New Stadium Plans Unveiled – Sort Of

By: Inara | September 12th, 2007

On Thursday, June 6, Gerard Collomb, Mayor of Lyon and Blogger Extraordinaire, presented “Project OL Land” to Lyon town officials.

Unfortunately, this was not a public presentation (that takes place on September 24), but some sketchy information about the new stadium has been published on OL’s website.

First of all, the Stade de Gerland (40,494 usable seats), Lyon’s current stadium, will be handed over to LOU (Lyon’s rugby team), who play in the second division. At least that is the plan. The rugby team is still small and may not be able to foot the bill. However, even if the Gerland remains vacant, it will not be torn down because it is classified as a historical monument, thanks to a couple of arches designed by a famous French architect back in the 1920s (see pic). Interestingly, those arches are the reason why Lyon need a new stadium – the Gerland can’t be expanded anymore because that would mean tearing down the arches.

The new stadium, which will cover 6 hectares, will be built at Décines, a Lyon suburb. It is currently unnamed but will be christened after a corporate sponsor, like Emirates Stadium and Allianz Arena. There are several companies interested, and whichever one is selected will have to pay between 5 to 12 million euros for a period of twenty years. The contractor hired to build the stadium is HOK Sport, which also designed many other famous stadiums including Estadio da Luz, Wembley Stadium, Emirates Stadium, Oriole Park, and many others. Expected cost is 250 million euros.

Aulas brushed aside the rumors that the new stadium will look like Wembley or Emirates Stadium. Instead, the new stadium will be based on the Amsterdam Arena – “diamond shaped.” Aulas wants a modern stadium that not only has every amenity but is also eco-friendly.

The stadium will be built with durable, nature friendly materials, and planning will ensure that the surrounding areas are as undisturbed as possible.

To promote the environment, there will be limited parking spaces to ensure that people utilize public transportation (such as buses and the metro). The stadium will feature a retractable lawn and a partially closed roof.

The capacity is expected to be 60,000 seats, and VIP seating will increase to 5,900, with 900 private boxes (the Gerland has room for only 1,260 VIP seats). Right now, Lyon receive 21 million euros per year from ticketing, but upon completion of the new stadium, that number should increase to around 50 million euros.

There will be four training grounds for OL’s use, an expanded club headquarters, an OL Store, and a club museum with a trophy room.

Collomb also revealed plans for the rest of Project OL Land, which includes not only the new stadium but the entire park. OL Land will cover 50 hectares. Besides the stadium and accompanying facilities, OL Land will include two luxury hotels built by Accor (Lyon’s main sponsor), a shopping mall, and a leisure center, featuring a skate park and bowling alley.

Expected date of completion for Project OL Land: July 2010

Amsterdam Arena – to help us visualize

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