Motor Česke Budějovice
Rink: Budvar Arena
Capacity: 6,421
Built: 1946
League: Extraliga
City: Česke Budějovice, Czechia
Home Of: HC Banes Motor Česke Budějovice
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: October 5, 2026 vs HC Kometa Brno
Unique Arena: #127
European Arena: #4
Do you like beer? I know that might be an odd question to ask a reader at the start of an arena review, especially from someone who doesn’t like beer at all, but if you do like beer, particularly Budweiser, then Česke Budějovice and Budvar Arena might be of interest to you! In the 13th century a brewery was started in the city, with Budweis being the German name of Budějovice. In the early 1870s Budweis started being imported to the United States and brewer Anheuser-Busch was impressed so much they decided to make their own version, Budweiser. To this day both brewers fight over the naming rights in their respective areas. While Anheuser-Busch own the rights to the Budweiser name in the States, they can only call their beer Bud in Europe where the Czech brewery owns the Budweiser name. That brings us to the arena itself Budvar being the brewery owning naming rights to the rink. While North American marketing might lead you to believe Budweiser is from St. Louis you should come to Česke Budějovice for the true home of Budweiser.
Budvar Arena is located in the heart of Česke Budějovice on the banks of the Vltava River which is the longest in Czechia. Attached to the main arena, like so many around the world, is a community rink on one side while the opposite side has a small mall. The mall itself is attached to Budvar Arena, but you have to exit each building to gain access to the other.
If you are new to Budvar Arena, you might find your first experience a tad frustrating. As we walked up to the arena we weren’t even 100% sure which building held the arena itself. The main rink and community rink are essentially two separate buildings attached by a large steel awning at roof level. We were correct in guessing the main arena was the larger building to our right, but entering the building was a tad confusing. Going to a rink for the first time the first thing OHLAG and I do is usually try and find the team store to buy a souvenir puck which is usually located at or near the main entrance of the building. What we found was Budvar Arena doesn’t seem to have a main entrance. There were four entrances at each of the four corners of the building. Upon entering at one of these points, you head up a flight of stairs and bam you’re in the bowl of the rink. The bench side of the rink has a small concourse under the stands with some concessions and a very small team souvenir stand… that was closed. We found out that the main team store was in the small mall beside the arena. At the first intermission we went to the mall and found the main team store… closed. Frustrated, we went back to the arena and now found the small souvenir stand was open and quickly bought our pucks. After venting our frustration on social media (not tagging the team mind you), a team employee contacted us apologizing for the confusion but explained that the main team store is only open pre-game and then once the game starts the staff in that store move to the souvenir kiosk inside the arena. We very much appreciated the employee reaching out to explain this to us.
The arena itself can be a bit tough to get around, the aforementioned points of entry lead you directly onto a narrow open concourse about a third of the way up the seating bowl. This is a concourse very similar to the one they have in Saginaw, but much narrower. This pathway also runs directly in front of a row of seats, which would be incredibly annoying if you happen to have one of these seats. However, we did notice that arena staff did a good job keeping this area clear during play.
The seats themselves aren’t the typical fold down seats you see in most arenas. They are fixed seats into the concrete steps with very short backs like you see in many football (soccer) stadiums, they were comfortable enough. While there is a standing terrace behind one of the nets, it seemed like the crazy Motor supporters’ group were mostly congregated in the seats above this section. They did a good job at making noise and chanting, but not quite on the level as we saw in Brno, Pardubice or Plzen. At that same end tucked into the corner is a very small visitors terrace which was packed with HC Kometa Brno fans. Near the end of the game we saw a couple drinks go flying between the Kometa and Motor supporters. Above the visitors terrace in the corner there is a glassed-in bar/restaurant area. While these have become quite commonplace in arenas these days, it certainly was an odd location for it as even though it’s in the corner it’s not exactly facing the ice surface, more so facing the other corner in the same end. There is also a large support pillar blocking the view from said restaurant.
Another unique feature is the ice ramp for the Zamboni. Okay it’s not exactly a ramp like you might think but when the Zamboni leaves the playing surface through the rink boards, it continues on a sheet of ice that goes well into the Zamboni tunnel, this helps the actual playing surface stay much smoother at the Zamboni doors than at most rinks which is a nice touch.
The seating itself at Budvar Arena is quite steep, which gave us a fantastic view of the ice from near the top of the building on the bench side. The roof appears to bow inwards a tad, much like the Saddledome in Calgary, but not nearly to that degree. The ceiling is also covered in drop down ceiling tiles, which is an odd choice, but also makes the rink feel a bit more intimate without the large, wasted rafter space visible. While the supporters volume and atmosphere might not have been quite at the level as some other arenas on our Czech trip and it wasn’t quite sold out either, the crowd was very much loud and into the game which was made easier by Motor’s 5-1 triumph that evening.
It was at this point in the trip I was starting to feel very run down, not just mentally but physically as well, so I might not have fully absorbed the Motor experience the way I would have liked. But I left Budvar Arena that night enjoying the experience. The arena while certainly had the look of a more modern North American type of facility, it was definitely a very unique experience which after seeing games in over 130+ arenas is getting harder and harder to find these days.
