NEW OPENING
practitioners, local and central govern- Thomas, in moving Cardiff’s regional CCFC football stadium will host this
ment is part of the agenda to develop rugby team from the old Arms Park to month’s Wales v Scotland International
and promote sport and active lifestyles the new Cardiff City Football Stadium.
in the city. It includes not only the sports This new 26,850-seat stadium is the Land clearance started in February
mentioned above, but many more, such base for both professional soccer and 2007 and the structure was completed
as baseball, gymnastics, weightlifting rugby clubs and also the hub for commu- in autumn 2008 with the two clubs, Car-
and such innovative schemes as People nity engagement with rugby and soccer diff City AFC and Cardiff Blues rugby
Versus Handicap – using international in Cardiff’s schools and communities. as their tenants. On 13 September 2009
athletes and teams as an example for Cardiff City Football Club’s old stadium, the stadium hosted its record crowd of
children to aspire to and for community Ninian Park, had rapidly become irrel- 25,630 for the Cardiff City v Newcastle
involvement and participation. evant to the needs of an aspirational United Championship match and in No-
Cardiff is currently working with Matt soccer club and an ambitious city. vember it will host the Wales v Scotland
Burge, chair and owner of the Cardiff Officially opened by the Wales First International.
Devils ice hockey team, to deliver a new Minister, Rhodri Morgan and council
fit-for-purpose permanent ice arena leader, Rodney Berman on 22 July 2009, An Economic Force
for European ice hockey and with Orion the new £56m, stadium was built on In April 2002, as part of the planning
Land and Leisure on new snow facilities the site of the former Cardiff Athlet- process and case making for the new
and waterfront, all of which should ics Stadium and now forms part of the stadium, a comprehensive economic
start on site next year. larger £100m, 60 acre (240,000sq m) impact assessment was undertaken
The year 2010 offers huge opportuni- Leckwith development that includes by Stevens and Associates. The study
ties for Cardiff in supporting the Ryder 470,000sq ft of retail development in- benchmarked research undertaken
elsewhere in the UK; upon surveys of
The new 26,850-seat stadium is the base for professional
spending patterns by football fans un-
soccer and rugby clubs and also the hub for community
dertaken by the Premier League and the
Sir Norman Chester Centre for Football
engagement in Cardiff’s schools and communities Research, as well as Deloitte’s Annual
Survey of Football Finance.
Cup taking place at Celtic Manor and volving 13 retailers, new housing on In addition, the study was able to
in using the world class sports facilities the site of the Ninian Park ground and draw on Cardiff’s recent hosting of the
for international events. a new road system. FA Cup and League play-off games that
Instrumental in delivering this agenda The initiative for a partnership ap- had relocated to the Millennium Stadi-
over the last five years have been the proach to developing the stadium came um during the re-build of Wembley.
council leader, Rodney Berman, and when the council agreed with the foot- The hosting of the FA Cup Finals in
the executive member for sport and ball club a way forward for planning Cardiff, for example, generated £4.2m
culture, Nigel Howells, supported by and business development. This resulted in visitor spend for the local economy
a dedicated and focused team of offi- in planning approval by the council in while the contribution of the then Char-
cers and strategic partners. August 2003 and Welsh Assembly govern- ity Shield games was £3.6m.
ment support in September of that year. The economic impact assessment,
Cardiff Football Stadium Three years later, Laing O’Rourke while examining the potential if Cardiff
July 2009 saw the vision of Cardiff City won the contract to build the stadium were promoted to the Premier League,
Football Club the business acumen of with Arup Sport and Holder Mathias based its case upon a successful Cham-
its chair, Peter Ridsdale and the com- as the architectural team and PMG pionship side. On this basis the findings
mon sense of Cardiff Blues chair, Peter Developments as the developer. estimated that the new stadium would
30 Read Sports Management online
sportsmanagement.co.uk/digital Issue 4 2009 © cybertrek 2009
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