After 20 years, St. Louis will again host the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in early 2026, just a month before the Milan Winter Olympics.
The St. Louis Sports Commission announced the event’s return to St. Louis on its website Monday morning. The city first hosted the skating championships in 2006.
“We are at our best when we add depth and diversity to what we all know as one of America’s best sports cities,” said Marc Schreiber, president of the St. Louis Sports Commission. “That’s what we get with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships — a precious opportunity to deliver something special and meaningful to the region.”
The event will take place Jan. 5-11 at Enterprise Center. All-session tickets will go on sale in early January.
The Olympic qualifying event is the latest in a number of high-profile athletic events that St. Louis has landed for the next couple of years.
The Enterprise Center will host the NCAA Division I men’s hockey championships — dubbed the “Frozen Four” — in 2025. The venue will host first- and second-round games for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament in 2026, and it will also host NCAA Division I wrestling championships in 2027, which were just announced in October.
“I kind of like this pattern of reveling in a big sporting event to win every other month,” Schreiber said. “It’s something we could get used to.”
CityPark hosted the Big Ten women’s soccer championships last month, and the Missouri Valley Conference holds its season-ending tournament for men’s basketball at the Enterprise Center every year, too.
Sam Auxier, U.S. Figure Skating president and acting CEO, said his organization picked St. Louis because he believes the sports commission and the Enterprise Center will make for an incredible experience for both the athletes and fans.
Auxier also said St. Louisans will be treated to great competition in 12½ months. Four American skaters won gold medals at the International Skating Union Grand Prix earlier this month, and the Americans won the gold medal at the 2022 Olympic games in the team event.
“2026, we believe, will be one of our most exciting years ever,” Auxier said.
The competition between 180 skaters in four disciplines, women’s singles, men’s singles, pairs and ice dance, will be aired on NBC and streamed on Peacock, according to the St. Louis Sports Commission. The national exposure will be good for St. Louis, leaders in the city said.
Neal Richardson, president and CEO of the St. Louis Development Corporation, said hosting this competition shows the city’s commitment to growing the city and helping it compete on the global scale.
“This is a testament,” Richardson said. “By the U.S. Figure Skating Championships selecting the city of St Louis, not only are we getting in the game, but we're getting in the game to win."
As part of the deal to land the skating championships, SLDC will offer what’s called an entertainment attraction fund. The $500,000 will serve as a backstop fund in case the St. Louis Sports Commission doesn’t meet projected revenues for the event, Richardson said.
With the event occupying the Enterprise Center for a full week, the St. Louis Blues will be headed on a road trip in January 2026.
“It's not easy to clear a week's worth of dates in the middle of the hockey season,” Schreiber said.
This story has been updated with comments from various St. Louis-area leaders.
