I was recently invited to watch a match from one of the hospitality booths at the new Tottenham Stadium. It was a cold night, and as we sat in the wide armchairs that offered uninterrupted views of the field, my host pointed to a button on the armrest.
“Heated seats,” he said.
This is not something those of us who grew up in the old school would expect from a football match.
But everything has changed in the last few decades. Stadiums that were once death traps have now become comfortable, multi-purpose entertainment venues. When Everton move into their new home at Bramley Dock, they will become the seventh Premier League club since the Millennium to occupy newly built, state-of-the-art premises. Provided they don’t get relegated to the Championship, of course.
At the heart of the stadium revolution is global architectural partnership Populous. Over the 30 years since their first project in England – the John Smiths Stadium in Huddersfield – they have designed buildings that have defined the way we watch sport. They are behind much of this country’s new sporting infrastructure, from Wembley and the Principality Stadium to the Emirates and Tottenham, from Wimbledon Center Court to the stands at Ascot.
And not just in Britain. The futuristic design of the BBVA Monterrey Stadium in Mexico, which will host the next World Cup matches, is one of them. The world’s largest cricket ground, the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, is also at the heart of the Indian city’s bid to host the 2036 Olympics. We should not forget the magnificent Lusail Stadium in Qatar, where Lionel Messi lifted the World Cup last year.
The next major landmark on the horizon is Old Trafford, the aging and creaking home of Manchester United; As Telegraph Sport revealed on Boxing Day, a recommendation had already been made for Populous to be completely demolished and a new £2bn stadium built.
Earlier this month the company held an exhibition of its work, and this week I had the privilege of receiving a guided tour from the company’s chief executive, Chris Lee, who said an entirely new stadium was the best of three available options. others are a complete reconstruction or minor renovation.
“Stadiums used to be functional exercises,” he explains, looking at photographic evidence of Populous’ global reach. “Not anymore. These are now considered cultural assets.”
More. As the abandoned old Liverpool pier around Everton’s new home is being reborn, it will soon become clear that the stadium is no longer an end in itself. This is the beginning of something.
“Gyms were once considered bad neighbors,” Lee says. “The American model was to move them out of town surrounded by parking lots. “These are now the engines of urban transformation.”
The first place to realize that a stadium could be used to seed development was Baltimore, Maryland, where the new Orioles ballpark was built at Camden Yards; neglected, post-industrial area of the city centre.
“The whole area has been completely revitalized since they went there,” Lee says. “And you can see that in this country. “When we built the Emirates it was a critical part of the plan to connect Lower Holloway to Islington, 4,500 new homes will be built around Spurs, Wembley is undergoing major redevelopment in what has been a pretty pathetic area of decay.”
However, whatever the wider development implications, these buildings are prime destinations for fans. And even in this there has been a shift in emphasis over the years.
“English football has been guilty of treating its fans as a captive audience, you know ‘we’ll treat you how we want to treat you and you’ll still come back’,” says Lee. “The change over the last 30 years has been the realization that fans are customers with choice.”
Although initially priority was given to a certain category of fans.
“Yes, I accept that in the early days the focus was on corporate facilities. Spurs’ biggest move was to say we’ll give you something, from the cheapest to the most expensive seat.”
And at Spurs, that’s a big deal. Spacious food and beverage halls, great sight lines, improved acoustics: everything to create the experience.
“The focus of the Tottenham Stadium design was on atmosphere and how to create identity within a seating bowl,” explains Lee. “Daniel Levy and I spent a lot of time traveling. We went everywhere, shamelessly borrowing the pieces we liked. Not only to sports halls, but also to concert halls and theatres. There are little pieces put together from everywhere in that building.
Levy was personally involved in this process, sending a series of emails; alarming things were being done in the best way possible. Especially in terms of the stadium’s capacity: North London had to accommodate more fans than the Emirates, channeling its derby energy. But Lee suggests the Spurs vice-chairman is not his only client who wants to be involved every step of the way.
“When we built the new Ascot stand [which opened in 2006]The Queen was very interested. We had a monthly meeting with him showing the progress of the design and construction. He had a lot of input. And when the customer is the Ruler, it always makes the planning process easier.”
The late Queen was Daniel Levy of Ascot: who knew?
Even Spurs Stadium, magnificent as it is, is not the end-all be-all. Innovation is relentless. Populous is building the new Coop Live indoor arena next to the Etihad in Manchester; This arena features cutting-edge acoustic engineering that will soon dominate the design of outdoor venues. And then there’s the Sphere, the Las Vegas entertainment bowl that Lee and his colleagues designed.
“When we started, the necessary technology had not yet been invented,” he says of the state-of-the-art sound and lighting systems here. “And I think you saw what that building could be at the last Grand Prix in Vegas.”
In fact, it was the visual center point of the race, with cars circling what Lee described as the world’s largest billboard. The technical facilities of the building also point to a new future of sports viewing. There may soon be Globes that show footage of live events around the world in a wonderfully immersive way. While the North London derby takes place at the Tottenham Stadium, thousands of fans in Shanghai, Singapore and Saudi Arabia can be watching the action at their local Globe, feeling as if they are actually there, thanks to the images and sounds projected.
“The reality is that the future of sports viewing will involve technology, and lots of technology,” Lee says.
Well, that and heated seats.