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Razam

Coach
Joined
Jun 19, 2009
Messages
736
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17977841

Grounds for optimism: how sports stadiums are about to get smarter

One of the few delights about moving house is the chance it brings for a good clear-out.

It was an opportunity I seized with relish a few months ago, and numerous fashion faux pas, kitchen implements and out-of-date guidebooks were consigned to the recycling centre.

But one ancient tome was spared, managing to find a home in the literary retirement community that is our downstairs toilet.

The 1990 Football Fans' Guide was simply too funny to throw away.

It follows a simple formula. There is a brief description of each club and their stadium. You then get some travel info, guidance on pubs, an appraisal of the programme, a guess at costs and finally 92 different ways of saying the food is awful and the toilets are the grimmest place on earth.

Football grounds - OK, some grounds - have come a long way since then. But if today's architects are to be believed, we are on the cusp of a golden era, a decade that will see venues become expressions of local pride - gothic cathedrals for a more secular age.

But these bigger, brainier buildings will also change who watches sport, and how we behave when we are there.

Plenty of people believe the old-fashioned fan has already been priced out of the market, of course, replaced by a more middle-class, less emotionally committed customer.

One counter-argument is that professional sport is now attracting more families, and those families spend more time and money at the venue.

Christopher Lee has designed more than 30 stadiums on five continents over the last two decades.

His CV reads like a list of must-visit venues - Wimbledon's Centre Court, Stadium Australia, Yankee Stadium, Wembley - but perhaps the most significant has already been knocked down.

In 1992, Arsenal decided to demolish Highbury's North Bank, home to its most passionate fans, and replace it with an all-seater that would both comply with post-Hillsborough legislation and change the demographics of the crowd.

"Prior to the early '90s you were designing for an 80/20 gender split," said Lee, a senior architect at Populous.

"That changed with the North Bank. We put in fully tiled toilets, family areas and spent a lot of money on the materials. The result was a huge increase in the number of women and children at games.

"Now, 20 years later, you are thinking about venues flexible enough to be a 60/40 gender split for a match and then the other way around for a pop concert."

This adaptability is central to the new thinking. It has to be: these cathedrals cannot stand empty 13 days each fortnight.

Nick Merridew runs the Europe and Middle East sports team at Arup, a design firm with offices in 35 countries.

"All venues will have to be more flexible," said Merridew, whose company worked on Beijing's 'Bird's Nest' Olympic stadium and Water Cube venue.

"You will have to generate more revenue from them, so it's not just the primary sports function.

"These venues are major outlays in capital and many are empty most of the time. That will change in ways we are still exploring."

Once upon a time it was enough to give a fan a spot of concrete to stand on and a hatch to buy something hot from.

That is not good enough any more. Fans want to feel they are somewhere important.

Having spent five years trying to help Arsenal extract more revenue from Highbury, Lee and his partners designed a far more radical solution, Emirates Stadium. This was a break from the past.

"The Emirates is an example of a stadium as a civic building, the kind of architectural statement that great cities used to make with the city hall, museum or library," said Lee.

"When you talk to Arsenal's stadium manager, he is not competing for business with Spurs, he is competing with Islington High Street."

This is old hat to British sport's numerous proprietors from the United States, who have long understood that fans are consumers with finite disposable income, not just troublesome suppliers of background noise.

But it is not only the Americans who get this, Abu Dhabi-owned Manchester City is an example of an old-fashioned football club now thinking like a provider of 21st century entertainment.

City's Etihad Stadium has recently been shortlisted for the "customer experience" category at TheStadiumBusiness Awards.

Among its innovations are the Premier League's first permanent outdoor fan zone, "City Square", and child-friendly initiatives like face painting and lowered food counters.

But perhaps the most forward-thinking ideas relate to the electronic devices most of us are attached to these days. There are now "gaming hubs" at the Etihad, and something called "City Fan Cam", a high-resolution picture of the crowd that supporters can find themselves on, tag and then share on sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Both Lee and Merridew believe mobile technology will be perhaps the single biggest change to the live sports experience.

Lee says it will not be long before radio transmitters in your ticket will help you find the quietest turnstile, shortest beer queue and nearest toilet.

And Merridew says fans "will demand instant replays, better quality images and an enhanced experience of the event through their mobile devices".

"Just look at Chelsea's goal-that-never-was against Spurs in the FA Cup semi-final. I can see fans wanting to see that and discuss it with friends," he added.

The thought of thousands of fans fiddling with their phones will probably horrify supporters of an older vintage (you only tweet when you're winning?), but these "advances" are the tiled toilets and white wine of a decade ago - they are what the modern punter wants.

The next decade should also see the most sustained period of venue construction and renovation since Archibald Leitch's heyday a century ago.

Back then, ambitious clubs called the Glaswegian master in to provide simple but elegant solutions to the problem of squeezing as many fans into their premises as possible.

Today, clubs need smarter spaces that pack 'em in - and keep 'em there.

If the early reports of Chelsea's plan for a new home at Battersea Power Station are even half true, Blues fans can look forward to more room, more restaurants, more shops and more fun - and that will be something worth tweeting about.
 
Weren't Populous the company that designed Fossetts Farm?
 
News from up here is that darlo are going to be leaving their new ground.
I used to think FF was a good idea for us and maybe if it ends up at 15k-17k capacity with 4 sides it still could be but if only there could be a way of staying at RH...:sad:
 
Darlo got poor support, while Southend Utd have potential to be the next Brighton or Swansea if everything go right on and off the pitch.
 
on the subject of the new stadium, I know someone who has just taken some advertising space at roots hall and part of the patter from the commercial team was that there is a big press announcement coming at the end of the season regarding 'diggers on site' kind of thing.
 
Hmm, I'm clearly not one of those 'modern punters'. Give me a terrace, a hot hatch and a cold winters day any day of the week over sitting in a comfy 5* technological stadium. I'm in my early 20's so would probably be classed as a modern punter, but for me that whole comfort whilst supporting your team doesn't go. It's like playing 11-a-side football but you're not allowed to get muddy. Here's hoping stadiums continue to improve but we still get the raw feeling you should have at a football match.

Nothing compares.
 
Always was a fan of terraces and burger vans, old school style. Suppose because being a Southend fan it's what I was used to. Will say though that having had 4 seasons of watching in a state of the art modern stadium with brilliant facilities, huge video screens for replays, easy access to food and drink and being able to drink beer in your seat I'd find it difficult to go back to the old way.

That doesn't diminish my love for Roots Hall one little bit, it will remain in my heart forever. But a few comforts and decent facilities in a stadium is something you soon get used to.

For those of us who'll turn up week in week out it's no more than a nice bonus but not the reason we go, for others it could well be the difference between turning up and staying at home.
 
Hmm, I'm clearly not one of those 'modern punters'. Give me a terrace, a hot hatch and a cold winters day any day of the week over sitting in a comfy 5* technological stadium. I'm in my early 20's so would probably be classed as a modern punter, but for me that whole comfort whilst supporting your team doesn't go. It's like playing 11-a-side football but you're not allowed to get muddy. Here's hoping stadiums continue to improve but we still get the raw feeling you should have at a football match.

Nothing compares.

Just in an attempt to be really patronising...

When you get a bit older you may feel different (or you may not!). Some of us would actually watch the game in a bit of comfort. Terraces are good for what they are, but I left the North Bank when it was still terracing for the comfort, and better view of the East Stand.

I do think all stadiums should have controlled terraced areas but for me Im more interested in watching the game in comfort.

Going to the Emirates and having a decent seat and legroom was lovely and having decent loos and (expensive) food outlets made a big difference. I did feel rather envious when I went there I have to say.
Additionally I normally take my daughter to games and will start taking my son too, and for families it will be a much better experience. The club will attract new supporters etc because of the better facilities as well.

If they could put a terrace area behind each goal though that would give people best of both worlds.

If we can have those kind of facilities to watch Southend Id be delighted, Ill leave it to the players to get dirty :)
 
That's fair enough mate, I understand that. Just not my cup of tea (although I'm all for the great views these new stadiums offer).
 
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