Sports Pro Magzine Names World's Most Important Sports Venues

Multiforms produced and installed the famous Meydan Curved Roof

The World Games Stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan has been rated as the world’s most important sports venue by SportsPro magazine, the international monthly publication for the sports industry. With a capacity of 55,000, the stadium, built in 2009, features 8,844 solar panels, making it the largest solar panelled sports venue in the world. Designed by Toyo Ito, the stadium generates enough energy to supply 75 per cent of its power needs during an event, and when not in use powers 80 per cent of the surrounding area.

Dubai’s spectacular US$2 billion-plus Meydan Racecourse was ranked second in the list, followed by Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, London’s Wembley Stadium and Soccer City, in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The list, which is published in the June edition of SportsPro magazine, is the first truly global ranking of the world’s most important sports venues. The list includes venues from 13 different countries. The USA has nine; the UK has four; and the United Arab Emirates has three. Germany, Spain, Australia and Japan each have two venues on the list. Four London venues are included, with three from New York and two each from Dubai and Indianapolis.

David Cushnan, editor of SportsPro commented: “The crucial thing to remember is that this is not a list of the best stadiums in the world; it is a ranking of the most important. We took many factors into account, including size, history, modernity and infrastructure, but we also examined the technology of each venue, as well as the versatility, originality and commercial performance.”

“The World Games Stadium might not be the largest or most-used sports venue in the world, but there can be no doubt that, thanks to the environmentally friendly way it has been designed, it is amongst the most significant and could well be a model for the next generation of stadia. That guaranteed it the number one spot, even against some of the most historic sports venues in the world – the likes of Fenway Park, Augusta, Lord’s and the Melbourne Cricket Ground – and some of the spectacular new facilities like Meydan, the Yas Marina circuit and Soccer City.”

“Ultimately, though, it’s a subjective list and we make no apologies for that. Every venue that made the list fully deserves to be there – each for very different reasons.”

Rank 2) Meydan Racecourse, Dubai, UAE- An architectural oasis in the desert

Officially opened at the end of March when it hosted the Dubai World Cup, the richest race meet in the world, Meydan Racecourse is the realisation of one man’s equine dream. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum is the ruler of Dubai and perhaps the biggest investor in horse racing the sport will ever see. Some estimates put the price of his gigantic new venue at US$2 billion. Covering 7.5 million square metres, the racecourse development comprises two tracks as well as an 18-hole golf course. The centrepiece is the glittering new 60,000 capacity grandstand. The distinctive wing-shaped building, which spans a full 1.6 kilometres making it by far the world’s largest grandstand, holds a five-star hotel, six haute cuisine restaurants, an IMAX theatre, a racing museum, a 10,000 capacity covered car park as well as state of the art breeding and training facilities, not to mention a marina. It also boasts the world’s longest LED screen. As part of a wider city development, the place is simply awe-inspiring. Champion jockey Frankie Dettori’s verdict when he rode there in a warm up race in January? “It’s like Old Trafford, the Emirates and Wembley all rolled into one. When they turn the lights on it looks like a spaceship from Star Wars.”

03 June 2010 | By Tom Love

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