Latest news with #Populous
Scottish Sun
18 hours ago
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Champions League giants could build stunning new 120,000-capacity stadium as talks begin over biggest ground in Europe
Leading architects have begun work on the project GROUNDBREAKING Champions League giants could build stunning new 120,000-capacity stadium as talks begin over biggest ground in Europe Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) BENFICA could build a stunning new 120,000 capacity stadium that would make it the biggest ground in Europe. Their Estádio da Luz home is one of the most eye-catching arenas in Europe and has hosted the Champions League final. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 A key figure at Benfica wants to build a 120,000-seat stadium 2 Benfica's current home cannot be expanded beyond a 70,000 capacity Credit: Getty It once boasted 120,000 seats but limitations in its current design mean it cannot be expanded beyond a 70,000 capacity. Architects Populous, who designed Wembley and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, have been consulted over an expansion. Benfica currently fill out their 68,100 seats and they plan to add a fourth level to the stadium. Populous have also been brought in to help with designs to build a 10,000-capacity multi-purpose indoor arena. READ MORE IN FOOTBALL IT'S FERGIE TIME Sir Alex Ferguson gatecrashes Rio's podcast... but refuses to take part It will contain two indoor sports halls, with capacities of 2,500 and 1,500 respectively, a swimming pool as well as a 500-seat theatre and a rooftop football pitch. A fan plaza with space for 10,000 supporters will be built along with food and drink outlets, as well as shops and restaurants. But some within the club want a return to a 120,000-seat venue, including vice-president Rui Passo. He said: 'We cannot go beyond 70,000 in this stadium, for reasons of safety, comfort and regulation. We have to start thinking about a new stadium. BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS 'There are two sports in which we want to be stronger, women's football and rugby. 'This stadium can be the home of women's football and rugby. I want to dream of crowds of 40, 50 and 60 thousand people watching rugby and women's football matches. We must start dreaming about a new stadium. Leaked footage shows shocking state of Barcelona's Nou Camp as club 'consider delaying new stadium opening' 'We have full boxes with waiting lists. We have executive seats with waiting lists. We have red pass seats with a huge waiting list. Roughly speaking, it is not difficult to increase the number of red pass seats from 45,000 to 70,000, executive seats from 5,000 to 10,000 and boxes from 150 to 300. 'We have a waiting list to buy these seats (almost 17,000 for the red pass). It is quite possible to start thinking seriously about a project like this.' Former club president Luís Filipe Vieira, who stepped down in 2021 after being arrested on suspicion of a breach of trust against Benfica, also dreams of a 120,000 capacity venue. According to Correio da Manha, Vieira plans to use this idea as a cornerstone of his bid to become club president again in the October elections, and he has already consulted an architect about the plans.
The Sun
18 hours ago
- Business
- The Sun
Champions League giants could build stunning new 120,000-capacity stadium as talks begin over biggest ground in Europe
BENFICA could build a stunning new 120,000 capacity stadium that would make it the biggest ground in Europe. Their Estádio da Luz home is one of the most eye-catching arenas in Europe and has hosted the Champions League final. 2 2 It once boasted 120,000 seats but limitations in its current design mean it cannot be expanded beyond a 70,000 capacity. Architects Populous, who designed Wembley and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, have been consulted over an expansion. Benfica currently fill out their 68,100 seats and they plan to add a fourth level to the stadium. Populous have also been brought in to help with designs to build a 10,000-capacity multi-purpose indoor arena. It will contain two indoor sports halls, with capacities of 2,500 and 1,500 respectively, a swimming pool as well as a 500-seat theatre and a rooftop football pitch. A fan plaza with space for 10,000 supporters will be built along with food and drink outlets, as well as shops and restaurants. But some within the club want a return to a 120,000-seat venue, including vice-president Rui Passo. He said: 'We cannot go beyond 70,000 in this stadium, for reasons of safety, comfort and regulation. We have to start thinking about a new stadium. 'There are two sports in which we want to be stronger, women's football and rugby. 'This stadium can be the home of women's football and rugby. I want to dream of crowds of 40, 50 and 60 thousand people watching rugby and women's football matches. We must start dreaming about a new stadium. 'We have full boxes with waiting lists. We have executive seats with waiting lists. We have red pass seats with a huge waiting list. Roughly speaking, it is not difficult to increase the number of red pass seats from 45,000 to 70,000, executive seats from 5,000 to 10,000 and boxes from 150 to 300. 'We have a waiting list to buy these seats (almost 17,000 for the red pass). It is quite possible to start thinking seriously about a project like this.' Former club president Luís Filipe Vieira, who stepped down in 2021 after being arrested on suspicion of a breach of trust against Benfica, also dreams of a 120,000 capacity venue. According to Correio da Manha, Vieira plans to use this idea as a cornerstone of his bid to become club president again in the October elections, and he has already consulted an architect about the plans.
New York Times
3 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Wrexham Down Under: A tour that whets the appetite and underlines next season's spike in difficulty
For any Wrexham fans hoping for a few pointers to the future, the tour Down Under did not disappoint. Not necessarily in a football sense, with a combination of only Ryan Hardie and Danny Ward arriving as new signings prior to the squad jetting out to Australia and fitness being the priority at this stage of pre-season, meaning that the three games told us very little we didn't already know. Advertisement Off the field, however, was a different story, with two of the three stadia playing host to Wrexham having been designed by Populous, the firm behind both the new Kop and the overall master plan that will see The Racecourse's capacity eventually rise to around 28,000. Kicking off the tour at Melbourne's Marvel Stadium and then finishing eight days later at Sky Stadium in Wellington, New Zealand, gave the small band of loyal fans who made the trip from Wales, plus the players and staff, a taste of what to possibly expect when the oldest international venue still in use finally gets upgraded for the 21st century. Both may have been built in an oval shape to house top-flight Australian rules football in the AFL, making the pitch for Wrexham's visit a long way from the stands. But the facilities are excellent, including seating with plenty of legroom and good access throughout, despite the two venues now being a little over 25 years old. Plenty to look forward to then as the clock ticks down towards June 2026, and the promised opening of the new 5,500 capacity Kop for the next UEFA Under-19s Championship. As for the football, a tour that ended on Saturday with a 1-0 defeat to Wellington Phoenix merely confirmed what we all knew back in April after that third consecutive promotion had been clinched. Namely, if Wrexham are to survive in the Championship, then their squad needs a serious upgrade. Phil Parkinson and his staff are as aware of this as anyone. It's why their club record transfer fee was broken late on Friday as Empoli left wing-back Liberato Cacace signed in what represents a significant widening of the recruitment net beyond the shores of Britain and Ireland. Further deals are planned before the season's opener at Southampton on August 9, with Bolton Wanderers captain George Thomason very much on the radar along with Josh Windass, the former Rangers forward who recently had his contract at Sheffield Wednesday cancelled by mutual consent amid the financial chaos engulfing the Yorkshire club. Advertisement Lewis O'Brien, the Nottingham Forest midfielder, is also one of several long-standing targets as Parkinson looks to equip his side for one of football's more challenging step-ups in quality. As ever, at this time of year, patience is likely to be key, particularly when it comes to the Premier League loan market that Parksinon has previously pledged to tap into. Most top-flight managers prefer to take their promising youngsters on tour before then assessing any loan options, meaning deals often get done only after the EFL season has got under way. The bottom line is that the 25-man squad demanded under Championship rules after the transfer window has closed on September 1 should look very different to the travelling party heading home from New Zealand this weekend. This makes any assessment of the tour difficult. As, to be fair, does the timing, with this year's trip having come earlier in pre-season than the 2024 jaunt to the U.S. and Canada. Back then, Wrexham faced Bournemouth on July 20, Chelsea four days later and then Vancouver Whitecaps on the final weekend of July. This meant the players were further along in their preparations for a campaign that began on August 10. It also helped that five new faces had arrived before heading across the Atlantic, as opposed to just two this time around when taking on a trio of A-League clubs. Nevertheless, there were a few things to glean from Australia and New Zealand — chief among these was how Parkinson largely persevered with the 3-5-1-1 formation that proved so effective during last season's run-in. He did, though, mix things up slightly against a youthful Wellington side by playing two deep-lying midfielders, with Harry Ashfield and Elliot Lee pushed further forward behind Ollie Palmer. Lee, in particular, was unfortunate not to equalise early in the second half. Advertisement Hardie looks a promising addition, bagging his first goal since joining from Plymouth Argyle for £700,000 via a predatory near-post finish in the 3-0 win over Melbourne Victory. Ryan Barnett provided the cross for Hardie's goal but, really, it was Ryan Longman's deliveries from the flank that stood out on the tour. The January signing from Hull City arrived with plenty of Championship experience and already he's shaping up to be a key man at a level Wrexham last played in 1982. As was clear Down Under, both wing-backs will again be pivotal to how Wrexham play. Parkinson demands plenty, including how one wing-back shaping up to cross must be the cue for the other on the opposite flank to make a quick dart into the penalty box. The ploy worked well last season, particularly when James McClean and Barnett were in tandem. There were glimpses again here, including when McClean really should have done better with a free header from a Barnett cross in the 2-1 defeat to Sydney FC. Cacace's arrival adds an intriguing extra aspect to this mix. Much will depend on how quickly the pacey Kiwi international takes to get up to speed with what his new manager wants from the role. Twelve months ago, several new signings who went on to become key figures in the promotion push, including player of the year Ollie Rathbone, had to wait for their chance. Maybe Cacace will have to be similarly patient. As for his new team-mates, amid the inevitable rustiness of early pre-season that perhaps explains the mistake by Arthur Okonkwo that gifted Wellington their winner, perhaps the best that can be said is that the tour fulfilled the need to get matchday minutes into the legs. This is always the prime target in the early weeks of pre-season, as captain McClean made clear in a diary entry for The Athletic from Australia. Most of the club's senior contingent played 45 minutes in the 3-0 victory over Melbourne Victory, followed by a further hour and then 30 minutes spread across the defeats in Sydney and Wellington. Sam Smith was the notable exception with a calf problem that meant, as had been anticipated before leaving the UK, he sat out all three fixtures. Hardie also missed the Sydney defeat after picking up a knock, while Jay Rodriguez managed just half an hour's playing time due to a niggling foot problem. Advertisement The big loss was Rathbone, who flew home in a protective boot after injuring his ankle against Sydney. He will be assessed further in a week or so but Parkinson has already admitted things don't look 'too good' for the midfielder. Losing the 28-year-old for an extended period of the upcoming campaign would be a big blow. Jack Marriott, meanwhile, stayed behind as his team-mates flew home after having his appendix removed but should be cleared to resume training once home. Even allowing for the timing of the tour and inevitable rustiness, there's no escaping how disappointing two defeats and a victory are as a return against opposition from a competition regarded by many familiar with both the EFL and the A-League as being on a par with League One. Equally, though, results count for little at this stage, not least because those planned incomings mean the squad make-up is likely to be very different once the 'real' action gets under way next month. Where the true lasting effect of Wrexham's maiden tour Down Under is likely to be found is off the field. A 25,399 crowd in Wellington took the combined total of fans who turned out to watch the Welsh club across the three games through the 100,000 mark. Throw in all the additional commercial benefits, including how every item of merchandise shipped to Australia before the tour was snapped up by eager fans, and the club has done well out of the tour. Now, though, Wrexham need to get just as busy as those souvenir vendors when it comes to strengthening the squad sufficiently to still be a Championship team come the much-anticipated opening of the new Kop in a year's time.
New Indian Express
7 days ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav on three-day tour to Spain; tourism, sports and films high on agenda
Yadav will provide detailed insights to the participating industrialists about investment opportunities across various sectors in Madhya Pradesh. During the networking lunch, he will interact with prominent Spanish industrialists and representatives of different organisations. He will also attend a presentation by the renowned sports infrastructure design and consulting firm, 'Populous'.The session will focus on the development of modern sports infrastructure in Madhya Pradesh. Later, the President of the Spain Film Commission will meet with the MP CM to discuss international-level film shooting and collaboration opportunities in Madhya Pradesh. The tour to Spain and its increased focus on promoting investments and partnerships in tourism, film and sports, assumes particular significance, as tourism constitutes a significant portion of Spain's GDP. In 2023, tourism activity reached 12.3 per cent of the GDP in Spain, which translated to 184,002 million euros, and the sector generated more than 2.5 million jobs, representing 11.6% of total employment. On the other hand, MP is among those Indian states, that have enormous tourism potential. Considered the heart of India -- Madhya Pradesh, too, has registered exponential tourist growth in 2024. The State welcomed 13.41 crore visitors in 2024, which represented a mammoth 526% jump from the 2020 levels, 51% growth compared to 2019 and around 21% increase when compared to the corresponding figures of 2023. The State also unveiled multiple policies to boost sectoral investments, including film and tourism policies, ahead of the Global Investors Summit in Bhopal in February 2025.
The Herald Scotland
15-07-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
The Battery Atlanta: Truist Park All-Star Game site is envy of sports
And over multiple days consulting with Populous, the global design firm that engineered the ballpark revolution of the 1990s and evolved with the times since, the Braves hatched what would come to be known as The Battery. "They told a pretty compelling story of what they wanted to accomplish," says Earl Santee, founder and senior executive of Populous, which has guided the evolution of the modern stadium since 1985. "The idea of The Battery was inspired by their vision. "It's really the first time we had a fully integrated ballpark that occurred at one time. That they're one big community, not one big building. "I think that's why almost every pro sports team in America has come by and looked at the ballpark and The Battery to understand how they did it." In fact, the parade of club presidents, owners, politicians and imagineers beating a path to the intersection of I-75 and I-285 in suburban Cobb County became so voluminous, the Braves had to tell some of them to take a number. They only had so much time to devote to sports franchises wanting to know how they cultivated such a vast expanse to live, work, play - and generate revenue that didn't have to be shared with other teams in their leagues. And just what did they concoct? A 41,000-seat ballpark that flows seamlessly into 2.25 million square feet featuring more than two dozen restaurants and bars, four corporate campuses, two hotels, 531 residences and the Roxy Theater, where MLB staged its draft Sunday night. ATLANTA ALL-STAR GAME: Braves got their jewel event back. But controversial laws 'haven't changed' And it's not done growing. The Braves' real estate interests have expanded with the success of their club, a cosmic bit of timing in which the team on the field has not missed the playoffs since 2017, allowing SunTrust Park - now Truist Park - a year of novelty before the club launched seven consecutive postseason runs, including the 2021 World Series title. Little wonder franchises from four corners of the map are aiming to recreate this utopia of commerce - with a side of sports - for their own towns. Yet the manner in which the Braves and Cobb County captured those dollars has proven challenging for teams to replicate - with some municipalities just saying no. Mapping the journey Santee, as head of then-HOK Sports, had a far simpler task - and a lower bar - to clear when he set out, perhaps unwittingly, and became the godfather of modern stadia. The grim multi-purpose stadiums of the 1960s and '70s eventually gave way to the intimate and objectively beautiful jewels of the 1990s, where a little exposed brick and single-sport sightlines went a long way. Now, more than three decades after Baltimore's Camden Yards, Cleveland's Jacobs Field and Pittsburgh's PNC Park became the standards by which parks would be measured, Santee must navigate a post-Battery world where "experiential" has become as important to a franchise as a reliable starting pitcher. A trip through the turnstiles is merely the first - or third - imagined step in a long day of what Santee calls "journey mapping." "We get to make an impact that's not three hours long. It's five or six hours long. That's pretty exciting," says Santee. "The journey mapping tells us people want two, maybe three unique experiences, either inside or outside the ballpark. "Years ago, if you asked me the question, what was it like in the '80s and '90s designing ballparks? We designed maybe 15 to 20 fan experiences inside the ballpark. With this model, we're designing somewhere between 60 to 80 fan experiences. "Because it's driven by the journey mapping, driven by the generational needs." And it's remarkably easy to get caught up in The Battery's stream of diversions. Just steps after exiting the right field gate, the fan is greeted with a mind-bending number of options, with Sports & Social and its many blaring TV screens and game play practically begging your party to commune over a plate of $24 nachos. A splash pad shoots water aloft, allowing parents to toss their kids in to cool off and burn energy on a hot day. A bandshell on Saturday staged a pep rally - "Javy Lopez is in the house!" - as a drumline performed, giving way to a DJ as the evening arrived. Residences look down on it all, climate-controlled havens where around $2,500 per month can get you a two-bedroom apartment within strolling distance of gourmet ice cream or salmon cake benedict. After less than five minutes, the right field gate looks almost foreign, a reminder that yes, there is a baseball stadium here. It is a diverse and truly multi-generational crowd and for a moment, it's easy to forget the mega-development was - and in some quarters still is - a source of consternation. The Braves' move from Fulton County's Turner Field - that stadium was about two decades old - not only removed the club from Atlanta's urban center but also left a sour taste in the mouth of Cobb County taxpayers who footed two-thirds of the bill. A stroll to the south end of the complex gives the visitor a reminder of the backlash: The intersection of Battery Avenue and Tim Lee Way. 'We can't leave citizens behind' Lee was chairman of the Cobb County Board of Commissioners from 2010 to 2017 and passed away in 2019 after a yearlong bout with esophageal cancer. In 2016, he was roundly defeated at the ballot box by an opponent, Mike Boyce, who ran a single-issue campaign - an anti-stadium platform - and prevailed by a nearly two-to-one margin. In 2013, Lee spearheaded the effort to commit $400 million in taxpayer money to the Braves, the stadium and what became The Battery - without giving taxpayers a say in the matter. The transparency - or lack thereof - in the process became a significant wedge between stadium proponents and citizens. Lee reportedly dubbed the effort "Operation Intrepid." And the dispatch with which the project advanced from private negotiations - Braves president John Schuerholz said if they'd been public, citizens "would not want this to happen" - to commission approval remains a sore point. Lisa Cupid, the lone no vote in a 4-1 approval by county commissioners, now has Lee's job chairing the commission. While she has come to appreciate The Battery's merits and remains optimistic it will have staying power as a destination, she also realizes what was lost in its approval. "Process is always important when it comes to (earning) the trust of citizens," says Cupid. "That's something that, even looking back, was at the forefront of my mind. The idea of having something like a stadium, something as nostalgic as that in your community is always appealing. But it can't circumvent the significance of, and really, our charge to ensure that the public trust is there. "It's not just the what that we do as county government, but the how we do it. We just can't leave citizens behind in the big decisions we're making." From a volume and value standpoint, The Battery has been a significant success. The county reported that in 2024, a record 10.3 million visitors walked its gleaming avenues and alleyways. And the Braves, the lone MLB franchise owned by a publicly-traded corporation, reported $67.3 million in mixed-use development income, a 14% increase over 2023. It would seem like a boomtown for all - county, ballclub, those employed within The Battery and any other stakeholders. Yet economists argue that The Battery and similar developments are classic examples of "extraction" - that new dollars aren't necessarily being spent but rather moved around, regionally. Certainly, Cobb County captured the revenue that used to go to Fulton County when the Braves played there. Yet much of the activity - a night at the movies, a mid-range dinner, a round of drinks with the boys or the baddies - simply would have occurred somewhere else minus The Battery's existence. "You built a department store," says JC Bradbury, an economist and associate professor at Kennesaw State. "We already have seven of those in Cobb County. It's not transformative for development when you look at a county that's a ($64 billion) economy. It's a rounding error. "Even though they're always touted as a great economic engine, they're not. And the data bear this out." Bradbury is a frequent detractor of stadium economic impact projections, but in this case, he's not just a critic; he's a client. A resident of nearby Marietta, he considers himself a Braves fan and has test-driven The Battery on a few occasions. While ample parking decks have made it a regional destination, the area has not seen a so-called "halo effect" in transforming the area around it, a potential upside stadium proponents frequently cite. "They like to describe The Battery as, 'Oh, we're recreating Wrigleyville,'" Bradbury says of the once-unique Chicago neighborhood since turned into a replacement-level cash cow for the Cubs. "The Battery is more like Main Street USA at Disney World. And not all restaurants and bars have succeeded there. "It's easy to find parking. Are there people there? Yeah. But not much more than if I went to Marietta Square. "It's certainly not 'Downtown Cobb.'" Much of the area remains unchanged from decades earlier. Cumberland Mall was erected in 1973 and faces many of the challenges similar properties do, though redevelopment is in the mix. Fading strip malls and chain restaurants dot the areas around the interchange. One common opponent: Traffic. It is epic in Atlanta, even in Cobb's relatively advantageous position on the northwest edge of I-285, or the "perimeter." Eighty-one Braves home games can choke the grid further, and it's interesting to note that the area around Turner Field downtown has largely thrived in the Braves' absence. When the moon shot falls short Those narratives will be missing from any franchise pitches for new stadiums and taxpayer dollars needed to fund them. And the real estate piece of it has only become more urgent. Both the NFL and MLB aim to centralize revenues among all franchises, particularly national TV money in both sports and gameday revenue in the NFL. It ensures the viability of all teams, regardless of market. Yet revenue from off-site interests - such as The Battery or Arlington's Texas Live! and areas around the Cowboys' stadium in Arlington - are not tossed into the common revenue pool in either league. It is essentially pure profit for the home team and one taking on greater urgency as local and national TV revenues remain uncertain. That's why teams in every sport are opting for a Battery moon shot rather than simply building a stadium. And the consequences when they fail can be significant. One year after The Battery opened, the Oakland Athletics announced plans for what would become a $12 billion proposal in the city's Howard Terminal - a 35,000-seat ballpark and 6 million square feet of mixed-use development, including commercial buildings and high-rise residential units. It ended up being an all-or-nothing proposition: When the club failed to reach agreement with Oakland, it lowered its sights significantly and set them on Las Vegas, where the team aims to begin play in a 33,000-seat stadium on a parcel of land barely big enough to play ball, let alone add the "live and work" pieces to create the mixed-use holy trinity. In Kansas City, citizens showed exactly why franchises prefer to do stadium deals without public input: They roundly rejected a sales-tax initiative that would have built a $1 billion downtown stadium project for the Royals and funded significant renovations to the Chiefs' stadium. The Royals' proposal included a hotel, a residential development and entertainment venue consuming several downtown blocks. That's not to say politicians heed what might be blowing in the wind. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs recently celebrated approval of $500 million in Chase Field renovations by showing up to a news conference in a Diamondbacks jersey. Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser has urged the fast-tracking of a new stadium for the Commanders - a massive multi-billion-dollar mixed-use development on the old RFK Stadium site - even as D.C. councilmembers plead for more time to scrutinize a deal she brokered with the team. The city recently approved $500 million in renovations to their downtown arena after Wizards and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis was quickly rejected in a quixotic bid to build a massive development in nearby Virginia. "Plan B is a term that has been used to explicitly get stadiums built," says Bradbury. "Circumvent the will of the voters: 'We have a Plan B, we're going to get around this.' "What you saw in Kansas City was voters said, we absolutely do not want tax dollars to go toward renovating a stadium for the Chiefs and a new stadium for the Royals. The Chiefs just won the Super Bowl, they're a popular team and voters were like, 'Nah, we're not doing that.'" The Braves didn't take that chance and this week will realize the fringe benefit of a jewel event once stripped from the region. While the modern life cycle of a stadium is roughly two decades - and thus this first Truist Park All-Star Game may be its last - county officials believe the site will have staying power. Its impact throughout the sports industry certainly will, as everyone chases what's become the standard in development and revenue generation. "This site has built a tremendous energy beyond any of our comprehension," says Cupid, the chair of the county commission. "It looked almost surreal what I saw in the renderings on paper. And they brought it to life. And they did it quickly. And they truly changed the footprint of that area. "It's become more than just a business, an economic center. It's a center of vibrancy not just for Cobb but the region right now. "And it continues to grow."
