What’s Next for Stadium Developments? Find out at the GSFB 2012!
5 January 2012
Just a few months before the start of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the legacy of new stadiums are increasingly coming under the media spotlight. Previously, we used to ask: “how can we use a stadium once the event is finished,” which suggests a stadium is built and then left in its original form for future use.
Now, the attention has shifted to: “how can we alter the stadium to make it useful,” with the London 2012 Olympic stadium continuing to attract debate. The Olympic Park Legacy Company’s commitment to maintaining an athletics track in the stadium proving a major talking point around the sporting legacy it will leave.
Technological innovations in stadia construction are following suit. We used to focus our conversation on how the effective use of technology could improve the consumer experience. Whilst this is still important, architects are increasingly turning their attention to how technology could transform a stadium for future use, or indeed, as Qatar demonstrated in its bid for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, how a stadium could move geographic location.
Moreover, ‘white elephants’ are everywhere – even as recently as the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, stadiums are struggling to be profitable post-event. A popular solution remains to set up multi-purpose modern venues that can host events in various sports on more than 200 days per year. This would vastly increase revenue potential and remove the risk of a legacy promise not being fulfilled.
The role of entertainment and business (especially through long-term strategic brand naming rights) is already key to making stadiums more profitable and never before has the environmental impact of a stadium been so closely scrutinized.
Register today to attend the 4th edition of the Global Sports Forum Barcelona and give yourself the opportunity to discuss these and many other core questions during a specific session entitled “Stadium developments – at the heart of the experience”.
Ulrich Wolter, Managing Director of DFB-Wirtschaftsdienste GmbH Consulting Sales & Services (German Football Federation), Marcel Cordes, Executive Director of Sport+Markt, and Shaun Dawson, Chief Executive of Lee Valley Regional Park Authority (LVRPA), will be on stage to debate all of the issues today’s stadium developers should take into account.