Risks Associated with Further use of Stadiums Built for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia

Abstract

Book DOI: 10.21467/abstracts.93 In the world and even Russian practice, there are examples when cities have found a private investor, such as, for instance, rich football clubs, or a company capable of turning the stadium into a multifunctional complex. One of such examples was a project in the south of Moscow. That was a residential development project with the obligation to renovate the stadium named after Eduard Streltsov (also known as "Torpedo" Stadium) and integrate it into a residential quarter. At the same time, the existing stadium will take away part of the territory for residential development, thanks to the skilled reconstruction, the sports area purposes will be increased 10 times, due to the premises for sports sections, training bases, etc. The issue of "heritage" is most challenging for those cities that do not have football clubs playing in the major leagues, or matches of their basic teams are not popular. According to the Russian Football Union, the average attendance of the "Rostov" club's matches in Rostov-on-Don was 10,000, while the "Mordovia" club in Saransk only gathered about 5,000. Almost all stadiums built in Russia for the championship matches, after the football tournament, the number of viewers' seats is planned to be reduced. Additionally, adaptation of a stadium for commercial purposes can be achieved through modern technological solutions, when the football field is transformed into an arena for the event by laying a special coating on the lawn or by application of the unique field rolling technology, as it is arranged at the "Zenit Arena" in the city of St. Petersburg. It is recommended to owners of stadiums to attract commercial tenants (trading companies, sports, and medical services, catering companies (restaurants and cafes), office space tenants). It is also possible to use free stadiums space for non-commercial purposes with the provision of facilities for children's sports schools and clubs, especially football-oriented, to accommodate urban and district football associations, museums of sports and museums of football, the placement of the executive city and district authorities, performing the functions of management and regulation in the sports field. After the 2018 FIFA World Cup, all newly built stadiums are used as multifunctional complexes. Fitness and spa centers, gyms and cardio halls, adult and children's sports sections, fan clubs, events, and conference rooms, cafes and restaurants, sports and clubs merchandise shops, are now placed at the stadiums. Nonetheless, there are real risks of actually introducing the possibilities of multifunctional use of sports facilities and their introduction to self-sufficiency. Even with sufficient capacity, this cannot happen quickly and will be implemented in stages. Stadium managers need to determine the funding sources, and the amount of resource support for their activities before the stadiums are self-sufficient. This problem is currently relevant nowadays and must be addressed jointly at the level of world experts in architecture, construction, and sports.