SFC assumes management of 15 facilities in 11 states through agreement with Rink Management Services

CLEARWATER, Fla., May 22, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — The Sports Facilities Companies (SFC), the nation’s leading manager of sports, recreation, and event venues, has expanded its ice rink portfolio by assuming management of 13 ice rinks across 11 states, plus two additional community centers. The facilities, previously operated by Rink Management Services (RMS), will now benefit from SFC’s expertise in operations, programming, and community engagement. Through the agreement, RMS operational leadership and staff will transition into the SFC network, enhancing its capacity to manage and elevate ice rinks nationwide.

“SFC continues to expand our presence as a leader in ice rink management, and this is an exciting step in that journey,” said Jason Clement, CEO of The Sports Facilities Companies. “RMS has built a strong footprint in the industry, and by integrating their experience with our proven approach to operations and community service, we are enhancing our ability to deliver exceptional outcomes for athletes, guests, and the communities we serve.”

Under the leadership of President Tom Hillgrove, RMS will maintain a small portfolio of leased agreements while SFC assumes management of the acquired facilities. Moving forward, the two companies will collaborate on strategic opportunities.

“We are excited to see these facilities transition to SFC, a company with a proven track record of success in community-focused facility management,” Hillgrove said. “RMS will continue to operate independently with our leased agreements while working alongside SFC to further strengthen the ice rink industry.”

SFC’s expanded portfolio of ice facilities and community centers now includes the following facilities:

• Bryant Park Winter Village Ice Rink – New York, N.Y.
   
• Lloyd Center Ice Rink – Portland, Ore.
   
• Metro Park Toledo Glass City Ice & Roller – Toledo, Ohio
   
• Wichita Ice Center – Wichita, Kan.
   
• Parks Mall at Arlington – Arlington, Texas
   
• Ice Skate USA Memorial City – Houston, Texas
   
• Ice in Paradise – Goleta, Calif.
   
• Breslow Ice Hockey Center – Lincoln, Neb.
   
• Waconia Ice Arena – Waconia, Minn.
   
• Industry City Ice Rink – New York, N.Y.
   
• Elevance Health Rink at Bicentennial Plaza – Indianapolis, Ind.
   
• Washington Harbour Ice Rink – Washington, D.C.
   
• McCormick Tribune Ice Rink – Chicago, Ill.

As part of the deal, SFC will also take over management of multiple non-ice facilities, including the Romulus Athletic Center in Romulus, Michigan, and the Safari Island Community Center in Waconia, Minnesota.

“We are thrilled to bring these facilities into the SFC family and continue our momentum as a leader in ice rink management,” said Kelly Kryukov, senior vice president of ice venue operations at The Sports Facilities Companies. “Ice rinks serve as vital community hubs—whether it’s for youth hockey, figure skating, or public skating sessions. Our focus is on elevating these venues by enhancing programming, improving operational efficiency, and ensuring they remain accessible and welcoming spaces for all athletes and families.”

With this expansion, SFC now manages 20 ice rinks nationwide including two large multi-sport venues featuring ice surfaces and two rinks in New York City. For more information about ice rink operations at The Sports Facilities Companies, visit icerinks.com.

About The Sports Facilities Companies

The Sports Facilities Companies (SFC) is the nation’s leading resource for the management and development of sports, recreation, wellness, and events facilities. As a turn-key solution for community leaders and developers alike, SFC services span the gamut of sports and recreation needs from sports tourism & recreation master planning, program planning, and feasibility through professional facility management services. With over 90 managed venues and approximately 4,000 team members, represented by the SF Network, SFC welcomes nearly 30 million guest visits and produces almost $1 billion in economic impact each year. To learn more, please visit SportsFacilities.com and theSFnetwork.com.

Press Contact:

Ashley Whittaker
7274743845
http://sportsfacilities.com

SOURCE The Sports Facilities Companies

Australia’s largest venture capital firm has conceded that its investment in Airwallex’s US$300 million ($465 million) Series F round is a correction of a nine-year-old misstep.

Blackbird passed on the Victorian startup in 2016, forcing Airwallex to turn to overseas investors for its first funding round. Blackbird doesn’t want to miss out again, tipping into a pre-IPO capital raise that valued Airwallex at US$6.2 billion.

“We absolutely made a mistake not investing earlier,” said Blackbird partner Michael Tolo. “And it’s the most expensive one that we have made at Blackbird!”

“As in life, it’s less about the mistakes that you make and more about what you do to correct them. This round presented a rare moment for us to correct our previous mistakes and partner with one of the generational Australian companies.”

A new update to Garmin watches brings a rucking activity, with a pack weight setting, to the Instinct 3 (both regular and Tactical), the Fenix 8 series, and the Enduro 3. Rucking is also available at launch for the new Forerunners, the 570 and the 970. The same software update also brings breathing variation detection to a wide variety of watches, including Vivoactive, Venu, Lily, and Forerunner models. 

Rucking—walking with a weighted pack—is both a fitness activity for people looking for a little exercise, and a necessity for many hikers and backpackers. But without a specific activity or pack weight setting, the only obvious way to track it was as a regular hike. Since you move slower when you’re carrying a heavy pack, that was impacting people’s VO2max scores—the watch thinks you’ve slowed down because you’re losing fitness.

The pack weight setting changes that. Besides the rucking activity, the running, trail running, hiking, and walking activities will all have this setting as well (on the supported watches I mentioned above, anyway). This lets you log today’s ruck as being done with a 15-pound pack, and tomorrow’s with a 10-pound pack, if those are the weights you’re carrying.

So far there’s no word on whether rucking or pack weights may be coming to other watches in the future. Older Forerunners, including the just-replaced 265 and 965, aren’t getting the new rucking features. 

How to track rucking if your watch isn’t included in the update

If you have one of those older Forerunners, or another watch that doesn’t get rucking in this update, there is a workaround. As pointed out in this Reddit thread, you can create a Cardio workout. (Go to the More menu in Garmin Connect, then Training and Planning, then Create a Workout.)

Create one step in the cardio workout, and for that step, set the exercise to “Walk.” You’ll be able to add a weight. This activity won’t track your location with GPS—so it’s not a great option if you’re hiking in the wilderness or need to track your speed—but some users have found it helpful as a way to record pack weight and time rucked.

What else is in the update 

The new software update does have a little treat for the -65 level Forerunners, plus the older 255 and 955, as well as several other watches like the Venu 3, Vivoactive 5, and Vivoactive 6. That’s a feature to detect “breathing variations” during the night. It uses the pulse ox (blood oxygen) feature to detect “shifts in your breathing patterns” while you sleep. They don’t want to call it sleep apnea detection, since this isn’t a medical device, but these variations are the kind of thing you might see if you had sleep apnea. 

The update also brings a passcode to lock the device to several devices that didn’t have it before. (Passcodes were introduced for some devices earlier this year.) According to a chart Garmin released with the new update, recent Venu, Vivoactive, and Forerunner watches already had passcodes, and the update brings them to the Lily 2 and the Instinct 3 and E.

The news: The Australian sharemarket closed lower, tracking losses on Wall Street after a proposed tax-cut and spending bill stoked concerns the US deficit will balloon by trillions.

The benchmark ASX 200 fell 0.45% to 8,348.7, with 10 of the 11 sectors finishing in the red, coming off Wednesday’s three-month high.

Concerns about the US deficit and the weakening US dollar also helped Bitcoin hit a new record high. The cryptocurrency soared past $111,000 for the first time and was priced at US$110,741.90 at 4:39pm AEST.

Biggest movers:

• Tech sector (-1.67%) — Was the worst performing sector as Australia’s five biggest tech companies all dropped, with NEXTDC (-2.48%) suffering the biggest fall, followed by TechnologyOne (-2.41%), Wisetech Global (-2.33%), Life360 (-1.05%) and Xero (-1%).
• Energy sector (-1.34%) — Oil and gas heavyweights Woodside (-1.33%), Santos (-0.93%), Ampol (-3.37%), and Viva Energy (-2.58%) all declined. However, large coal companies Yancoal (+0.98%) and Whitehaven (+0.19%) made it into the green.
• Materials (+0.65) – The only sector that finished in the green, even as iron ore majors BHP (-0.052%), Rio Tinto (-0.57%), and Fortescue (-1.49%) took hits.
• Gold miners — Demand for the safe-haven metal rose in light of US deficit fears, lifting the shares of ASX-listed gold miners, which made up eight of the top 10 performers. They were led by Genesis Minerals (+5.78%), Northern Star Resources (+5.36%), and Spartan Resources (+5.29%).
• Lynas Rare Earths (+6.97%) — The rare earths producer was the biggest gainer on the ASX 200 today.
• Nufarm (-6.41%) — Shares in the agricultural chemicals supplier continued to slide after reporting a 39.5% fall in statutory profit over the six months to 31 March on Wednesday.

The New Zealand Cricket (NZC) governing body has renewed its long-term partnership with Ford New Zealand, the regional subsidiary of the US carmaker, for another three years.

The renewal extends a partnership that began in 2009 and will see Ford NZ continue as the governing body’s official vehicle provider, with the carmaker’s logo remaining a prominent fixture on the men’s and women’s national team kits.

As part of the partnership, the domestic over-50s men’s competition will continue to be named the Ford Trophy.

Other commercial partners of NZC include UK sportswear brand Castore, financial services firm ANZ, beverages giant Asahi, pharmacy chain Chemist Warehouse, Indian sports technology company Dream11, fast food chain KFC, shaving brand Gillette, sports drink brand Powerade, and paint brand Dulux.

The European League of Football (ELF) pan-European American football competition has expanded its distribution across Africa after signing a rights deal with SportyTV, the African sports broadcaster owned by Sporty Group.

The deal will see SportTV air a live ELF game every Sunday and five playoff games, as well as a wide range of additional content available on demand, including full game highlights and weekly magazine shows.

The regions that will gain access to ELF coverage include South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya.

The addition of ELF adds to SportyTV’s growing portfolio of rights, including soccer’s English Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Spanish Super Cup, EFL Championship, DFB Pokal, Saudi Pro League, and Copa Libertadores. 

Beyond soccer, SportyTV also covers the EuroLeague in basketball and the Professional Fighters League (PFL).

Al Ittihad, of Saudi Arabia’s top-tier Saudi Pro League (SPL), has added Korean manufacturer Hankook Tires as its title sponsor for the next three years.

The sponsorship will see Hankook’s logo prominently featured on in-stadium LED signage, media interview backdrops, and the club’s official team apparel.

Hankook Tire also plans to run engagement-driven marketing campaigns, such as integrated online and offline ticket giveaway events, to boost brand awareness and drive sales in the Middle Eastern market, including Saudi Arabia.

The deal adds to Hankook’s other sports sponsorships, which include European soccer’s UEFA Europa League and Europa Conference League, German club Borussia Dortmund, and the prestigious Ballon d’Or awards.

Silverstone, the motorsports venue and organizer of motor racing’s Formula 1 (F1) British Grand Prix, has strengthened its commercial portfolio after securing a new deal with brewing giant Heineken.

The deal will see Heineken become Silverstone’s exclusive provider of beer and cider, providing its brands Heineken, Cruzcampo, Inch’s Cider, Old Mout Cider, and Heineken 0.00% during events.

The deal comes days after the venue announced Austrian spirits brand NEFT Vodka as its first vodka sponsor ahead of motorcycling’s flagship MotoGP British Grand Prix this weekend (May 23 to 25).

Silverstone secured a 10-year contract renewal with F1 in 2024, guaranteeing it will host the British GP until 2034.

Liga Portugal, the organizing body of the top domestic soccer league, has announced a new partnership with global sportswear branding and labeling firm Avery Dennison.

The company becomes the league’s exclusive supplier of official sleeve badges, names, and numbers to be worn by all players across Liga Portugal competition matches. The partnership extends to retail, with these embellishments featured on official replica kits. 

The multi-season strategic partnership commences from July 2025.

Avery Dennison has a similar partnership with the English Premier League, which was renewed earlier this month through 2029-30.

The firm also provides this service for the Spanish national and LaLiga giants Real Madrid.

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Hearing Components, Inc
Comply®
Dana Rodriguez
Director of Sales and Marketing
marketing@complyfoam.com

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SOURCE Comply Foam, Inc.