Dan Meis, founder, MEIS Architects
While it may seem a bit counterintuitive, sometimes the clues to
the future of stadium design can be found by looking to its past.
The last 30 years have seen an unprecedented building boom
in sports with almost every professional franchise either
replacing or significantly renovating their home ground. Most
of the innovation we saw in this new generation of venues was
concentrated on creating new, and more luxurious offerings for
the VIP customer in order to capture significantly higher
revenues from the customers most willing and able to afford
them. Luxury boxes, clubs, club seating, sponsored bars, giant
LED screens, naming rights opportunities, all have led to a
game day experience that delivered far beyond simply what
was happening on the pitch.
Unfortunately, many of these developments, intended to
expand the offering of a typical stadium have also led to the
bloating of these buildings and what I believe to be a completely
unsustainable rise in the cost of construction of new stadia. The
average cost of a new NFL stadium is now over US$2bn, a new
NBA arena over US$1bn, and the recently completed EPL
stadium for Tottenham Hotspur is reported to have cost over
£1bn. Regardless of the improvements in fan experience and
revenue, this is a level of investment that very few clubs around
the world can afford to make or sustain.
I believe there is also a growing cynicism in both fans and
sponsors about this nuclear proliferation of multi-billion-dollar
palaces. Fans today consume experiences in different ways than
they did twenty, or even ten years ago. Rather than be cloistered
in a private luxury box, they crave communal experiences. They
don’t want to be in a seat for 90-minutes, they prefer to
experience different parts of the stadium, looking for the
perfect Instagram moment, or a pub-like experience, without
losing touch with what is happening on the pitch. They are
skeptical of being sold an experience and crave authenticity
and connection.
Historically, stadia grew organically as a club became more
successful. This led to quirky, unique stadia that focused
inherently on keeping fans close and steeply situated on top
of the pitch. I believe that both economics and fan preferences
will influence future stadia to become simpler, back to the
basics buildings with pop-up experiences. While temporary,
flexible architecture will allow buildings to expand, contract
and adapt to changing fan trends as well as club performance.
EPL side Everton FC is
preparing for a move to
a new home, with MEIS
providing the design for its
Bramley Moore Dock venue
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