Our first guest writer Sergey Kozyrev, sheds some light on the revival of the stadium industry in new Russia.

The Almaz Stadium (57k).

ootball has been one of the most popular sports in the USSR since the 1930's. By 1936 the main football clubs were formed and some of them still continue to attract thousands of fans to their matches. It was in the thirties that the USSR National Cup began to be held annually. It may seem strange, but the communist party rulers then, like art and the mass media, used football as a political instrument. Top state and party officials were patrons of certain football clubs. For instance, Stalin's son Vasiliy was a great fan and a patron of the Air Force team being a military pilot himself. Football was raised to the level of state politics. A demonstration match was once staged especially for Stalin by the popular club Spartak, and the game was played in Red Square, right in the centre of Moscow. Films were made about football, football songs were written and the best football players became Russian national heroes.

Due to generous government investments, a number of stadiums with a capacity from 30,000 to 80,000 were built. The largest stadium, named after Lenin, was constructed in 1956 in Moscow and could accommodate 103,000 spectators. Since 1985 the situation has changed dramatically. 'Perestroika' and the disintegration of the Soviet Union had a devastating effect on the country and brought about serious political and economic changes. The world that Russian people had lived in for almost seventy years was crumbling. Astronomic prices, unemployment, lack of social rights and guarantees led to a loss of interest in public entertainment, the fight for survival being the most important issue for millions of people. The government stopped investing in the sports industry, and football clubs came face to face with gloomy reality.

In order to support them, the clubs began leasing their grounds to traders and the stadia themselves were turned into marketplaces. The situation remained the same for almost ten years. Meanwhile, clubs left to their fate became joint-stock companies and began to commercialise their activities. Modern supermarkets replaced uncomfortable, roofless marketplaces. Money started to be accumulated from selling tickets, souvenirs, and advertising and from contracts with foreign clubs signed by leading football players, a phenomenon totally new in Russia. The club managers could use the money gained in such a way quite independently and to their clubs' advantage.

The social climate in the country was gradually changing, too. People were adapting to the new non-socialist way of life and about five years ago a miracle happened: the crowds returned to stadium stands. As a result, the sports clubs were encouraged to undertake stadium construction and rebuilding programmes. Financing stadium developments in most cases involves the club's own resources as well as bank loans and clubs put their stadiums as security on the loans. Also, there is a growing tendency for big industrial enterprises and local administrations to become sponsors of popular sports clubs.

Some football clubs that had owned their sports grounds since Soviet times concentrated their efforts on redesigning the old stadia; for example, providing roofs to cover the stands. Others began replacing old engineering equipment and installing state-of-the-art electronics. It is probably worth noting that foreign firms usually supply the equipment adapted to Russian standards.

Similar tendencies can be observed in ice hockey ground development programmes.

The Ice Arena in the city of Magnitogorsk (a major steel industry centre in Russia), which is the home ground for Russia's ice hockey champion club Metallurg, serves as an example. 

The Metalurg Ice Arena.

The new stadium design transforms it considerably by extending its capacity from 4,000 to 7,000, expanding the recreational and VIP zones and increasing the number of training halls and dressing rooms. New engineering equipment will replace the old, and state-of-the-art electronics will be installed. The architects have increased the size of the arena. This will require the dismantling of the old roof and adding extra upper terracing to the stands. The general image of the stadium has been changed too, and its architecture now reflects some recent trends in stadium design.

The clubs that have not inherited any property from the former Soviet Union find themselves in a more difficult position. One of them, Spartak Moscow, is Russia's most popular club and a multiple Champion of the USSR and Russia as well as winner of hundreds of international matches. Unfortunately, the only property Spartak owns is its 60 year old training pitch. To improve this situation the club's management plans to have several stadia built and is currently working on a number of projects.

The most ambitious project is the construction of the Spartak Arena, a covered 60,000 seater, meeting all FIFA requirements for World Cup semi-finals.

The Spartak Arena (89k).

Bearing in mind the climatic conditions in Moscow, where football matches are sometimes played under falling snow, the stadium design includes a sliding roof to cover the pitch. Besides this, the retractable roof will enable the stadium managers to stage a wide range of entertainment activities throughout the year. And the world experience of using big venues, including the famous Amsterdam ArenA, has proved that the stadia owners make a larger profit from a variety of cultural events and shows than from solely football matches by themselves. The Spartak Arena will be a multifunctional building and it will house restaurants, shops, a hotel, a fitness centre and a fan club.

The Arena will be situated in a park zone on the bank of the Yauza river, its site area being 61.7 hectares and the stadium area 5.2 hectares. The construction of an underground car park for 5,000 cars was dictated by the designers' intention to preserve a clean and friendly environment on the stadium grounds. Environmentalists have also demanded that the stadium site should be moved to a place where fewer trees will have to be cut down when construction begins.

Still, the location of the Arena is very good because it is easy to reach by public transport due to its closeness to three underground stations. There is also very convenient car access to the stadium.

The Iskra Stadium.

Another project the club's management is working on is the construction of a stadium for home matches. At the moment, negotiations are in progress on the subject of buying the old Iskra Stadium, which is now the property of the Moscow trade unions. The main attraction of this stadium is that it is situated in the same park zone as the Spartak Arena. The club's desire to have its own stadium is easy to understand because the Spartak Arena project will take a long time to be conceived, owing to its vast scale. The Iskra Stadium can be used as the club's ground for playing home matches within the framework of Russia's National Cup. Besides, like the Spartak Arena, this venue can host a wide range of cultural events. The Iskra Stadium will be a 20-25,000 arena with parking space for 550 cars, a training field and a fitness centre.

Last year Spartak bought an old sports complex, Almaz, that had gone bankrupt. The complex is sited in one of the residential districts of Moscow and its total area is 2.8 hectares. The grounds comprise an unfinished fitness centre, a two storey building with a gym and administration offices. The greatest attraction of this sports complex is that it has the best natural grass field in Moscow. So, Spartak expects to construct a new Almaz Stadium and turn it into a training centre for its second team. The stadium concept includes the building of an arena with a capacity of 13,000, a 50 bedroom hotel for the football players, 340 parking places, a fitness centre with a swimming pool, gyms etc. The space under the stands will house shops, games arcades and some other entertainment facilities. The indoor area of the centre will be 27,550 square metres.

Spartak has a football school, which is one of the best and most prestigious in Russia. Another of the club's projects is the construction of a new Spartak Football School where young football talents will grow. The club has officially received from the City of Moscow a 3.5 hectare site in the centre of Moscow. The school building will have three functional zones: the school as such, a fitness centre and the so called public zone. The school grounds will comprise an indoor football pitch with an artificial surface and a capacity of 5,000; the school administration offices; dining facilities; dressing rooms; classrooms and bedrooms for young players from other parts of the country. The fitness centre will include a swimming pool, tennis courts, training halls and a multifunctional sports hall.

The club's fans will mainly use the public zone. It will house a fan club, a restaurant, and a press centre with a conference hall, a Spartak museum and a centre for the club's veterans. The use of the school's premises will not be strictly limited to club activities. For instance, in the summer the football arena could host all kinds of cultural events and shows because the school will move to its training base in the country. The total area of the complex is 35,000 square metres.

These examples of projects the architects and club managers are working on, in our view, show convincingly that Russia's potential in stadia development is rather high. Being a country with strong football traditions, Russia increasingly requires more state-of-the-art stadia to be built and their construction is an important part of the sports clubs' economic and social strategies. Cooperation with foreign architectural and construction firms is very much welcomed and we are actively interested in developing appropriate professional and business contacts. 

Sergey Kozyrev is head of Arkon design and planning bureau, Moscow, Russia, who have designed new grounds for some of Russia's leading sports clubs.