Coralville, Iowa Looking at New 7000-Seat Arena

Speculation has gone on throughout this hockey season about potentially adding more schools to the Big Ten Hockey Conference, if only so there would be a team in the league Wisconsin could actually beat. The largest barrier to entry for most schools, however, is the cost of Division I-caliber facility to play at(unless your school's athletic director says screw it, we'll figure it out later).

That's why the news that Coralville, Iowa is thinking of building a 7000-seat arena is particularly intriguing. Coralville is only about two miles away from the University of Iowa campus. The Hawkeyes currently play their club hockey games at the Coral Ridge Ice Arena, which is inside a mall in Coralville.

It would make perfect sense for a Division I University of Iowa hockey program to be the anchor tenant for a new building like that. City administrator Kelly Hayworth even mentions that it could "serve as permanent home to an area hockey team."

Obviously there are still many steps to go through and hurdles to jump before the Hawkeyes take the ice as a Division I program. There's not even a guarantee that Coralville can get the funding together to build this facility. But it's an exciting enough proposition that bears watching.