Will Warsaw have its Wembley?
A VIP sector, a multifunctional sports hall, a fitness center, cinemas, bars, shops and office space with a family entertainment center and a hotel, all served by a parking lot for several thousand cars. Imagine all this in one multifunctional complex, easily accessible by train, bus, metro and car.
While this may be true for many stadiums across Europe, it is certainly not the case for any in Poland. Venues and facilities are scattered around the country with Chorzów in southern Poland playing host to national and international football games and Katowice's Spodek, Poznań's Arena, and Warsaw's Gwardia and Torwar serving as occasional concert venues. But what Warsaw painfully lacks is a multifunctional sports and entertainment facility that would make it a centre for more than business and politics.
At last, it seems that things are changing. Six months after Poland's accession to the EU, works on the National Football Stadium project are picking up speed, and Warsaw may soon be able to join the ranks of cities with proper public arenas. A tender is to be held for the design and construction of the Stadium within a month, while construction works are scheduled to begin next year and should finish by the end of 2006.
Michał Borowski, Warsaw's chief architect, finally gave his consent to the stadium's construction three weeks ago. On the very same day, an international forum for investors in the national stadium was held in the Palace of Culture and Science, attracting nearly 40 companies interested in taking part in the project.
And this is going to be no dwarf. With 35,000 seats, it will be three times the size of the present Legia stadium. Although it is planned predominantly as a football facility, plans also include a multifunctional sports hall. The plans are to include a VIP sector as well as a commercial area including bars, shops, office space-possibly including the Polish Football Association headquarters-and a hotel. Leo Turno, President of Budowa i Zarząd Stadionu Piłkarskiego (BiZSP), the company created with the sole purpose of preparing the city for the tender, also dreams of a conference center, a swimming pool and cinemas.
With this space potential, the stadium could host just about anything. Apart from the national team games, there are the Poland Cup finals or even some of the events of the European Championships in 2012. Add rock concerts, promotion competitions, fairs, corporate events, tennis competitions or even motor-cross and the list grows longer. Leo Turno wouldn't say 'no' even to an opera production.
But before all these dreams come true, the stadium must be built-and the costs of the whole enterprise are quite impressive as well. Though no exact figures are known yet, the estimated cost of the stadium stands at zł.200-240 million and might soar as high as zł.360 million if an extendible roof is included in the project. Some may doubt if Warsaw can afford this.
"The City has reserved zł.200 million in the long-term investment plan, but exactly how much of this amount will actually be included in next year's budget? This will become clear only after the tender," said Leo Turno. "Zł.200 million will be enough for an open-air stadium only."
The City is not alone. The Ministry of National Education and Sports (MENiS) and the Polish State Lottery will take part in funding the project. Though Mieczysław Grabianowski, spokesman for MENiS, was not able to give any precise information concerning the amount of money that the Ministry may offer, Marek Skorupski, spokesman for the Polish Sports Confederation, said they can cover as much as 50 percent of the costs if the chief investor is the local government.
But a more viable way to finance the stadium would be to involve a private investor in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). Although Leo Turno mentioned several foreign companies interested in the project, he did not want to name any names. According to Turno, what is more important is the way some of them approach the issue.
"We've had foreign construction companies coming with catalogues of stars and asking 'Who do you want to have for the opening gala?' We like this approach very much," he said.
This 'from-the-end approach' means one has to think about more than just the opening gala, and consider how to fill up the schedule for the following 365 days of the year. And here is where the investors may come across real problems-ensuring year-round operation. This is where a roofed stadium is an obvious, although more expensive solution.
"It would definitely increase the stadium's attractiveness, as the venue could be used all year round," said Małgorzata Haisig from Odyssey, a Warsaw-based concert agency that is now part of the Clear Channel Entertainment Europe network.
Event planners are already eyeing the new stadium as a venue for ever-grander events.
"The recent merger with Clear Channel has made it much easier for us to contact foreign artists' agents. We can still only dream about Madonna for instance. People cannot afford stars of her calibre, but there is some hope of improvement in this respect."
So, with a wide spectrum of events ranging from sports, to concerts and other live entertainment events, the potential investor would be assured a decent return on investment to say the least.
Not all would be happy, though. According to an industry insider, the city's architects do not like the idea of having such a modern building cutting across what they call the Stanislav's Axis: the 18th-century architectural complex including the Ujazdowski Castle. Also, the proximity of the river excludes extensive underground development, which means that the complex may turn out too dominating for its relatively low-key surroundings. Car parks are a problem too-for the same reason. While the Porto stadium in Portugal boasts 3,500 parking places on 4 levels and the Lisbon stadium has a 1,500-car underground parking lot, the question in Warsaw is where to squeeze anything of that size on a plot only several hundred meters off the riverbank?
Not only city architects will be looking forward to the resolution of this and other questions. Football fans also believe that the time has come to do something about Warsaw's technologically challenged sports venue.
"We've been waiting for the new stadium for almost ten years now," said Wojciech Dobrzyński from the 'Our Legia' football fans association. "Legia, Warsaw and most of all Poland deserve at least one such venue."
While this may be true for many stadiums across Europe, it is certainly not the case for any in Poland. Venues and facilities are scattered around the country with Chorzów in southern Poland playing host to national and international football games and Katowice's Spodek, Poznań's Arena, and Warsaw's Gwardia and Torwar serving as occasional concert venues. But what Warsaw painfully lacks is a multifunctional sports and entertainment facility that would make it a centre for more than business and politics.
At last, it seems that things are changing. Six months after Poland's accession to the EU, works on the National Football Stadium project are picking up speed, and Warsaw may soon be able to join the ranks of cities with proper public arenas. A tender is to be held for the design and construction of the Stadium within a month, while construction works are scheduled to begin next year and should finish by the end of 2006.
Michał Borowski, Warsaw's chief architect, finally gave his consent to the stadium's construction three weeks ago. On the very same day, an international forum for investors in the national stadium was held in the Palace of Culture and Science, attracting nearly 40 companies interested in taking part in the project.
And this is going to be no dwarf. With 35,000 seats, it will be three times the size of the present Legia stadium. Although it is planned predominantly as a football facility, plans also include a multifunctional sports hall. The plans are to include a VIP sector as well as a commercial area including bars, shops, office space-possibly including the Polish Football Association headquarters-and a hotel. Leo Turno, President of Budowa i Zarząd Stadionu Piłkarskiego (BiZSP), the company created with the sole purpose of preparing the city for the tender, also dreams of a conference center, a swimming pool and cinemas.
With this space potential, the stadium could host just about anything. Apart from the national team games, there are the Poland Cup finals or even some of the events of the European Championships in 2012. Add rock concerts, promotion competitions, fairs, corporate events, tennis competitions or even motor-cross and the list grows longer. Leo Turno wouldn't say 'no' even to an opera production.
But before all these dreams come true, the stadium must be built-and the costs of the whole enterprise are quite impressive as well. Though no exact figures are known yet, the estimated cost of the stadium stands at zł.200-240 million and might soar as high as zł.360 million if an extendible roof is included in the project. Some may doubt if Warsaw can afford this.
"The City has reserved zł.200 million in the long-term investment plan, but exactly how much of this amount will actually be included in next year's budget? This will become clear only after the tender," said Leo Turno. "Zł.200 million will be enough for an open-air stadium only."
The City is not alone. The Ministry of National Education and Sports (MENiS) and the Polish State Lottery will take part in funding the project. Though Mieczysław Grabianowski, spokesman for MENiS, was not able to give any precise information concerning the amount of money that the Ministry may offer, Marek Skorupski, spokesman for the Polish Sports Confederation, said they can cover as much as 50 percent of the costs if the chief investor is the local government.
But a more viable way to finance the stadium would be to involve a private investor in a Public-Private Partnership (PPP). Although Leo Turno mentioned several foreign companies interested in the project, he did not want to name any names. According to Turno, what is more important is the way some of them approach the issue.
"We've had foreign construction companies coming with catalogues of stars and asking 'Who do you want to have for the opening gala?' We like this approach very much," he said.
This 'from-the-end approach' means one has to think about more than just the opening gala, and consider how to fill up the schedule for the following 365 days of the year. And here is where the investors may come across real problems-ensuring year-round operation. This is where a roofed stadium is an obvious, although more expensive solution.
"It would definitely increase the stadium's attractiveness, as the venue could be used all year round," said Małgorzata Haisig from Odyssey, a Warsaw-based concert agency that is now part of the Clear Channel Entertainment Europe network.
Event planners are already eyeing the new stadium as a venue for ever-grander events.
"The recent merger with Clear Channel has made it much easier for us to contact foreign artists' agents. We can still only dream about Madonna for instance. People cannot afford stars of her calibre, but there is some hope of improvement in this respect."
So, with a wide spectrum of events ranging from sports, to concerts and other live entertainment events, the potential investor would be assured a decent return on investment to say the least.
Not all would be happy, though. According to an industry insider, the city's architects do not like the idea of having such a modern building cutting across what they call the Stanislav's Axis: the 18th-century architectural complex including the Ujazdowski Castle. Also, the proximity of the river excludes extensive underground development, which means that the complex may turn out too dominating for its relatively low-key surroundings. Car parks are a problem too-for the same reason. While the Porto stadium in Portugal boasts 3,500 parking places on 4 levels and the Lisbon stadium has a 1,500-car underground parking lot, the question in Warsaw is where to squeeze anything of that size on a plot only several hundred meters off the riverbank?
Not only city architects will be looking forward to the resolution of this and other questions. Football fans also believe that the time has come to do something about Warsaw's technologically challenged sports venue.
"We've been waiting for the new stadium for almost ten years now," said Wojciech Dobrzyński from the 'Our Legia' football fans association. "Legia, Warsaw and most of all Poland deserve at least one such venue."
