FIFA World Cups, Olympic Games, and continental football championships are some of the most incredible events on earth. Gathering thousands of people through their passion for sports, these events can become significant sources of income for the countries hosting them. However, if the investments are not managed smartly, they can also become a burden.
A major sports event implies having strong and adequate infrastructures to ensure the athletes’ good performance and the fans’ comfort. Anytime a country commits to hosting such an event; it will almost certainly have to renew its sports facilities or even build new ones. Only throughout the 21st century, dozens of sports venues worldwide were either renovated or built from scratch to serve a specific competition. Many of these witnessed some of the most vibrating moments in sports, like single-goal World Cup finals, heated Euro Cup knock-out stages, or crowded Olympic athletic tournaments. Unfortunately, some venues got stuck on a road to emptiness and abandonment after these competitions ended.
Such a phenomenon was primarily observed when certain sports events either did not attract significant attention or were not common. In 2004, the Olympic Games returned to their birthplace – Athens, the capital of Greece – gathering more than 201 countries with a National Olympic Committee, over 10 thousand athletes, and nearly 4 million attendees.
Today, twenty years later, the situation of some venues hosting such an impressive number of spectators is dystopic. Infrastructures like the diving pool and stadium, the kayak slalom, and the baseball stadium are entirely abandoned, resembling a post-apocalyptic scenario, with weeds growing around and graffitied walls everywhere. Despite becoming forgotten and unutilized, these infrastructures remain a burden for Greek taxpayers.
Another event hosted in 2004 that turned into a problem for national taxpayers was the UEFA Euro 2024, which took place in Portugal. Ten stadiums were either built or renovated specifically for the event, six of them by town halls. To this day, all these town halls are still indebted. Unlike the Athens Olympics’ venues, the Euro 2004 stadiums did not become abandoned. However, either their current use is not regular, or their capacity is too big for the local football scene. The Aveiro Municipal Stadium, for instance, has a capacity for 32 830 people, but its resident team is Beira-Mar, who has not played in the Portuguese main league since 2013 and is currently playing in the fourth division. The Algarve Stadium is in a similar situation, serving as a host venue only for the national team of the tiny territory of Gibraltar. For this reason, these stadiums are often labeled as “white elephants,” being perceived as primarily useless burdens that cause unnecessary costs.
Another 21st-century football competition that had trouble with venues was the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Stadiums like the Royal Bafokeng (in Rustenburg) and Peter Mokaba (in Polokwane) needed more resources due to their remote locations. Outside of football, the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics stands out in terms of unused venues, as its former beach stadium, kayaking course, and baseball field are completely abandoned.
In sum, the main problem regarding unused or abandoned sports venues lies in the fact that the local sports scene or demand does not serve the initial purpose they were built for.
However, such a problem can be perfectly tackled, and the keywords for it are planning, adaptation, and innovation.
Any sports venue can be multifunctional if things are done correctly. Across the world, the popularity and attendance for specific sports or local teams varies from place to place, and taking this into account is extremely important for any country intending to host a major sports event. London’s Olympic Stadium, built for the 2012 Summer Olympics, is an example of good planning, as it was designed with its post-event use in mind and considering future concessions. Besides being home to West Ham United, it is used for athletics, major entertainment, and corporate events.
Stade de France (built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup) and Sydney Olympic Park (built for the 2000 Summer Olympics) are thriving equally due to this approach. Moving to Africa, despite still having some struggling venues left from the 2010 World Cup, South Africa also displays some notable examples. Stadiums like Johannesburg’s Soccer City and Ellis Park or Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld are successful because they are used simultaneously for rugby and football matches, attracting a higher and more diverse public.
What is more, it is possible to turn sports venues into iconic landmarks of architecture and innovation through openness to out-of-the-box ideas. In technologically advanced Japan, the Daiwa House Premist Dome is an example. This stadium, located in Sapporo and a 2002 World Cup venue, is used for both football and baseball, but how it does that is mind-blowing. The infrastructure possesses a retractable surface, with the football field being a grass pitch that slides into and out of the stadium, over the baseball field. Going beyond sports, another thing that can be done is looking at a venue’s recreative potential. Once again, South Africa has done something interesting about this.
The Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban has drawn visual attention since its inauguration, shortly before the 2010 World Cup, due to its 105-meter span arch. This arch became a railway for a sky car, allowing visitors to enjoy a beautiful ocean view 350 meters above the ground and turning the stadium into an attractive tourist spot. The fun does not end here – the stadium also has the tallest bungee jumping swing in the world, and there are plans to improve the place with a glass air walk and a zipline.
In Europe, the Allianz Arena stands out. Besides being one of the most crowded stadiums in the world, since it’s home to the extensively awarded Bayern Munich, it is also an iconic monument of the city. With outside LED lighting, it is a key decoration of the Munich night landscape, often changing colors and patterns.
Not every sports venue in the world is automatically doomed to become a “white elephant” after serving a specific competition. The Athens Olympics diving pool could have become a leisure place to go during the hot Greek summer. The Beijing kayaking course could have been watered again and used for pleasant boat rides. Given its highly touristic location, the Algarve Stadium should learn a thing or two with the Moses Mabhida. Any venue can be adapted and get a new life as long as innovation and entrepreneurship are considered.
* Beatriz Santos is the Chief Communications Officer (CCO) at We Are Innovation. She is based in Lisbon, Portugal. Beatriz started publishing articles through her University newspaper and eventually moved to national and international reach outlets, including the well known Portuguese outlets NOVO and Observador. Her professional career includes international communications experience with the ATREVIA agency and the European Parliament. She also has two published books and is an essential part of the Students For Liberty organization in Portugal. With a focus on positive change and global cooperation, Beatriz actively seeks partnerships across the globe to promote innovative initiatives.
Source: We Are Innovation
