Stadium Industry Updates 20 February 2024
Adidas Arena opens its doors, Santiago Bernabéu will host first 2025 NFL game, plans to redevelop area around Old Trafford, AC Milan completes its acquisition of land for their new stadium and much more in our latest Stadium Industry Updates!
Adidas Arena opens its doors ahead of Paris 2024
The Adidas Arena, that is located in inner Paris, has opened its doors and the first match has already been played. It is only one of two permanent venues being developed for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Officials stated that it will “go down in the history of sports entertainment”.
The Arena has 8,000 seats for sports events and 9,000 for concerts. The seats are made from recycled plastic and the Arena is powered by green energy. The 26,000 square metre complex also accommodates an events hall and a 11.5-metre-high green terrace. A 2,400 square metre entertainment and activity space will open in 2025. It also features two gymnasiums and an esplanade that opens out onto the city and is accessible to cyclists and pedestrians. Paris Basketball will be the permanent tenant of the Arena.
During the Olympics and the Paralympics, the Adidas Arena will host badminton, para badminton, powerlifting and rhythmic gymnastics events.
The 2024 Paris Olympics will take place from July 26 to August 11, with the Paralympics to follow from August 28 to September 8.
Read more at: https://www.thestadiumbusiness.com/2024/02/12/adidas-arena-opens-ahead-of-paris-2024/
Santiago Bernabéu will host first 2025 season NFL game
The NFL announced during a news conference that the first NFL game of the 2025 season will take place in Spain and to be more specific at the recently renovated Santiago Bernabéu stadium, home of football club Real Madrid.
The renovated Stadium features a retractable playing surface that makes it possible to replace the football pitch with an NFL field. Another Stadium that can switch between playing fields is the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Since its opening, the stadium has hosted eight NFL games.
Spain will be the fifth different country to host NFL International games, following the United Kingdom, Mexico, Germany and Brazil.
Read more at: https://www.nfl.com/news/spain-to-host-nfl-regular-season-game-in-madrid-during-2025-season
Plans to redevelop area around United’s Old Trafford
The Trafford council has unveiled new plans to transform and regenerate area’s surrounding Manchester United’s Old Trafford.
The plan outlines a new ‘processional route’ to the stadium and a major new ‘world-class’ public space framing the whole of the stadium. In new public space a new primary school could be built with waters of the Manchester Chip Canal providing a backdrop of a new community, attractions, leisure and businesses. Cycle routes will be integrated in the whole community. In the heart of the community, a new park will be built. In total 5,000 new homes, most of them apartments, are also referenced.
Collette Roche, Chief Operating Officer at Manchester United, commented: “This vision for Trafford Wharfside is tremendously exciting and we are proud to be supporting Trafford Council with their ambitious plans for an area with such huge potential. We will continue to work closely with the council, and other local stakeholders, on how any future development work at Old Trafford can complement their vision, and, most importantly, benefit the local community.”
The draft masterplan is set to be approved by councillors next week.
Read more at: https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/manchester-united-old-trafford-stadium-28648206
AC Milan completes acquisition of land to build new stadium
Another step is taken by AC Milan towards developing a new stadium in the Municipality of San Donato Milanese. The club completed the acquisition of a package of land for the project.
The land had been owned by SportLifeCity that originally planned to build a 20,000-capacity stadium at the site. But AC Milan identified the ground as a preferred location to build a new stadium. SportLifeCity is now 90% controlled by Milan after being acquired in June.
The new plans to build a new stadium at the site includes the 70,000-seat stadium, a hotel, catering facilities, offices, a club store, a museum, a large plaza, an auditorium and parking for 3,500 vehicles.
The project will cost an estimated €949m.
Read more at: https://www.thestadiumbusiness.com/2024/02/13/ac-milan-secures-land-for-san-donato-stadium/
Council agrees to redevelopment of Dalymount Park
The redevelopment of Dalymount Park, home of Irish Premier Division football club Bohemian FC, has been permitted by the Dublin City Council.
The current stadium will be demolished, and a new stadium will be built with a capacity of 8,034. 6,240 of them will be seats and 1,794 places for standing. Another change is the re-orientation of the pitch. The pitch will now run north-south and gets a new sand-based grass pitch. The investment also includes new changing rooms, matchday facilities for teams & officials, club offices, a new stadium bar/function room, concession areas, a multi-functional community room and a community gym.
The club stated that they need to receive government funding to get the project through the construction stage.
The stadium redevelopment is projected to be completed by 2027 and will cost an estimated €40 million.
Read more at: https://www.thejournal.ie/e40-million-redevelopment-of-dalymount-park-6297292-Feb2024/
Olympic stadium will reopen ahead of Coldplay concerts
The Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has revealed that the Athens’ Olympic Stadium will reopen by April. The stadium was closed in October of last year due to safety concerns. A study found that the metalwork in the roof didn’t meet the legally required standards. Issues were also found on the roof of the nearby Olympic Velodrome.
Events at both venues were suspended. The 70-000 capacity stadium is used by Panathinaikos, Super League football club, for its European matches and to host concerts.
Mitsotakis confirmed in a post on Facebook, that the stadium will reopen “from the end of March or mid-April at the latest”. Thus, the opening is planned before the concerts of British band Coldplay that are scheduled to be taken place on June 8 and June 9.
Read more at: https://www.thestadiumbusiness.com/2024/02/14/athens-olympic-stadium-set-to-reopen-ahead-of-coldplay-gigs/
Norwich City announced implementation of safe standing
Safe standing will be introduced at Carrow Road, the home of championship club Norwich City FC. This decision has been made after thorough and extensive consultations with its supporters panel, supporter groups and the Sports Ground Safety Authority (SGSA).
Safe standing will be installed in the Lower Barclay, Thorpe Corner (Snake Pit) and a section of the away supporter's area. The installation will take place this summer before the start of the 2024/25 season. Safe standing areas permit supporters to stand safely for the duration of the match. In this area standing is not required, however, fans risk restricted pitch views if they are seated when surrounded by standing supporters.
Norwich City opened a waiting list for supporters that want to relocate into the Lower Barclay or Thorpe Corner. Fans can join the list until March 15. The club will then contact supporters to arrange a seat relocation, subject to availability. Season ticket holders that want to move out of the Lower Barclay and Thorpe Corner, need to contact the club’s ticket office by phone by April 19.
Read more at: https://www.liverpoolfc.com/news/new-anfield-league-attendance-record-set
Forest has a new ‘master plan’ for their home
Nottingham Forest is developing plans to expand their home ground. The City’s Ground’s capacity will expand to 40,000 from the current 29,550. The plan include that the Peter Tayler Stand will be replaced with a two-tier stand accommodating 10,000 seats, the Bridgford Stand will be extended with 5,000 seats, a new training ground will be built and the opening of a new museum in the Trent End.
The long-term vision also shed more light on the current lease with Nottingham City Council, which owns the land the stadium is built on. The first option is to extend the lease, another option is to buy the freehold. In 2019, it was announced that Nottingham Forrest secured a new 250-year lease, but the current 50-year agreement was eventually signed.
The club’s data suggests they could have sold 50,000 tickets for a number of games since their return to the Premier League.
Cartledge, chairman of the club, said: “If you add up our 20,000 season-ticket holders, plus the 21,500 or more who were waiting in a queue for tickets, the city of Nottingham should be able to sustain a 45,000 to 50,000-seat stadium. We can get ourselves to 40,000 and, if there was no obstruction, he (Marinakis, owner of the club) would get on it next season. He just wants to get going with it and that’s very exciting.”
Read more at: https://theathletic.com/5274960/2024/02/16/nottingham-forest-city-ground-redeveloped-masterplan/
Preparation work begun for redevelopment of Casement Park
The first preparation work for the planned redevelopment of Casement Park stadium, home of the Antrim hurling and Gaelic football teams, has started. These steps are taken before the funding of the project has been finalised. The main construction will start if the money is secured.
The redevelopment must begin by summer and be completed by mid 2027 to meet the deadline set by UEFA to be able to host matches of the Euro 2028 tournament. Casement Park is one of the 10 venues in the UK and Ireland to chosen to host matches of the tournament.
The project was estimated to cost £77.5m but has more than doubled in the past decade. At the moment, there is no clarity yet on where the extra money is going to come from. The GAA has said it is willing to pay at least £15m with other funding coming from Stormont and the British and Irish governments.
Read more at: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-68332197