As Centennial Ice Rink in Nashville, Tenn., undergoes renovations, a makeshift locker room has been erected in the rink‘s former hockey pro shop. But, user groups have raised concerns about the privacy of the space, claiming that spectators in the rink’s lobby could see into the temporary locker room.
According to The Tennessesan, the Nashville Predators manage Centennial Ice Rink and are in the midst of a $30 million renovation at the hockey facility.
The locker room at the center of the issue is Locker Room 9, located near Rink A. Facility operators hung blackout curtains and blinds to cover windows and glass doors that lead directly to the lobby. However, a women’s league team requested a different locker room due to a lack of privacy; the women recorded a video of the facilities, showing holes in the curtains and gaps in the blinds that did not provide complete cover. The holes, poorly taped together, were about palm-sized, and the blinds were broken in several places, not reaching the floor, and giving sightlines into the space.
“Welcome to the newest locker room at Centennial Sportsplex,” said Maren Angus, a women's league player, in a post on X. “This ain’t it, @PredsNHL. The women’s league refused to change in here and we asked for a different locker room.”
Since posting the video, the Predators chief marketing officer, Bill Wickett, confirmed that the locker room has been “taken offline.”
"We are aware of the locker room assignment made yesterday at Centennial Sportsplex and fully agree that the condition of the room was unacceptable for its assigned use," Wickett said. "It has been taken offline as a locker room; we apologize to any teams that were assigned to use this room in connection with preparation for practices or games. We are also undertaking a review of the processes and protocols that inform room assignments at Centennial in order to ensure that this does not happen again. We look forward to completing all of the renovations at Centennial, which will enable us to consistently provide each of the user groups with the first-class facilities that they expect and deserve.”
The locker room portion of the renovation began over the summer and is expected to continue for some time. Several locker rooms throughout the facility are closed due to construction.
