56 | SPORTS VENUES 2023/24 www.stadiaworld.com CONSTRUCTION Meanwhile, a restructuring of current spaces or the creation of new ones is on the agenda in Frankfurt and Düsseldorf. The MERKUR SPIEL-ARENA will receive a completely new press and media centre – albeit in a somewhat adapted form. In 2021, a 1,000 m² extension called “The Box” was originally planned as a media centre and reception building for the VIP and business area, but the project had to be shelved a year later. New premises for the press representatives are nevertheless to be built, now inside the stadium. In Frankfurt, an “interdisciplinary crisis room for the authorities” will be created in the Deutsche Bank Park, which will serve as a “Venue Coordination Centre” during the European Championship, according to the stadium. In general, some security improvements are planned at the stadium in Frankfurt’s “Stadtwald” (literally translating to “city forest”): The lighting at the entrances will be revised and equipped with LEDs, some turnstile systems will be upgraded and the camera surveillance in the outdoor areas of the stadium grounds will also be renewed. The largest construction measure at the Frankfurt stadium is the expansion of the northwest curve, which has already been underway since the end of 2022, by converting the upper tier (analogous to the lower tier) into a standing-room-only curve. Eintracht thus intends to expand the stadium’s total capacity to 60,000 seats, while at the same time increasing the number of the cheapest tickets available and creating the second-largest standing-room section in the country. Temporary measures and standing areas Traditionally, for the major international tournaments of a European or World Cup, these standing areas have to be converted back to seats. For the German stadiums, which apart from the Olympiastadion Berlin are traditionally equipped with standing areas, this would mean temporary reconstruction measures everywhere. In fact, even one year before the start of the tournament, it has not yet been finally clarified how this issue will proceed. After UEFA had allowed standing room for the continental club competitions in a pilot phase, the fans were hoping for such a decision for EURO 2024 as well. A final decision could possibly only be made at the start of ticketing in early October. However, due to many imponderables (impact of an increase in capacity on mobility planning; same ticket allotments at the same prices for fans of both teams; changed security requirements, etc.), implementation seems unlikely. Transitional adjustments will therefore have to be made by the stadiums for the weeks of the tournament, and not only with regard to their standing/seating configurations. Mostly, increases in press seats (both inside and outside the stadium), additional security rings around the stadium and expanded hospitality areas are on the agenda. All venues see themselves well positioned to meet the requirements of the UEFA. Based on the construction boom of the early 2000s and the professionalisation of the entire industry, no stadium is significantly behind the state of the art. Therefore, if you ask the stadium managers about the biggest challenges that still lie ahead in the preparation for the tournament, they are mainly in coordination as well as event and interface management. Depending on the scope of the stadium modernisation measures, cooperation with a large number of partners is necessary. The Hamburg Volksparkstadion therefore states: “Comprehensive modernisation work had to and still has to be implemented at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg. Coordinating these construction measures in parallel and realising them under time pressure alongside the ongoing match and work operations is a great challenge for all planners, trades and employees of HSV Fußball AG involved.” The situation is similar at the Olympiastadion Berlin, where “the coordination and logistics of the construction/preparations for UEFA EURO 2024 parallel to the Bundesliga matches and the DFB Cup final” is the biggest construction site. The time factor between the end of the season and the takeover by UEFA is an issue in many places – in view of the last matchday on 18 May (Bundesliga) and 19 May (2nd Bundesliga), with possible relegation second legs on 27/28 May. In all likelihood, however, nothing more than that will stand in the way of a successful UEFA EURO 2024 from the stadium’s point of view. Volksparkstadion, Hamburg: Coordination is “a great challenge” here. Picture: imago/Philipp Szyza
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