(01-25-2016, 09:27 PM)jordan2423 Wrote: I mean the Aud is even older than the London Ice house. It was built 1950, thats 66 years ago. The investment in downtown would be a major key.
I'm no hockey buff, but I am a Londoner and used to go to the Ice House to watch Knights games and other events. There's no comparing the Aud to the Ice House- the Ice House was truly terrible. The Aud is generally (I have to admit I am a layman talking here) a very nice arena; the Ice House was depressing in almost every way.
Additionally, as others have noted, the Aud is not that far from our downtown, and is within the built-up core. The Ice House is part of a terrible suburban plaza south of the 401, and in fact until the early '90s (when London annexed big swaths of Middlesex County) was outside of the City of London. Even today, the area still has almost no transit. The Ice House and the Aud is not an apt comparison at all.
Given the general quality of the Aud, and the investments in renovations made over the years, I can't see how it makes sense to move it. We should be exploring the possibility of a downtown convention centre instead, I think.
Edit: Oh, and just like it's the SkyDome and not whatever the current owners are trying in vain to get people to call it, the downtown arena in London is the John Labatt Centre and not whatever stupidity those nincompoops at InBev have decided to hang up over the door right now.