LAKE PLACID — Thanks to a state-funded facelift that has given the 1980 Herbs Brook Arena a new look ahead of the 2023 FISU Winter World University Games in Lake Placid, people can now purchase a piece of sports history from the site of the legendary “Miracle on Ice.”

The multi-million dollar renovation of Lake Placid’s Olympic Center gutted some outdated features of the center and installed modern replacements — including the replacement of 5,000 seats at the 1980 Herbs Brook Arena, where in 1980 a packed audience watched the Olympic U.S. Hockey team earn its historic win against the heavily-favored Soviet Union team during the Olympic Winter Games. Now, the Olympic Regional Development Authority is selling the original seats as memorabilia.

The town of North Elba, which owns the ORDA-operated facility, gave ORDA the OK to sell the seats — and to keep the revenue from the sales — in March 2021. Town Supervisor Derek Doty said in an email Friday that people have been asking him about purchasing the historic seats for “a while.”

ORDA is selling three kinds of seats: Single seats with armrests, double seats with armrests and chair backs only. Chair backs are selling for $80, while single seats and double seats are selling for $199 and $499, respectively. Those prices will rise after Oct. 16, however, when the seats will start selling for $99, $249 and $599, respectively. The “deconstructed” seats don’t have leg bearings and can’t stand on their own, according to ORDA — they’re intended to be memorabilia only, though they could possibly be reconstructed. The authority is selling the seats “as is” at tinyurl.com/ycaxc5c9.

While ORDA officials said in 2021 that revenue from the seats would go toward “future ORDA projects,” ORDA representatives didn’t respond to the Enterprise’s questions by press time Friday about the kind of authority projects the money could fund.