From modern to postmodern: the development of football stadia in Europe

Abstract

Football stadia have continually evolved since the building of the first ‘modern’ stadia in Britain in the late nineteenth century to reflect the demands of spectators and governing bodies, as well as the increasing profile of football itself. Their changing nature, however, has become more acute in the last two decades as economic reasons, coupled with safety and security concerns, have contributed to the abolition of many ‘modern’ stadia and, by implication, the development of more advanced arenas, described metaphorically as ‘postmodern’ stadia. Accompanying this ongoing process, various stakeholders, from governing bodies to managers and architects, have put more emphasis on fundamental issues. Such issues include innovative design, high standards of accessibility, safety, flexibility to adjust to all kinds of sporting and non-sporting events and above all, economic viability, all of which are addressed in the planning and operational process. This essay examines the metamorphosis that historic and new stadia have undergone during the past years.

Notes

¹ In explaining the stadium development in Europe, Bale, ‘The Spatial Development of the Modern Stadium’, and Bale, Sports Geography, refers to four distinctive periods, while John and Sheard, Stadia, refer as part of four generations. Beyond Europe, Stevens and Wooton, ‘Sports Stadia’, 49–56 relate to five eras in North America, named as first era (the classic ballpark), the second (the modernist super stadium), the third (the neo-classic ballpark), the fourth (the regenerated stadium) and the fifth (the millennium stadium).

² Bale, Sports Geography.

³ For a revision of the discussion of the new phase of capitalism and its effects, see, for example, Harvey. Condition of Postmodernity; and Amin. Post-Fordism.

⁴ Bale, ‘The Spatial Development of the Modern Stadium’; Bale, Sports Geography; Inglis, Football Grounds of England and Wales; Inglis, Football Grounds of Europe; Inglis, Engineering Archie; John and Sheard, Stadia; Heatley, European Football Stadiums.

⁵ Bale, ‘The Spatial Development of the Modern Stadium’, 130.

⁶ See more details in Campos, Estrategias de Saneamiento en el Deporte Professional.

⁷ Different authors have studied social issues related to stadia in cities and their citizens (see Bale, Sports Geography; Bale, ‘The Spatial Development of the Modern Stadium’, 121–33; Williams and Giulianotti, Game without Frontiers; Mellor, ‘The Genesis of Manchester United’, 151–66. Unlike in the US, in Europe few studies explicitly deal with the impact of stadia on European cities as do Bale and Moen, The Stadium and the City. Stadia have also formed part of the regeneration process of more European cities in the last decade. For the impact of Cardiff's Millennium and the City of Manchester Stadia on both cities and their nearby neighbourhoods see Davies, ‘Not in my Back Yard!’, 268–76. In terms of the legacy of Olympic stadia see Searle, ‘Uncertain Legacy’, 845–60, or for the impact of stadia on cities and at regional level see Maening and Schwarthoff, ‘Stadium Architecture’, 120–29. Some strategies related to maximize usage and economic return from stadia have been studied in more depth, such as the selling of naming rights. However, the thematization of stadia in Europe is still an under-researched area. Stevens and Wooton, ‘Sports Stadia’, 49–56; Smith, ‘The Development of “Sports-City” Zones’.

⁸ To analyse the role of architects in the design of stadia, see Inglis, Engineering Archie; John and Sheard, Stadia; Paramio, ‘¿Hacia dónde se dirigen los estadios deportivos en el período postmoderno?’, 41–50; Van Winkel, The Stadium.

⁹ Bale, Sports Geography, 133; Sheard, Sports Architecture, 1.

¹⁰ In this discussion, Annett et al. ‘El Desarrollo Espacial del Estadio Moderno de Fútbol’, 62–6 cite Goodison Park, while Inglis, Engineering Archie, 37 refers to Old Trafford as the oldest specialized ‘football’ stadium.

¹¹ Sheard, Sports Architecture, 3–5.

¹² Szymanski and Kuypers, Winners and Losers.

¹³ Inglis, Engineering Archie, 26.

¹⁴ Symanski and Kuypers, Winners and Losers, have studied the level of attendances over the years to British football. In the first season, attendances totalled 612,000 spectators with Everton and Preston the best supported clubs with an average of over 7,000 supporters per home game.

¹⁵ Darby, Johnes and Mellor, Soccer and Disaster.

¹⁶ Buraimo, Simmons and Szymanski, ‘Special Issues on the Financial Crisis’, 29–46.

¹⁷ The first example of the commercialization of football stadia in Spain was found in Bilbao on 19 January 1902.

¹⁸ John and Sheard, Stadia, 12. The rationale behind these architectural and managerial practices is based on the larger attendances at the end of the 1910s, ranging between 25,000 and 35,000 spectators in many English First Division stadia, that provided more revenues for clubs.

¹⁹ Prior to their movement to Chamartin, Real Madrid was playing in a rented stadium (1,000 pesetas per month [around €6]) for 11 years (1912–23). Barcelona was instead playing in their own stadium, Estadio de la Industria, with a wooden grandstand for 1,500 spectators (see Epoca, Historia del Fútbol Español, and Sainz de Robles, Libro de Oro del Real Madrid (1902–1952), 1952.

²⁰ See Aucok, ‘UK Stadia Development Trends’, 49–51.

²¹ Gonzalez Tojo, ‘Nuevas Instalaciones del Real Madrid C.F’, 90–7. See Libro de Oro del Real Madrid (1902–1952).

²² John and Sheard, Stadia, 12.

²³ Tickets prices after the Second World War in British stadia were low. Prices raised little over the following two decades. It was only after inflation rose in the mid-1970s until the late 1980s when prices reflected this situation. Recently, there has been a massive increase in the cost of tickets (Heatley and Mason, Football Grounds Fact Book).

²⁴ El Mundo, El Franquismo, año a año.

²⁵ These figures of attendances to football league grounds include the four divisions. For a more complete analysis of attendances to English football league grounds, see Symanski and Kuypers, Winners and Losers and Rollin and Rollin, Rothmans Football Yearbook 2000–01.

²⁶ For a complete revision of stadia disaster through history see Darby, Johnes and Mellor, Soccer and Disaster.

²⁷ Bale, ‘The Spatial Development of the Modern Stadium’, 130.

²⁸ See more details of the largest modernization process of Spanish stadia ever seen as part of the 1982 World Cup in Spain, in Rui-Wamba and Herreras, ‘Informes de la Construcción’, 107–71.

²⁹ Campos ‘La Revuelta de los Estadios’, 6–13.

³⁰ See this discussion in John and Sheard, Stadia; Inglis, Engineering Archie; Paramio, ‘¿Hacia dónde se dirigen los estadios deportivos en el período postmoderno?’; Stevens and Wooton, ‘Sports Stadia’; Van Winkel, The Stadium.

³¹ Van Winkel, The Stadium, 12.

³² Gonzalez Tojo, ‘Nuevas Instalaciones del Real Madrid C.F’, 91.

³³ Gössel and Leuthäuser, Architecture in the 20th Century.

³⁴ Meis and Hallmark, ‘The Architecture of Entertainment’; John and Sheard, Stadia.

³⁵ Two governing bodies as FIFA and UEFA have launched a guide for those who are involved in the design of new stadia or the upgrading of existing ones. See more details in Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Technical Recommendations and Requirements.

³⁶ See Meis and Hallmark, ‘The Architecture of Entertainment’,79; Fried, Managing Sports Facilities; Sheard, Sports Architecture.

³⁷ The reduction of capacity of stadia to adjust to the demands of UEFA and FIFA for playing international matches have negatively affected the financial operation of many clubs. Similarly, the quest for higher capacity has led European clubs to consider moving to bigger stadia to increase the economic return.

³⁸ Markerink and Santini, ‘The Development of Stadia’; Schultz, ‘Professional Stadia Design’.

³⁹ Markerink and Santini, ‘The Development of Stadia’.

⁴⁰ Gibson, ‘Sport Tourism’, 337–60.

⁴¹ Data gathered from the Director of FC Barcelona Centre of Documentation (March 2007).

⁴² For more details about accessibility on stadia, see The Football Stadia Improvement Fund, Accesible Stadia.

⁴³ Interview, 14 April 2007.

⁴⁴ Relevant information about the operation of major football clubs and income from their stadia operation can be found in reports regularly undertaken by Deloitte, Football Money League 2005, 2007.