A semi-permanent 56 × 26 metre rink was built at the Parc des Expositions Marseille-Chanot in the wake of the 1968 Grenoble Olympics,[6] which introduced ice sports to the broader French public, but it was dismantled in 1974.

[6] A new ice rink, Patinoire du Rouet, opened the same year inside a repurposed fruit packing plant, but it was severely undersized at 40 × 20 metre.

Built inside an old sanitary ware retail space and measuring 42 × 20 metre, it again fell short of the standards expected from a major agglomeration.

[6] In March 2004, the municipality of Marseille launched preliminary consultations to give the city a suitable ice sports facility as part of a broader urban rehabilitation plan.

[2] The ceremony was attended by Minister of Sports Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, and featured an exhibition by former ISU World Champion ice dancers Isabelle Delobel and Olivier Schoenfelder.