The latest skybox amenity for sports fans – watching hockey in the buff

The World
Hockey sauna

It's probably fair to say that Americans don't really like to get naked in public. So it may be awhile before we have a Skybox sauna.

But they've got one in Finland.

Minna Kumen is a hospitality manager at Skybox 408 in the Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland, home to the Helsinki Jokerit hockey team. She says Skybox 408 is a sauna, with a bar, a full menu, and a window view to the ice rink.

Up to 70 people at a time can watch the hockey action in the nude behind a one-way window. She says the question she gets asked most often is "Can anyone see in?" 

The sauna has a longstanding tradition in Finland. Kumen says Finland is a cold place, so people like to come in to a heated space to warm up after being outside all day.

One of her favorite moments in Skybox 408 came a few years ago during a hockey championship game, when a group of fans using the sauna stepped out on the balcony wearing only towels. When the Finnish team scored, everyone threw up their hands and cheered for Finland, forgetting they were only wearing towels (which slipped down).

Oops. As hospitality manager, Kumen remembers stepping in to politely remind the boys to get back into the sauna behind the darkened glass window.

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