Allianz Stadion (Vienna)

The Allianz Stadion is a football stadium which is built on the site of the former Gerhard Hanappi Stadium as the new home of SK Rapid Wien. In international matches the stadium has the no-commercial name Weststadion. Demolition of the old stadium began in early October 2014, after a ceremonial farewell with thousands of fans. By January 2015 almost nothing was left of the old stadium, which allowed foundation works for the new arena.

The stadium was officially unveiled when Rapid Wien hosted Chelsea in a pre-season friendly on 16 July 2016.

General information

Official website: https://www.allianz-stadion.at/

Arena capacity: 28,000 spectators

Address: Werner-Heisenberg-Allee 25, 80939 München, Germany

GPS coordinates for the navigator: 48.2188° N, 11.6247° E

Year of construction: 16 July 2016

Construction cost: € 53 million

Seating plan of Allianz Stadion

The block west

The green wall! Including gussets (sectors 14, 19, 20 – here only seats) theoretically can accommodate about 10,000 people. The “pure” West block is officially approved for around 8,500 people, but for security reasons, the capacity is reduced.

In UEFA games, the seats are converted to seats, of course, the capacity is reduced accordingly. Nevertheless, the atmosphere remains incomparable, as the first international appearances in autumn 2016 have already proven!

The Allianz Tribune

The grandstand to the east of the Allianz Stadium has a capacity of just over 8,000 people and also accommodates the majority of wheelchair spaces. Vis-a-vis the grandstand, numerous former subscribers to the north stand of the legendary Gerhard Hanappi Stadium have secured their place here!

The north tribune

Ahead of the legendary Block West, exclusive Guest Sector will accommodate over 5,000 spectators! Here you can also find the family tribune (sector 2), where children up to the age of 14 only have to pay five euros. Rapid-kickers who are not in the squad regularly get autographing sessions on the family tribune before the games!

The grandstand/lodges

On the west side of the Allianz Stadium, connected to the tube. Here can accommodate up to 2,900 people, including 184 media representatives in the press box and the commentary seats. In addition 2,300 guests of the Business Club (was slightly reduced to the spring season 2017), including the visitors of the 41 boxes, which are sold out over years.

There are a few hundred seats in Sectors 1 and 20, including the “Public Plus” squares created by the reduction of the Business Club, with the comfortable wide leather armchairs.

The guest sector

In theory, up to 2,500 national team matches and up to 1,800 supporters of the visiting team can play in UEFA games. These arrive at the Allianz Stadium via their own underground tunnel. There are cards for the guest sector without exception at the respective club.

Where to buy tickets?

Tickets for Rapid games can be bought online, or at the Fancorner at the Allianz Stadion.

If tickets remain available, which is usually the case, these can also be bought at the ticket windows of the stadium from three hours before the start of the match.

Ticket prices range from €20.00 for a seat behind the goal to €40.00 for a central seat at the main stand. Prices are increased with €3.00-€5.00 for a number of high-profile games including the Vienna derby, the Salzburg, and Sturm Graz games.

How to get there?

Public accessibility

After the end of the until the beginning of September 2016 partial barrier of the U4, the Allianz Stadium is even better publicly available.

• Just with the subway (U4 – terminus Hütteldorf).
• But also with the S-Bahn one comes as well as with various regional trains of the ÖBB and the WESTbahn, which on special days special trains and reduced tariffs, which are to be booked exclusively online under www.westbahn.at/skrapid, to the station Hütteldorf, also several buses stop there!
• Take a look at the freebets offered by the bookmaker.
• In addition, the tram lines 49 and 52 go directly to the Allianz Stadium and stop on the Linzer Straße (behind the north tribune) at the new station “Deutschordenstraße”!

It is recommended to travel by “public transport”, for motorists there are cheap parking opportunities in the Park & Ride facility Hütteldorf. The SK Rapid Garage next to the stadium, however, is fully booked for the coming seasons!

The season tickets of the SK Rapid are valid at Bundesliga home matches as a ticket in the zone 100 in the Vienna lines and the S-Bahn!

A good alternative is also the arrival and especially departure with the SK Rapid team partner UBER – all information here!

Where to eat?

When the SK Rapid opened the new green and white home, Allianz Stadion, on 16 July, almost everything was completed. Only the Rekordmeister bar on the third floor of the grandstand yet.
Although she already had this name since then, it did not quite fit into the overall picture of the stadium. So CEO Christoph Peschek approached club service manager Andy Marek and commissioned him with the redesign, planning and implementation. In October and November was zealously maintained and followed on December 2, 2016, the grand opening.

Visually, the new Rekordmeister bar is a green and white highlight, many small details have been implemented: trophies, trophies and even the master plates ennoble the interior, which now houses many more visitors. “Among other things, we brought in many styles here and paid much attention to tradition: for example, a large part of the tables are each provided with a title in our club history,” says Andy Marek.

The special feature: this special ambience to relax and linger since 5 December 2016 is always Monday – Thursday from 11:00 to 18:00 clock and on Friday from 11:00 to 22:00 (these are the new opening times from 6 March 2017) when Rekordmeister bar is open (except on matchdays). In addition to lunch menus are also offered normal food and drinks, on an extendable screen and flatscreens are also shown again and again away games of the Rapid professionals, but also various games at European Cup evenings.

The Rekordmeister Bar is accessible via the main entrance to the “Rapid Tube”. It is the perfect way to end your visit to Hütteldorf and, for example, book a guided tour of the stadium. “Our fans should feel at home here and we would be very happy if many visitors came,” says Andy Marek, Director Club Service and Events of SK Rapid GmbH.

History

Starting position

In November 2011, the Municipal Council of the City of Vienna decided that a total of 26.7 million euros for the revitalization of the Hanappi Stadium, the expansion of the sports academy and the construction of the training center in the Ernst Happel Stadium will be provided to SK Rapid.

Immediately after the subsidy decision, the SK Rapid, under the leadership of President Rudolf Edlinger and General Manager Werner Kuhn at the time, tendered for a client representative to accompany the stadium revitalization project from analysis to completion. In February 2012, the order for the stadium renovation was awarded to the company FCP Fritsch, Chiari & Partner ZT GmbH from 1140 Vienna.

In addition, SK Rapid Sportstättenbetriebe GmbH was founded in the spring of 2012 as a 100% subsidiary of SK Rapid Wirtschaftsbetriebe GmbH.

The management of SK Rapid formulated the following objectives for the stadium project:

• Economic surplus of at least 3 – 5 million euros/season (additional income is understood to be the additional revenue minus the additional costs incurred);
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• Improvement of the situation for the residents;
• Improvement of stadium comfort (in particular sanitary facilities, protection against wind and rain, gastronomic supply, women and family friendliness);
• Improvement of stadium security;
• Improvement of stadium capacity to at least 22,000 visitors;
• Financeability without personal assumptions of liability.

The FCP examined the refurbishment and modular expansion options up to new construction variants with the help of the architectural group Querkraft. Numerous variants were investigated with regard to costs and were calculated by Rapid for the expected commercial benefit and evaluated with regard to the degree of target achievement.

The result was total costs for the refurbishment with minimal improvements of 39 million euros. The refurbishment costs alone would have amounted to 23 million euros.

In addition, there are other variants (for example: Neubau Südtribüne, Business Club Nordtribüne, etc.) with a total cost of up to 66 million.

The result of a refurbishment would be a stadium with assured stability, but only minimal improvements in terms of economy, safety, stadium comfort and the local situation.

New considerations

In November 2012, the refurbishment considerations were stopped and the preparation of information for a possible new stadium construction started. Excursions to Mainz, Basel, Bern, St. Gallen, Lucerne and numerous contacts with international stadium developers and installers has shown the possibilities for a new stadium construction in a cost range between 40 and 55 million.

In the spring of 2013, KR BM Ing. Peter Fleissner was commissioned as a consultant to the SK Rapid for the critical expert assessment and project management of the renovation options as well as the new building considerations. After the involvement of Mr. Fleissner, after intensive examination, the internationally active and renowned Institute for Sports Facilities Consulting was consulted as a concept planner and consultant.

Following in-depth research on procurement law and procedural options, an international competition procedure was proposed for a general contractor consortium (planning and general contractor).

The procedure

To prepare for this competition procedure, a building study was first prepared, which takes into account parameters relating to zoning and which determined the maximum possible capacity with 24,000 seats capacity (including 2,500 business seats including 41 lodges). This study was the basis for the tender documents for a combined design and construction competition procedure. In addition, the tender documents derived from the study provide a far-reaching utilization concept for third-party use (corporate events, conferences, family celebrations…), so that in addition to football events, a business can be created, which is to be self-marketed.

The structural concept saw u.a. following:

• turn the stadium 90 degrees;
• the west grandstand becomes the grandstand and the south grandstand becomes the rapid fan grandstand, which can be converted from standing to seating;
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• a part of the north tribune will be the guest sector, which will be accessible via its own bus access;
• the stadium will only have one rank and be closed at the corners;
• with the amount of approx. 20 meters and compliance with the distance to the neighbors, the dedication is largely respected.
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Advantages of new stadium construction vs. of revitalization are in particular:

• state-of-the-art football stadium based on state-of-the-art stadium construction, for national and international matches (UEFA Category 4 Stadium);
• improved ranger protection through noise reduction (closed corners), reduction of light emissions (floodlights on the roofs) and improved traffic flow;
• modern stadium comfort, especially for families and improved safety standards;
• optimal guest security through fenced guest bus parking;
• significant increase in the revenue situation of the club.

Summary results of the market and needs analysis of IFS – Institut für Sportstättenberatung GmbH:

• overall, the stock does not provide a sufficient stadium situation – no longer meets the requirements of a modern football stadium (not even after renovation with improvements);
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• high population potential in the catchment area with approx. 2.5 million people (50 km);
• number of small businesses (about 100,000) and companies with more than 50 employees (about 1,700) indicate high marketing potential for qualified spectator offers and third-party use;
• very good traffic development (subway, tram, buses, ÖBB, WESTbahn, P&R Wiental).

Quality Assurance Procedure, International TU Competition

The SK Rapid as a private sports club can operate optimally in the future in an optimal way, provided the corresponding revenue opportunities are secured. One of the most important is the stadium. The Gerhard Hanappi Stadium could no longer meet these requirements (not even for renovation and improvement). In addition to the requirements for a new stadium already mentioned above, the high marketing value and, as a result, the attractive design and a high recognition feature or unique selling point had to be met as a requirement.

These requirements of a functioning, the latest findings in stadium construction appropriate planning and implementation and the required for a private club highest cost certainty, could only be guaranteed by the best qualified stadium installers Europe. Therefore, in a selection process those companies with the most experience in the planning and construction of stadiums for the competition were invited. The capacities on the Austrian market were also taken into account, which in the team could also integrate the architects with experience in stadium construction on the Austrian market.

The tender documents were prepared by the IFS and the requirements and qualities were already specified in a very high level of detail.

Numerous other companies from Switzerland, Germany and Austria have applied in the first stage of the procedure of interest, but they have retired after examining the references and suitability as a total contractor. Finally, in the first stage of the competition, four bidders (including two consortiums, including six national and international companies in the race) took part in the procedure of expression of interest.

Subsequent to the presentation of the competition entries, several bidder talks took place with the aim to optimize the planning to the needs of Rapid.