What makes a stadium special?
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 18 October 2023
⏱️ 18 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The development of new sports stadiums and facilities can bring regeneration to deprived areas. They hold a special place in the hearts of sports and live music fans. But have some of the new ones lost their spark?
In this edition of Business Daily, Sam Fenwick asks, what gives a stadium its atmosphere and can it be designed in?
Sam speaks to Christopher Lee, whose architecture practice, Populous, has designed 3000 arenas all over the world. He shares his experience of designing iconic grounds like the Yankee Stadium, Wembley Stadium, and Olympic stadiums in Sydney, London and Sochi.
And we hear from BBC World Service listeners, who tell us what makes their favourite sports grounds so special.
(Picture: Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Brayan Bello (66) throws a pitch against the Kansas City Royals in the third inning at Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts. Credit: David Butler II/USA TODAY Sports)
Presented and produced by Sam Fenwick
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Amazing Sports Stories, coming soon to the BBC World Service. |
| 0:04.3 | Nothing is ever quite as expected. |
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| 0:12.6 | Let's do this. |
| 0:13.7 | Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. |
| 0:30.9 | Today, Today on Business Daily from the BBC World Service, we're investigating what makes a good stadium. |
| 0:37.2 | I first went to a game there in 1976 with my father. As you get older, I think you get kind of nostalgic. I think about my father |
| 0:38.7 | when I go back to Fenway Park. There are places where memories are made, where we come together |
| 0:47.7 | to enjoy our favorite music. But these structures are big businesses, making millions of dollars. |
| 0:56.6 | So how do stadiums successfully create atmosphere for fans, |
| 1:01.0 | while at the same time making profits for their owners? |
| 1:04.6 | That's today's Business Daily with me, Sam Fennick. |
| 1:12.2 | In the past few decades, money has poured into professional sports clubs, and while football is |
| 1:18.3 | the largest beneficiary, other sports are reaping the benefits too. |
| 1:23.8 | This investment has led to a competition among the richest clubs to outdo each other, |
| 1:29.4 | building the biggest and the best stadiums trying to create the most exciting atmospheres. |
| 1:35.5 | Some clubs have constructed brand new stadiums, |
| 1:38.6 | while others are focused on improving existing ones by integrating historical elements with modern features. |
| 1:46.6 | Stadiums have become iconic buildings like London's Wembley Stadium and their famous arches, |
| 1:52.9 | or architectural masterpieces like Johannesburg's Soccer City Stadium built to evoke a sense of pride and hope for the city. |
| 2:02.3 | Is a good stadium always synonymous with a beautiful one? |
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