Stade de France to adopt NFC ticketing

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By Sarah Clark

Stade de France, the 81,000 seater home to France's international football and rugby fixtures, cup finals, music concerts and other events, has signed a deal with mobile network operator Orange that will see NFC ticketing introduced at the stadium from 2011.

The M-Stade project will cost €1.2m and will be introduced in two stages, Orange's Bertrand Pladeau has told French news agency AFP. In phase one, ticket holders will be able to use their NFC phone as a virtual alternative to a standard paper ticket while, in phase two, additional services will be introduced.

The M-Stade solution will be tested out on 24 September during a Yannick Noah concert and is also set to be introduced at the stadium of French football team SM Caen.

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Smart Stadia Ltd provide specialist consultancy on the design and deployment of Smart Cards and NFC technologies in sports stadia, arenas and multi purpose venues. For more information on how we can help your organisation and your customers realise the full benefits of Smart Cards and NFC please see www.smartstadia.com or email us at info@smartstadia.com

Chesterfield FC move in to the B2net Stadium

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By Steve Beecroft, Smart Stadia Ltd

(with a little help from Wikipedia)

Smart Stadia Ltd have learned that Chesteffield Football Club are currently in the process of moving their operational business into the new stadium in Whittington Moor.

Construction on the B2net Stadium, on the site of the former Dema Glassworksnear A61, Chesterfieldstarted on Thursday 23 July 2009. The construction company GB Building Solutions Handed over the keys to and formal ownership of the stadium on Monday 5th July 2010.

Chesterfields new home has a capacity cost around £13m and has a capacity of c10'300 and

consists of 4 stands; HTM Stand (Main), Midlands Co-operative Community Stand (East), Printability Stand (North), and the Karen Child Stand (South). Away fans are situated in the North stand and additional space is provided in the East stand. The West Stand includes conference rooms and banqueting rooms, one of which has been named the Leangate Legends Lounge. Leengate Valves have agreed a 6-figure sum, and 5 year deal, not only to sponsor the Legends lounge at the new stadium, but also to continue the 'back of the shirt' sponsorship of the first team.

The East 'Community' Stand includes a multi-purpose sports and community room, sports injury clinic, meeting rooms, a gym and healthy living resource for all ages, a wave pool for rehabilitation, heritage room, classroom resource centre for local education, a soft play area for youngsters, and a cafeteria.

Smart Stadia Ltd provide specialist consultancy on the design and deployment of Smart Cards and NFC technologies in sports stadia, arenas and multi purpose venues. For more information on how we can help your organisation and your customers realise the full benefits of Smart Cards and NFC please see www.smartstadia.com or email us at info@smartstadia.com

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Work has officially begun on Salford's new stadium, after 10 years of delays and frustration. The new 15,000-capacity community stadium that will be home to the Salford City Reds took a significant stride forward yesterday with a ground-breaking ceremony at the site at Barton.

After the site is cleared, actual construction of the £26 million stadium is due to start in October, with a delivery date set for December 2011, in time for the 2012 Super League season.

The stadium will have an area designated for standing supporters this partial-standing design is similar to the Halliwell Jones Stadium, home of Warrington Wolves. It is designed with cover on all four sides and is expected to hold around 20,000 supporters

When asked about the collaborative effort that has supported this stadia development Steve Beecroft, Managing Director of Smart Stadia said “A number of agencies and stakeholder organisations have come together to secure the success of this project. Salford City Council has formed a joint venture company with Peel Holdings and pooled their land-holdings to create a single, 70-acre super-site. The Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) is funding the £4m cost of preparing the Barton site for development, and of course the club themselves”.

To optimise revenue generation from this multi-purpose stadium other professional and amateur clubs have been invited to become involved the ensure all year round use of the stadium. Which in turn increases revenue from ticket sales, retail, car parking, advertising, conference & banqueting and venue hire.

Completion of the stadium is hoped to secure Super League licence relating to the quality of stadia. A licence that Castleford, St Helens and Wakefield also require if they are to avoid expulsion from the top tier.

Smart Stadia Ltd provide specialist consultancy on the design and deployment of Smart Cards and NFC technologies in sports stadia, arenas and multi purpose venues. For more information on how we can help your organisation and your customers realise the full benefits of Smart Cards and NFC please see www.smart stadia.com or email us at info@smartstadia.com

Stadia - Beautiful and with green credentials

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Thanks to our friends at www.aboutinteresting.com

Architects from all over the world come with a very engineered structure combined with many sustainable features, and sports stadiums are no exceptions. Lately, we’ve seen from various sports stadium will be a green city and beyond, most of the proposed new design for a sports stadium in the world of green in a way or another. Here we have a joy for all eco conscious sports fans – a list of some of the most beautiful sports stadiums and environmentally friendly in the world.

1. Garden Stage

China’s Dalian Shide Stadium will get a new life with green improvements that will get from Cox Architects. This proposal for redesigning the old stadium will bear the new and improved stadium will be known as Park Stadium. This is designed to mimic a park with green walls, which filter the air, reducing green house gasses and also provide an adequate level of isolation. Inside the walls feature giant LED panel, which is supported by wind turbines and solar cells mounted on the walls, roof and site

garden stage

2. Nationals Park

The Nationals Stadium, ballpark for the Washington Nationals is now here to make a difference with eco-friendly credentials. Dubbed as Nationals Park, U.S. $ 611 million baseball stadium, including energy-efficient lighting, low flow water features, and 6300 square feet of green roof that covers the concession area. Another interesting feature adopted water filtration system was built just below the stadium, which is made using a sand filter pollutants from water. Unique filtration system also separates the water used to clean the ballpark from rainwater that falls on the average, treating both sources before releasing all the water for sanitation and storm water systems.

Nationals Park

3. Incheon Stadium

After designing a next-gen architecture that will be sustainable futuristic residence, architects are now working on the game can be made green way. Solid and Heerim Architects and planners have come up with the master plan for the Stadium, Incheon in South Korea that will host the Asian Games to 17 in 2014. Adapted Stadium will have seating capacity of 70,000 for the Asian Games and will change to 30,000 seat stadium and a public park after the game ended. The design will be connected to the surrounding park to make it open, accessible buildings for visitors.

Incheon Stadium

4. Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium that combines state-of-the-art engineering with sustainability has a bubble-like façade and is expected to be completed in 2010. Designed by Cox Architects, the stadium will have enough room to accommodate about 30,000 spectators and features a unique design support, combined with the triangle panelized façade using 50% less steel than a typical cantilevered roof structure. Envelope consists of a combination of glass, metal and louvers, and the architects are planning the integration of thin film photovoltaics that will help power the LED light unit of the stadium.Dome also will feature rainwater harvesting system, natural lighting and natural ventilation to reduce dependence on the electrical structure of the network.

Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

5. Franco Sensi

Gino Zavanella recently launched a blueprint for a new stadium in Rome, who was called Franco Sensi, and entirely covered with solar panels.Here, you can see the blast message via eyelid blink the LED screen when the game is active. Catering to fans of Italian football, the Gau arena in Rome also will have a museum highlighting the integral exploitation of Roma soccer team. addition, you will see the base equipped with modern facilities such as restaurants, lounges, and bars are used to complement the seat. A highly efficient photovoltaic solar panels will depend on the peripheral membrane zinc-titanium shell. There will be water-resistant coating that 80% of all light to pass through.

Franco Sensi

6. Tokyo Olympic Stadium

While the IOC is only one of the winners announced today that the city will host the 2016 Olympics, Tokyo 2016 Bid Team has announced that the Tokyo Olympic Stadium will serve the environment, because it will be the first of its kind to be supported entirely solar energy. Bid also includes renovation of several existing sports facilities that will reduce the demand for new materials and new structures that can have negative effects on ecosystems. In addition to providing green power, the stadium also will offer a game plan of the most compact in history, with 97% of the places within an 8km radius of the Olympic Stadium and Olympic village located in downtown Tokyo.

Tokyo Olympic Stadium

7. New Meadowlands Stadium

New York Giants, New York Jets and the United States Environmental Protection Agency have joined forces to make the New Meadowlands Stadium one of the greenest sports came in 2010. A former Brownfield site will soon see a stadium that will include the use of recycled 40,000 tons of steel, concrete and environmentally friendly seating makes some of the plastics recycling and scrap metal. Special attention to aspects such as will energy efficiency and water consumption. As far as concessions plates, cups and trays worry, everything will be made from environmentally friendly materials. In order to reduce the harmful effects of carbon emissions on the environment, all vehicles used during construction will be run on clean diesel fuel.

New Meadowlands Stadium

8. 2014 Winter Olympic Stadium

The main stadium for the 2014 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games to be held in Sochi, Russia will be designed by the populous. Stadium with a seating capacity of 40,000 is expected to incorporate sustainable features such as skin glistening crystals, which will pass in the day and comes alive at night with colors and scenes games. Eco-stadium is expected to include features such as technology advanced materials, lightweight structure, day lighting and natural ventilation. Will turn into one of the most fascinating eco-stadium in the world.

Winter Olympic Stadium

9. London 2012 Olympic stadium

Designed by HOK Sport and Peter Cook, in the 2012 London Olympic Stadium will create a wave of sustainable design. The material will have low impact on the planet will go into the construction. A slim, compact and lightweight stadium façade will include environmentally friendly jute wrapped. Materials that will go into the making of this fascinating eco-stadium recycling-based polymers and hemp cloth.

London 2012 Olympic stadium

If you think we have missed some important stadia with environmentally friendly attributes please leave a comment.

Smart Stadia Ltd provide specialist consultancy on the design and deployment of Smart Cards and NFC technologies in sports stadia, arenas and multi purpose venues. For more information on how we can help your organisation and your customers realise the full benefits of Smart Cards and NFC please see www.smart stadia.com or email us at info@smartstadia.com

Proposal for Liverpool and Everton to share ‘Siamese Stadia’

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Liverpool and Everton could build back-to-back new stadiums, according to amazing new proposals.

Mersey Stadia-Connex group, who are behind the idea, claim the design could save the clubs between £180m-£220m, while allowing them their own separate new grounds.

The blueprint proposes a 60,000-seater ground for Liverpool and a 50,000 capacity for Everton, to be completed as soon as 2013. The clubs would share a 10-story spine that includes a 300-bed hotel, hospitality facilities, 150 executive boxes and a huge underground car park with 1,350 spaces. The central spine entrance features an atrium and hotel tower extending four storeys above the stadium roof. Around 200 of the 300 hotel bedrooms face the pitch, and also twins as excutive boxes with balconies.

A spokesman from Mersey Stadia-Connex said: "We need to reach the prospective new owners of Liverpool FC to inform them about this sensational investment opportunity.

"Most fans will understand the many advantages and financial implications. This scheme differs from all previous concepts during the last decade in that we believe it manages to achieve all the clubs objectives."

Liverpool recently announced a £55 million annual loss and have identified a move to a larger stadium as a key requirement to improve the club's finances. Their plans for a new ground in Stanley Park are on hold while co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks attempt to sell the club.

Various proposals have put the stadium's capacity between 55,000 and 73,000. Anfield's current capacity is 45,362.

A club spokesman said: “We remain committed to building our new stadium in Stanley Park.”.

In fact Everton believe there is significant potential in re-opening discussions with Liverpool City Council after the recent general election saw the election of a new Labour Council Leader.

Everton Chief Executive, Robert Elstone, commented in his official blog on 13th May 2010 “Hopefully, discussions with Liverpool City Council and the newly-elected Labour leader will also be exciting. The truth is, as I said on Terrace Talk, the City Council does hold the key to a new stadium; a new stadium that’s so important to us to keep pace at the top of the Premier League. Going over old ground, but Goodison redevelopment has an uncertain time frame, an uncertain cost, restricted funding streams and no guarantee, ultimately, of success.”

What is very evident, to bring a stadium to life is a Kirkby-type funding model with substantial private sector support facilitated by a supportive and progressive City Council. ‘Being supportive’, in my view, needs the Council to fully appreciate the significance and contribution made by Everton Football Club to the City and its communities; an indisputable fact that all too often seems to be overlooked. We look forward to fresh and progressive dialogue which centres on the delivery of a funding model and an affordable stadium.”

He then went of to say of the Siamese Stadia proposal “Well-intentioned as they might be plans such as the so-called ‘Siamese Stadium’ don’t really take us anywhere.”

Another local commentator held a similar view and added “It seems clear that the Kirkby Option was, and remains, our only realistic option for a new stadium and a genuine opportunity to compete at the very highest level.”

Qatar's 2022 bid includes recycling stadia

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By Steve Beecroft

Anyone who has been monitoring the progress of the various bid entries to become the host of the FIFA World Cup in 2022 can fail to have been impressed by the innovation of Qatar's approach. I certainly have been and thus pose the question, "Is Qatar's bid for 2022 FIFA World Cup the most technically advanced to date?

The bid includes 12 stadia in all three of which are brand new stadia and a two that will be extensively refurbished. Two of the new stadia are in the north and 1 in the south of the country. All will have a capacity of around 45.000 and most notably all will be cooled using a new and innovative carbon neutral cooling system that will keep the temperature under 27 degree celsius for both players and spectators.

The public transport system of a brand new metro system linking the host cities and efficient shuttle buses to the grounds will enable spectators to have the same accommodation throughout the tournament and still see two games a day. This is not only cost efficient and convenient but will deliver a customer experience that will not be forgotten for all the right reasons.

A Qatari bid official confirmed that there will be over 90,000 hotel rooms and services apartments that will be dedicated for use by visitors to the 2022 FIFA world Cup should the bid be successful.

One of the refurbished stadia, Al Rayyan northwest of Doha, will even have a huge screen as part of the new upper tier, to keep the spectators outside the stadium entertained with flash footage of previous games and tournament statistics

Most impressively all three new stadia and the top tiers of the two refurbished stadia can be deconstructed to better serve the local community needs without becoming the White Elephant previous host cities of major sporting events have been left with. It will even be possible to move any of the three new stadia to another country and reconstruct them for another temporary use or as a permanent structure. In a world of waste and "single use only" disposable everything this is recycling on a monumental scale.

The stadia construction plans are:-

New Stadia

• Al Shamal - a 45,120 capacity stadium located in the north of Qatar, on the edge of the Arabian Gulf. The stadium's bowl shape design is derived from the "traditional dhows" - the local fishing boats of the Gulf. Around 10% of spectators for Al-Shamal are expected to arrive via the Qatar-Bahrain Friendship Bridge, which will be the longest free-standing bridge in the world.

• Al Khor - a 45,330 capacity stadium located in the north east of Qatar, set in its own park setting and designed as a stunning asymmetrical seashell motif. Some spectators will be able to see the Gulf from their seats while players will benefit from a flexible roof providing shade over the pitch.

• Al Wakrah - a 45,000 capacity stadium located in the south of Qatar, set in a park setting that includes a themed swimming pool, spa zone, spots facilities and shopping mall. The main stadium entrance will face onto a beautiful plaza that will create a sense of one large extended park.

Existing Refurbished Stadia

• Al Rayyan - located 20km northwest of Doha, its current capacity will double to 44,740 via a modular upper tier stand. A special membrane will double as a giant screen on the side of the stadium projecting flash match updates and tournament information.

• Al Gharafa - located close to Doha, its current capacity will also double to 44,740 via a modular upper tier stand. The stadium facade will be made up of the colours of all the countries qualifying for Qatar 2022, symbolising the friendship, mutual tolerance and respect of the FIFA World Cup and Qatar.

Our Top 10 Unique Stadia

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FIFA World Cup 2010, the main event of this year will begin in 40 days. As an overture, these are some photos of most unique stadiums around the world from Oddee. Human has show what they can do and these pictures never fail to impress me.. What a weird world we are living on...

1. Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany has capacity of almost 70,000 spectators, and one of the very few stadia which can change it's colour at different daytime.

2. Iglariste Batiraja is located at Croatia and is positioned just beside a timeworned castle.

3. Estadio Municipal in Portugal was designed for UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal. The stadium was especially designed to represent cheerfulness, liveliness of life and strong feeling of dynamism, just like Portuguese style of football.

4. Japanese Fujieda City Stadium is rather designed for picnic and held only 13,000 spectators. It's located just behind the mountain where tourists will visit and enjoy the match from there.

5. Singapore's Marina Bay Floating Stadium is a new innovation in the world of football. It was made entirely with steel and holds up to 30,000 spectators.

6. Recep Tayyip Erdogan Stadium in Turkey is designed with only covered by half stand, while another stand is totally exposed to people outside the stadium.

7. Mmbatho Stadium in South Africa holds up to 59,000 spectators and has very unique stepped up roof.

8. Eco Stadium in Brazil shows the dynamism and elegance by mixing the stadium interior with nature-like elements, such as wooden bench, grassed seats surrounded by tall trees around.

9. Gospin Dolac in Croatia is one of the very few stadium that is just located beside a 500 m lake.

10. World Games Stadium in Taiwan is referred as the biggest, largest and equipped with most solar panel stadium on earth. With the area of more than 14,000 square metre roof and energy-consumption of around 1.4 Giga watt in a year, it's referred as the utmost stadium in terms of vivacity.

Thank you to romvizpros.com