Sports brings a lot of pleasure and excitement to a lot of people all over the world. Nothing beats the feeling of watching one’s favourite team in a world-class stadium giving a world-class performance.
Over the last couple of years, the identity of a sports team most times also include the sense of nostalgia gotten from performing in their chosen stadiums or sports arena. Club owners and stakeholders have gone all out in recent times sparing no cost in building a world-class facility to host their sports teams and events.
We will look at the 10 Most expensive stadiums that have been constructed and have become home to some of our favorite sports teams and their fans.
Most Expensive Stadiums In Sports
1. SoFi Stadium
The SoFi stadium is one of the most impressive stadium architectural masterpiece ever conceived by man. It is located in Inglewood, California in the United States of America, and would be the home of 2 teams in the National Football League – the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams.
Construction works began in November 2016 and is expected to be completed in July 2020.
- Cost: $4.96 billion
- Capacity: 70,240 (Can be expanded by another 30,000 capacity for hosting special events)
Facts
(i) The entire facility will sit on 298 acres of land when completed.
(ii) It will have a one of a kind media/video entertainment system called “The Oculus” – a double-sided and ovular 4K high definition video board, to be suspended from the ceilings.
2. Allegiant Stadium
The Allegiant Stadium is a unique domed shaped multi-functional stadium complex being constructed in Paradise, Nevada in the United States of America.
When completed, the stadium will serve as the home of the NFL team – the Las Vegas Raiders, and the Las Vegas Rebels college team of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. It is also designed to host football/soccer events, as well as concerts.
- Cost: $1.84 billion (without accounting for what the impact of the global pandemic, Covid-19 will have on the project.
- Capacity: 65,000 for football games (that can be expanded by another 7,000 seats), and 61,000 seats for soccer games.
Facts:
(i) The Stadium will have 2 field surfaces upon completion – a natural grass turf proffered by the Raiders, while the Rebels with play on artificial turf.
3. Met Life Stadium
The MetLife stadium was constructed in East Rutherford, New Jersey in the United States of America at the former Meadowlands Sports Complex, some 13 kilometers on the Western side of New York City. It hosts 3 sporting teams – The New York Jets and New York Giants (both of the NFL) and an XFL football team, the New York Guardians.
It has hosted many events and tournaments such as the Super Bowl XLVIII, WrestleMania, and many concerts including those of Bon Jovi, Rihanna, Eminem, and One Republic.
- Cost: $1.6 billion as at the time of completion in 2010 – considered the highest at the time.
- Capacity: 82,500.
Facts
(i) The stadium was designed to accommodate the design preferences of both its NFL owners, which is totally opposites of each other.
(ii) In 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) named the stadium as the “Greenest Stadium” in the National Football League.
4. Mercedes Benz Stadium
The Mercedes Benz Stadium is an architectural masterpiece located in Atlanta, Georgia in the United States of America. It is the home stadium of both Major Soccer League (MLS) – Atlanta United FC and NFL side – the Atlanta Falcons.
- Cost: $ 1.6 billion as at when construction began in May 2014.
- Capacity: 45,000 (can be expanded to 71,000) for Soccer events and 71,000 (expanded by 4,000 more) for football events.
Facts
(i) The stadium is not owned by Mercedez Benz, they only bought the naming rights for the stadium for over $300 million, to last for about 27 years; the complex is actually owned by the Georgia state government, and operated by the AMB group.
5. Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium is located in Wembley, London in England, and is a very popular stadium to lovers of English Football all over the world. It was built to replace the old Wembley, which was demolished to make way for it.
Probably the most popular stadium in the world, it has hosted many events including two UEFA Champions League Finals, Rugby league Challenge Cup Final, and England national team games.
- Cost: £789 million as at the period of construction ending in 2007, but construction costs is put at about £1.2 billion today.
- Capacity: The stadium has a capacity of about 90,000 for several sporting events, which would include football, rugby, boxing, etc.
Facts
(i) Wembley, as the stadium is popularly called, is the home of the national football teams of England – men, women, and age-grade teams.
(ii) The stadium has always hosted the English Football Association’s FA Cup final in England, as well as several other major football competitions in England – the Community Shield, League cup, etc.
6. Yankee Stadium
The iconic Yankee stadium is located in Concourse, Bronx, New York City, just a few blocks from the original Yankee Stadium built in the 1920s. Construction began in 2006 and was completed in April 2009.
- Cost: The cost of constructing the stadium was put at $ 2.3 billion, with $ 1.2 billion coming from public subsidies.
- Capacity: The stadium was designed primarily to host Baseball games, and a few other sports/events as well. It has a current capacity of 47,309 seats for Baseball games, and a capacity of 28,743 for soccer – which can be readily increased that of the baseball capacity. To host football games, it has a capacity of 54,251.
Facts
(i) The stadium is the home of the New York Yankees – a Major League baseball team and the New York City FC of Major League Soccer (MLS).
(ii) It is an architectural and engineering masterpiece capable of transitioning from hosting a baseball game to other dissimilar sports – such as football, soccer, rugby, etc, in a very short time.
7. AT&T Stadium
This stadium is the home of the Dallas Cowboys of the NFL, and it is located in Arlington, Texas in the USA. It has hosted several sporting games since it was opened in 2009 including American football, soccer, boxing bouts, basketball games, and several others.
- Cost: The cost of constructing the stadium was put at $1.3 billion, with work commencing in September 2005 and completed in May 2009.
- Capacity: The stadium was built primarily to host American football games has a rated seating capacity of 80,000, and when the need arises it can be further increased by another 25,000 capacity.
Facts
(i) On September 20, 2009, the Guinness World Records presented certificates to the Dallas Cowboys owner, Jerry Jones, and the chairman of Mitsibushi Electric having certified that the video board installed in the stadium is the “Largest HD Video Display” to be installed in a stadium.
(ii) AT&T bought the naming contract to the stadium in 2013, the deal was worth about $ 18 million per year.
8. White Hart Lane
This stadium is the home of the English Premier League club, Tottenham Hotspur FC, and it was built to replace the club’s former stadium called “White Hart Lane”. It is located in North London, UK.
- Capacity: The stadium has a seating capacity of 65,303, making it one of the biggest stadiums in the English Premier League, and definitely the largest stadium in London – dwarfing some of its rivals in size and capacity.
- Cost: The cost of building the new stadium was set at £ 1 billion (which was roughly $ 1.3 billion). Construction began in 2016 and was completed in 2019 – actually opened on April 3 that year.
Facts
(i) The stadium’s current record attendance stands at 61,104 which was recorded in an EPL match between Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea FC, the visitors ran away with a 2:0 victory, with a reported case of racist abuse against a player of the visitors.
(ii) The stadium is one of the few that can host both football and Rugby games in England, achieved by having separate playing surfaces rolled on top of the other.
See Also: PFA Player Of The Year- 20 Facts You Didn’t Know- All The Records
9. Perth Stadium
This is located in Perth, Western Australia, and is the home of Australian Football League clubs – Fremantle FC and West Coast Eagles. It also plays host to the Australian Nation Cricket team, Perth Scorchers, and a few others.
- Cost: The construction cost of the stadium was put at $ 1.8 Australian dollars (which is about $ 1.27 billion). Construction began very late in 2014, and was completed in December 2017.
- Capacity: The stadium has a seating capacity of 60,000 for oval sports (e.g. Cricket) and can be expanded by another 5,000 seats for rectangular sports (e.g. Football).
Facts
(i) It is the 3rd Largest stadium in Australia, base on its seating capacity.
(ii) It is also called the Optus Stadium, with the naming rights bought by the 2nd largest telecommunications company, Optus, in Austalia.
10. Krestovsky Stadium
This stadium is also known as the Gazprom Arena and is located in Krestovky Island, Saint Petersburg in Russia.
It is the home of popular European football team, FC Zenith Saint Petersburg. It played host to both the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The Russian National Football team also plays in the stadium, though occasionally.
- Cost: The cost of constructing the stadium was put at roughly $ 1.1 billion, with completion date put at December 2016 – 9 years after groundbreaking was done.
- Capacity: The stadium has a rated capacity of 67,800, and which can be expanded to 80,000 for concerts and other such activities.
Facts
(i) The record attendance for a football game in the stadium stands at 64,468, one of which was for a game between Nigeria and Argentina at the 2018 FIFA World Cup played on June 26, 2018.
(ii) The highest ever attendance record set at the stadium was on December 16, 2018, for an Ice Hockey game between Russia and Finland.
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