to provide a newly designed and sponsored suit to assist them with their training. This piece removes the cost from their annual fees.

Branded Apparel

Every year, the Oval partners with clothing and merchandise manufacturers to equip our athletes and staff with clothing and swag. These pieces help showcase the Oval's brand identity alongside sponsors who want to be a part of and associated with a high-performance sport.

The Positive Impact of Partnership

Sport deserves the same societal role as literature, performing arts, sculpture, cinema, and other expressions of human culture, skill, and creativity. Like many arts, sports have rules and expectations that their most creative and memorable practitioners find ways to bend or move in a new direction. Sport may be enjoyed directly––even if you are an amateur––and viewed as a spectator when one wants to watch an expert performance. Sport can especially provide collective joy, civic pride and even elements of transcendence that the finest art aspires to.

The Olympic Oval works tirelessly to provide a dynamic, innovative culture that promotes and celebrates participation and excellence. It is a values-based and principle-driven culture. It is not perfect. Sport is going through a necessary and transformative time right now — and for the better. However, there is a lot of work to do.

How can partnerships make a difference?

Training is expensive. Gear and materials are costly. For this reason, we partner with organizations that can support athletes in this capacity.

Olympic Oval Athlete Bursary

The Olympic Oval Athlete Bursary Fund alleviates some of the financial strains on Canadian high-performance athletes and their families. Equipment, training, competition, and travel all come at a price. These are just a handful of expenditures that bursaries have covered for past recipients, allowing them to focus on and remain in the exciting sport of speed skating. This is another way an organization can help make a difference.

Brand Equity

As mentioned in this proposal’s community engagement component, partnering with the right organization creates brand equity but its much more than that. Partnerships with organizations like the Olympic Oval create a culture whereby other like-minded organizations/companies care and make a difference in the many communities they serve.

Digital

The Oval has three large format LED screens. Each screen has a different function but is used daily during public access times for advertising and messaging. Still graphics can expect 8-12 rotations per minute while video content is looped depending on length. Our screens vary in size (West Ice 9'x27' — Centre Ice 15'x20' — Northwest Ice 12' x 52').

Physical Real Estate

Long Track Bumper Vinyl Banners
Short Track Bumper Vinyl Banners
Building Decal Wraps
Zamboni Wraps

Website and YouTube Streaming

There are over 550,000 page views annually and 85,000 on the recreational public skating page alone. It's a busy space with ample sponsorship opportunities. Additionally, with 25 competitions per year, thousands of people from around the world watch our races.

Ice Logos

Hockey Ice
Short Track Ice

Our Guests

Over 500,000 people come and go through the Oval every year
Over 35,000 people enjoyed public skating in the 2023/2024 season
Over 30,000 major event guests enjoyed the facility for the 2023/2024 season
Over 2,000 runners enjoyed the facility for the 2022/2023 season