looks absolutely ENCHANTING!! The stadium was electric with insane BL supports. The seats are close to the pitch..very nice. What is the capacity of Bay Arena?
The state Northrhine-Westphalia gave a surety, which enables Bayer to extend the capacity. Sport Bild reports that the partners of the club just have to accept the stadium extension, then the project will start. Details aren't known to the public, just that the capacity will be more than 30.000. I'm really curious to see their plans as I can't imagine how to realise this project. And I hope that it won't be as ugly as on one suggestion I saw...
the "haupttribüne" (main stand, west) and "gegentribüne" (opposite one) will be expanded. maybe with a new tier or with some rows(10-15) of seats only. the roof must be lifted for this expandation that's to your theory, the haberland-stadion (as it is still called by the die-hard fans, that even leverkusen has) can't be expanded. btw: i never meant to offend the fans of bayer. every fan has a history how and why he became fan of a club...i respect that. actually it is easier to become a bayern or bvb fan in terms of success or going with the masses. BUT i won't accept bayer's strategy to splash out free tickets for workers and school kids and then talking of a sold-out stadium. the whole club is an advertising daughter of the the bayer ag. nothing more, nothing less. each year they run statistics what it would cost to have the advertising effect of the club with conventional ads (magazines, tv spots etc.). in the 01/02 season (cl final) it was 150mio euro. compared to the 20-40 mio euro (guessed) they spent on the club...still a good deal. proposed new design: some german links on this: http://2004800.homepagemodules.de/topic.php?board=2004800&forum=14487&id=250212&seite=2&threaded=0 http://2004800.homepagemodules.de/topic.php?&board=2004800&id=144337&forum=14487 http://www.fanarena.de/cgi-bin/WERKSELF/ikonboard.cgi?s=3fa245db2a6dffff;act=ST;f=1;t=1199;st=0 jonam, http://www.schwatzgelb.com
I never heard anybody call BayArena 'Haberland Stadium' in the last years, luckily this ugly name is replaced by a better one (not that I doubt that there are people calling it like this). Haberland Stadium today still is the small stadium next to BayArena where the reserves are playing. I thought of an expansion to 40.000 as you were talking about. Actually I still can't imagine how it will look like. The small ends of the stadium can't be expanded due to the new hotel and the VIP lounges/restaurant/offices on the other side. The other sides are limited due to the public street and the own path, players' parking lot and the Haberland stadium. Seriously, I don't know where you're having your theory from regarding the free tickets. My brother tried to buy tickets last week and everything's sold out for the rest of the year and for many games in the 2004 season part. Also, do you honestly believe they'd expand just to donate more free tickets or what would be the sense of an expansion in your opinion? Of course Bayer wants to have a marketing effect with the club, that's just as any sponsor. Or do you think s.oliver is spending money for BVB as they are fans of the club? Really, all clubs are living because of sponsors and to me it doesn't matter what firm is investing in the club. The picture is the one I saw as well. Very ugly IMO. Destroys the great structure of the current BayArena. It always was the giant advantage of the stadium (even when it was still called Haberland-Stadium) to have an architectural unit. Unlike in many other stadiums it is a great roof that carries the sound.
the stadium that is now called the haberland stadion was back then called "kleines (little) haberland stadion". the haberland stadion (amateurs) could easily be moved by some meters: -that you don't get tickets doesn't mean they don't give away tickets for free, does it? i've a friend that once worked for bayer (curiously now at volkswagen in wolfsburg). he and his co-workers of his team always had the possibility to get free tickets...but they just weren't interested. he holds still his season ticket for gladbach (and now also for braunschweig). he even didn't use his free tickets for the wolfsburg-bayern(!) match. -expandation -> more free tickets for school kids -> more future customers -read the 2nd german link i posted. though 14 pages it will tell you something. 1)"Freikarten bekomme ich regelmäßig über eine Bekannte, die beim Hennefer TV (alleine der Verein kriegt schon zig Karten von Bayer für jedes Spiel) schwimmt. Gegen Barca in G2, gegen La Coruna in F2 und letzte Woche gegen Arsenal im D3-Block. Zu BuLi-Spielen von Lev gehe ich nicht, da ich Heim- und Auswärtsdauerkarte für die Spiele des 1.FC Köln habe. 2)Fakt ist: Leverkusen kann keine anständige Fanentwicklung haben, weil ihre Dauerkarten-Verschenk Tradition dies kaputtmacht! Ich kenne bspw. 2 Münchner und 2 Lauterer, die sich quasi aus Spass für 6-7 Spiele eine Dauerkarte ( natürlich seit Jahren) holen - Warum? Weil Sie 125 Euro (sind tatsächlich die einzigen, die vom Euro profitierern - vorher 250 Mark) kostet, worin sogar noch Champ. Gruppenspiele enthalten sind! Macht also gute 10 Mark pro Spiel 3)Zum Spiel gegen Istanbul erzählt Calmund etwas von potenziellen 50000 verkaufbaren Karten - selbst eine Grossleinwand im Rheinstadion war für türkische Fans angedacht. In meiner Abteilung ( 25 Mitarbeiter) gab es Freikarten ( ich glaub 12 Stück ) , es hat nur keinen interessiert. Soviel zum Thema Gastfreundschaft in Leverkusen und Glaubwürdigkeit eines Herrn Calmund! as any sponsor???....don't be naive. the club has an unfair advantage through the company's backing. when bvb doesn't play european football they get in real financial trouble and the sponsors will run away. when leverkusen does so...no problem, bayer ag helps. or don't you remember what kaenzig and calli told the medias after last season ("we have to sell players because we have to fill a 25mio euro gap")? what happened...nada! not much to see on that one. we'll have to wait for further details. jonam, http://www.schwatzgelb.com
All I know is that Bayer sells 16.000 season tickets annually and they had 26.000 requests this year. Might be that they give away free or sponsored tickets to Bayer workers or linked firms, but that's what every club down to Kreisliga is doing for their sponsors. Regarding the reports... doesn't sound very credible. Lots of people write lots of stupid stuff in the Internet, not a very serious source. What you wrote about Bayer and financial compensation is nonsense. Bayer Fußball GmbH finished the last season with 10 M debts, only Hamburg was worse. Bayer did not compensate any cent of it. First they tried to sell players, but it didn't work the way they wanted it. Now they changed their plans and try to compensate the loss over three years - reaching an international spot this year would be a giant help. And the comparison with Dortmund doesn't work - BVB had a 165 M budget last year, Bayer had 80 M in the season when they reached the CL final. This season they calculate with 50 M and Borussia will still make much more than 130 M even without CL. BVB is a firm brand, they won't have problems to find a sponsor even if missing their aims (and in fact they are underachieving since years except in the season when they won the championship).
talking about credibility: 50Mio euro???? lmao!!!! :-D the salaries of bayer's team top this by far already!!! or do you think lucio is in leverkusen because of the warm weather and good bratwürste!?!?!? bayer even bought back the clause allowing him to leave bayer if they get relegated (winter break last season). not for peanuts but for cash. plus they own a whole bunch of loaned out players. news for you: WAKE UP! btw: try to visit leverkusen' next home match against schlacke or dortmund and check out how many of the spectators wear royal-blue or black-yellow while shouting "home match in leverkusen" ;-) but ok, we can stop here. you believe what you want and i do the same. makes both of us happier, i think. jonam, schwatzgelb.com
Jonam, I don't know how much you are into the business world, but budgets have nothing to do with believing. Any pro club is a company that has to publish its budget anually. You will find the numbers in a good sports magazine and in any serious business paper (Handelsblatt, FAZ, Financial Times Deutschland...). Just last week you could read Cologne's 2002/03 budget report, the week before Bochum reported theirs. The last one I read from Leverkusen was from the year with the CL final, where they had 81.4 M. And the 50 M budget is not what I believe, but it is what business experts believe given by the fact that Bayer made 30 M alone by CL-TV income in this year. However, you are right with assuming that Bayer might spend more. The report of the business year just tells the income and the plus/minus the company made. It is pretty safe to assume that Bayer has 50 M income this season, but maybe 60 to 70 M expenses. And if you don't believe it - Bayer Leverkusen Fußball GmbH is registered at the local court in Cologne, go there and check the balance sheet, it's available for the public. This are facts and no Internet stories of the category "my friend has a friend, whose friend knows a friend, whose sister has seen a green monster".
fact are facts, yeah.....but what story are these facts telling us? do you know what bvb's budget for 2003/04 is???....50mio euro (wow, as much as leverkusen, you convinced me! ! revenues and spendings each to be expected between 130 and 170 mio euro. now got it? budget of football clubs tells you nothing, ok? and you're wrong...budgets aren't published. it's actually the annual report that is published (bugdet=predictions for the future that are not very precise as you don't know how your clubs will do, report=looking back on the "facts"). and even out of the annual report you see not very much (especially as the club is 100% daughter of bayer ag and expenses can be switched, the stadium expansion will not be paid by the club, bayer's great scouting sytem in brazil is part of bayer ag etc.). a good GuV and a detailed list of revenues and spendings would be needed. even bvb's annual report (as a stock listed company) is not very precise (http://www.borussia-aktien.de/images/BVB-GB_2003.pdf - 5,7mb) nope, not any pro club is a company, definitely wrong. werder isn't yet (but they are preparing this), freiburg isn't etc. so at all: how much are YOU into business? but, yeah, yeah i know leverkusen is the city where all the stars play for the good of the game.... ))) jonam, http://www.schwatzgelb.com
As you said, you got to differ between 'predicted'/calculated/assumed budget for the coming season and the annual balance sheet that refers to the previous business year. Dortmund's 50 M are some awkward prediction and it's safe to assume that theirs will be three times higher. Leverkusen's 81.4 M were the balance sheet, no calculated budget. And as I wrote above, Leverkusen's 50 M was an assumed budget, nobody knows how much it will be yet. I didn't know about Werder and Freiburg, I thought that any club would already be professional enough to know what's best for them. How much I am into business? I won't answer this question, but I will tell you that much that I can lean back and smile about this question. And no, Leverkusen's players don't go there because of the good of the game, where did you find anybody claiming that!? Bayer is a club of Germany's second category together with Schalke, Berlin and Wolfsburg. Poor compared with Bayern and Dortmund, pretty wealthy compared with the rest. Bayer pays their players very well, they can prove good perspectives plus they got an excellent reputation especially in South America.
Bayer AG stopped their plans to increase capacity as it doesn't fit into a period of massive layoffs (not because they don't have the money). The BayArena will get some new facilities (bigger media center etc.) and some buckets of fresh colour....that's it. As it is already a high-qualitiy venue they will at least keep their standard. (German) source: express.de jonam, http://www.schwatzgelb.com
I heard that Leverkusen has the planning and building permission to expand the BayArena. At the moment they won't start but when the financial situtation (of the club and Bayer AG) is becoming better they will do so.
Bayer will now definitely expand to 30.000-32.000. Plans to be published in the nearer future, I guess.
I wonder why? Cause German Bayer Fans tend to have "Schlaftabletten"-Mentality ....... No offense but they lack the enthusiasm of BVB or even Schalke Fans..... the only fans less enthusiastic as Leverkusenfans are BayernFans .. (imho)
I wouldn't go as far as saying Bayer fans are boring. Definately need a new choreo though, rather embarrassing if I was a Bayer fan.
Quote: Originally Posted by jonam Bayer will now definitely expand to 30.000-32.000. Plans to be published in the nearer future, I guess. That's easy. They'll take the roof off and put more seats on top of the existing ones.
Of all the stadiums I've traveled to, I'd have to say the Bayern fans are the quietest until either their team does something or they are on the verge of losing. I think they are just spoiled from all that winning.
Woah, I just discovered this thread - several months too late! I don't have time to read it through and comment on everything just yet, but I'd like to make a couple of points: 1) I don't think anyone in Leverkusen gets free tickets. I was a Bayer employee, and I never heard of anything like that. We didn't even get discounts as Bayer employees - everyone paid the same amount. Tickets in general are pretty cheap in Leverkusen, although I'm not sure they're any cheaper than anywhere else in Germany. Kids' tickets are INSANELY cheap, but I think that's a great thing. Good way to make lifelong supporters out of them. 2) I agree in a way with the whole advertising thing. I was very disappointed when they changed the name of the stadium. It's a shame everything has become so corporate, but on the other hand, a lot of clubs in Germany are corporate. Does it make that much difference whether a soccer club gets a ton of money from Bayer or from AOL, Siemens, Veltins, VW or Allianz? Also, don't forget that Bayer 04 was literally founded by company employees. It truly was a "Werkself" back then, and what we have today evolved from that. So for what it's worth, I don't really agree with the whole corporate feel either, but football in general has become incredibly corporate.
It used to be like that, but things have changed a lot. I was in Leverkusen when they were playing in the CL every year, and it really worked wonders for their fanbase. By the time I left at the end of 2001, every game was a home game - even the derbies against den Eff Zäh. Also, I don't think they should expand the stadium (if that is still a possibility). Even if it had only 30K seats, it would not sell out more than half the time, and games against Schalke or BVB really would become away games.
I used to attend Bayern matches when was in Germany and yes Bayern fans can be quiet, but I think the reason is the stadium, it is really not a football stadium and can really destroy the atmosphere. BUT Bayern fans are the loudest when they face big opponents. I will never forget the 2002 CL match between Bayern and Real (2-1 for Bayern), the fans were just amazing! and I was screaming my heart out.