The numbers are stacked against the status quo, and the clock is ticking.
In 2025, Duluth shoveled $1.2 million in tourism tax money into Spirit Mountain, propping up a ski hill meant to stand independently. That annual subsidy has turned into an open-ended drain, all while one of the city’s most critical civic assets, the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, limps with failed equipment and deferred maintenance.
The DECC announced it will no longer operate its second indoor rink at the historic Duluth Arena because the ice plant and cooling system gave out, and it’s too expensive to repair. That leaves the youth hockey organization, DAHA, scrambling for open ice.
Meanwhile, across town, Fryberger Arena in Woodland is showing its age. Built decades ago, the rink is a chilly, drafty relic that has long outlived its intended lifespan. The mechanical systems are tired, and the building is inefficient. Hockey families know the grind: bundling up in a freezing barn with unreliable ice conditions. City officials know it, too. Fryberger is limping to the finish line, and keeping it alive will cost dearly.
“Losing the DECC Duluth Area ice, it creates a major availability issue for ice users,” Duluth Amateur Hockey Association director Brett Klosowski told DECC leaders during a listening session Thursday afternoon. “That’s just the reality.”
His point was clear: the demand for ice is there, but the facilities are failing.
Meanwhile, DECC executive director Dan Hartman, who has been forthright about the scope of the deferred maintenance problems at Duluth Arena, put it plainly: the price tag for repair is out of reach without a significant investment.
“We’re looking at millions to fix what’s broken,” he said. “We can’t absorb that within the current budget.”
His message was not a plea for pity — it was a reality check. Without bold action, rinks close and opportunities for kids evaporate.
This is the moment to connect the dots, to make the bold and necessary leadership move.
Consider this: If Duluth took that $1.2 million currently flowing to Spirit Mountain from tourism receipts and instead redirected it toward debt service for DECC deferred maintenance, the city could support roughly $16 million in bonds over 20 years at today’s rates. Add in the state’s expected 50 percent match for major capital projects and you’re looking at a $31 million total DECC overhaul.
Stretch the borrowing term to 25 or 30 years and the project climbs into the mid-to-upper 30s. That’s enough not only to replace the ice plant at the DECC Arena but also to address Fryberger — either through major renovation or by consolidating and modernizing rink capacity.
Best of all, there's no additional cost to local property owners as the DECC meets its eye-popping deferred maintenance challenges.
Compare that to the other option: another winter of taxpayer subsidies keeping a ski hill afloat, while hockey families scramble for ice time and Duluth’s premier civic center continues to rot. Spirit Mountain is a weekend cabin — fun, yes, but a drain.
The DECC is Duluth's house — central, essential, irreplaceable. Fryberger is the old shed leaning against the house, one stiff wind away from collapse. Nobody fixes the cabin while the roof caves in at home and the shed is falling down in the yard.
This isn’t about pitting one facility against another. It’s about priorities. The state has been clear: they expect a local match before committing bonding dollars. Duluth already has the revenue stream, tourism money being thrown to the money to keep Spirit Mountan afloat and into the wind, sitting in plain sight. Reinvest it, match it, and finally give the DECC Duluth Arena — and the city’s rink system — the overhaul it has needed for years.
Hartman’s blunt assessment and Klosowski's alarm over ice access don’t endorse shutting down Spirit Mountain. But their words do underscore the urgency. The city can keep pouring money up the hill, or it can redirect those funds into a partnership with the state that delivers a $30 million-plus investment where it’s needed most.
The choice should be obvious. Shore up the house. Fix the DECC. Save the rink system. Stop wasting the last of our cash flow trying to keep the cabin warm.
