Latest news with #indoorstadium
Khaleej Times
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Khaleej Times
Trosmic Sports announces Flux Halo, a landmark indoor arena in the GCC
Trosmic Sports has announced conceptual plans for Flux Halo, a next-generation indoor stadium that aspires to redefine live entertainment and sporting experiences in the GCC. Underpinned by $1 billion in available Japanese equity, Flux Halo represents a bold step toward creating one of the most technologically advanced and culturally impactful arenas in the world. While the final location remains under consideration within the GCC, Flux Halo is being positioned as a flagship venue to rival global icons such as London's O2 Arena and New York's Madison Square Garden. With a target opening in mid-2030, Flux Halo is designed to accommodate up to 20,000 spectators within a fully configurable bowl, seamlessly shifting between football matches, basketball games, other sporting events, concerts, esports tournaments, and large-scale conventions. 'At the heart of Trosmic Sports and Flux Halo lies a daring belief: that sport is our universal language, and this arena will be its most eloquent expression,' said Bhardwaj, mentor and conceptual founder of Trosmic Sports. 'Here, every spotlight will illuminate not just athletic prowess, but the enduring human quest to push beyond the known,' he added. The stadium will feature 200,000 m² of column-free interior space, capped by a 75,000 m² retractable tensile roof to allow events to proceed comfortably year-round. Kotetsu Yamamoto, chief creative director of the project, describes Flux Halo's signature Möbius-inspired ribbon form as "an architectural embodiment of perpetual motion". Wrapped in a 50,000 m² programmable LED mesh, the exterior will double as a digital canvas for immersive light shows, branding campaigns, and real-time statistics. The architecture of Flux Halo is inspired by the crown of Athena, the goddess of wisdom and war and the guardian of heroes across all sports. 'Flux Halo was never meant to be just a stadium,' said Yamamoto. 'It's a visual statement and a modular system that adapts to the evolving culture around it.' George Kunihiro, director of Architecture and Planning, adds that 'solar-harvesting LEDs, AI-driven climate control, and rainwater-recycling systems will drive net-zero energy operations,' a benchmark few indoor arenas worldwide have achieved. The announcement comes at a time when GCC nations are accelerating their efforts to diversify their economies beyond hydrocarbons, with billions being channelled into tourism, culture, and live entertainment events infrastructure. From Qatar's World Cup-ready venues and Abu Dhabi's Louvre and F1 Circuit to Saudi Arabia's emerging cultural calendar, the region is increasingly positioning itself as a global hub. Yet, few concepts rival Flux Halo in scale, flexibility, or technological ambition. 'This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help shape the next great venue of our time,' said Vaibhav Sharma, chairman of Trosmic Sports. 'Flux Halo isn't just about entertainment; it's about regional pride, innovation, and creating something that leaves a legacy.' Equity remains open to both regional and international investors. Ekta Nirmalkar, a Trosmic board director, notes that the venue's diversified revenue streams, from luxury suites and ticketing to retail and naming rights, are projected to generate robust and recurring returns across a 10-year horizon. 'With an anticipated 10 million visitors annually, Flux Halo is engineered for both cultural impact and commercial success,' she said. The leadership team that brings the exceptional idea includes; Ankur Tandon, with over 15 years of experience in finance with American banks, with a focus on operational execution. His background in accounting, mergers, and global strategy brings practical oversight to the project's broader ambitions. Also, Rohit Kumar, director at Trosmic Sports, brings multi-sector leadership experience in institutional capital and cross-border business development. His role will focus on guiding long-term growth strategy for Flux Halo, with an emphasis on sustainable expansion and investor alignment. To build momentum and finalise design elements, Yamamoto and Kunihiro will lead a Japanese delegation to the UAE from June 29 to July 7, holding private briefings and exploratory site visits in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh. A regional sports infrastructure consultant commented: 'It's rare to see an indoor arena concept that combines such advanced sustainability with event versatility. If realised as planned, Flux Halo could reshape the live-events landscape in the Middle East.' With its blend of cutting-edge design, immersive digital architecture, and future-focused financial strategy, Flux Halo is more than a venue. It's a vision of the GCC's next chapter, one built on ambition, innovation, and global resonance.
New York Times
22-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Fight continues as Browns plan to move from downtown, build indoor stadium
The Cleveland Browns say they're moving forward with their plan to build an indoor stadium in suburban Brook Park. Unsurprisingly, the public bickering around the team's planned exit from Cleveland continues. This week, Cleveland Mayor Justin Bibb told Cleveland's Fox 8 News that the city has 'more important priorities than the Cleveland Browns' and it has to 'move on. If they go to Brook Park, God bless them. Good luck.' Advertisement That led to Bibb's office releasing a formal statement clarifying that the city intends to fight to keep the Browns in downtown Cleveland despite the Haslam Sports Group's plan to build an indoor stadium in Brook Park, about 15 minutes southwest of the city and not far from the team's daily training facility in Berea. Mayor Bibb reinforces his commitment to protecting Cleveland taxpayers. — Office of Mayor Bibb (@CLEMayorsOffice) May 21, 2025 Team owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam have long explored options for a new stadium. For 18 months, they've been firm that they prefer to build an indoor facility over renovating the current Huntington Bank Field. The team's current stadium lease expires after the 2028 season. 'The Haslams are taking extreme measures to relocate the team away from downtown in an irreversible move that will negatively impact Cleveland and numerous small businesses that have stood by and supported their team,' Bibb said in the statement. Haslam Sports Group has pledged $1.2 billion in private investment, plus a promise to pay cost overruns for the Brook Park facility. With an estimated total price tag of $2.4 million, the Browns' plan is to ask for $600 million in bonds from both the state and Cuyahoga County, money that would eventually be repaid with tax revenues created by the Brook Park stadium project. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has a June 30 deadline to sign the state budget into law. The Ohio House passed its version of the budget last month, and it's now in the state Senate. DeWine had originally proposed doubling the state tax on sports betting to raise money for new stadiums instead of pledging $600 million in state bonds. In March, Jimmy Haslam said the Browns hoped to begin construction in early 2026 if the funding is approved next month. Last summer, the Browns formally rolled out drawings and plans for their new entertainment complex on the site of a former Ford plant. In a letter sent by Haslam Sports Group to Cuyahoga County executives earlier this month, the team essentially said it will move forward even without the county's support. Advertisement 'Renovating the (current) stadium and putting more than $1 billion into a short-term fix that would present the same dilemma 15 to 20 years from now is neither a strategic nor a fiscally responsible long-term approach,' the Browns' letter said. There have been a lot of letters and statements amid other paperwork in this Browns versus Cleveland battle. The city and team also have dueling lawsuits over the Modell Law, with Cleveland maintaining the Browns would be in violation of the 1996 law named after former team owner Art Modell if they moved to Brook Park, and the Browns filing a challenge to that in federal court. In January, the city sued the Browns in an attempt to enforce the Modell Law, which requires a team that takes taxpayer money and plays in a tax-supported facility to either obtain the city's permission or allow it and others to purchase the team before moving away from that facility. The Browns maintain that the Modell Law would apply only if the team were trying to move out of state, as Modell did, and that the team holds the right to move freely once the current lease expires. The fight is not only over funding, but also how to best use the lakefront land on which the current stadium sits. There has been little new development around the stadium over three decades, and the Haslam Sports Group wants not only to hold more events year-round in Brook Park, but also to own the parking lots surrounding the new facility. In January, Bibb called the Brook Park project 'the Haslam scheme' and said it was a 'ploy' that would 'raise your taxes, make it more expensive for you to attend games and steal events away from downtown.' After the Greater Cleveland Partnership endorsed the Browns' plan to move forward with their Brook Park project, the city of Cleveland and Cuyahoga County released a joint statement saying they would no longer participate with the Greater Cleveland Partnership in meetings involving civic vision and development. 'No amount of money can account for the irreversible damage caused by the construction of an unneeded entertainment district that competes with downtown and suburban entertainment districts,' the statement said.
