An overview of recent stadium news, which did not merit their own article, but are worth mentioning nonetheless:
- In the aftermath of Rangers FC going into administration, Scottish newspaper The Herald wonders whether there are any implications for Ibrox Stadium, as administrators may be interested in the asset value of the site. However, as it seems, there are quite a few hurdles to climb before Ibrox can be turned into a Sainsbury’s.
- Tottenham has signed a £400 million agreement for their new 56,000-seater stadium. However, plans for the development of affordable housing and school improvements, included in a previous deal, have been scrapped from the new agreement. Early news regarding the project here and here.
- There will be no NFL game played at the Millennium Stadium next year. Even though an American delegation expressed interest and visited the site in December, they have now decided to stick with the one match at Wembley Stadium.
- The problems at Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw have cost a first victim as the official in charge of construction, Rafał Kapler, resigned. However, controversy broke out soon after as it was revealed that he will receive a $180,000 bonus despite a series of ongoing failures.
- A new strike has broken out at one of the 2014 Brazil stadium work sites, this time at host city Fortaleza. The strike comes on top of unrest earlier this month at other sites, and unions threaten with a coordinated strike that would put work at all twelve host cities on hold.
- In the meantime, Brazilian minister of sport Aldo Rebelo visited the Grêmio Arena, where progress is going perfectly according to plan. As the stadium is expected to be completed in December 2012, the suggestion was raised that the stadium could take away the honour of being Porto Alegre’s playing venue during the World Cup from Internacional’s Beira-Rio stadium, where progress moves along more slowly. The suggestion was however firmly put down though by the minister, stating that the decision has been made and will not change. A photo of the works:
- And a photo of the ground works going on at the Arena Palestra Itália, Palmeiras new stadium, but also not a 2014 playing venue:
Photo Grêmio Arena: © Grêmio Arena (Oficial)
Photo Arena Palestra Itália: © Nova Arena Palmeiras