Emirates Stadium

Emirates Stadium

Ashburton Grove
Former names	Ashburton Grove
Location	Ashburton Grove, London
Owner	Arsenal FC
Operator	Arsenal FC
Capacity	60,432
Surface	Grass (105 × 68 metres)
Construction
Opened	July 2006
Construction cost	£390 million
Architect	HOK Sport
Tenants
Arsenal FC

The Emirates Stadium is a football stadium located on Ashburton Grove, north London, and is the current home of Arsenal Football Club. The stadium opened in July 2006, and has an all-seated capacity of 60,432, making it the second largest stadium in the Premiership after Old Trafford, and the third-largest stadium of any kind in London, after Wembley and Twickenham. It was informally known as Ashburton Grove before a naming rights deal with the airline Emirates was announced in 2004. The stadium project cost £390 million, but not all of this was for the actual construction of the stadium itself.

The Stadium

Emirates Stadium seen from Dartmouth Park

The stadium is a four-tiered bowl with roofing over the stands but not over the pitch. The design team for Emirates Stadium was made up of architects HOK Sport (who also designed the Telstra Stadium, the new Wembley Stadium, and the Estádio da Luz) and engineering firm Buro Happold (the engineers for the Millennium Dome and the proposed new stadium at Lansdowne Road). The stadium was constructed by Sir Robert McAlpine Ltd. It is located on the site of the former Ashburton Grove industrial estate, several hundred yards from Arsenal's former stadium Highbury.

The upper (26,646) and lower (24,425) tiers of the stadium are "standard seating", while the main middle tier, known as the "club level", is premium priced seating open to both corporate and private individuals. It also includes the directors box. There are 7,139 seats at this level, which are being sold on multi-year licences. The cost of club tier seats for 2006–07 ranges from £2,500 to £4,750 per season and covers admission to all home league games and any home games Arsenal play in the UEFA Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup. These were all sold out by May 2006.

Immediately above the club tier there is a small tier, consisting of 150 boxes of 10, 12 and 15 seats. The total number of spectators at this level is 2,222. Box prices start at £65,000 per annum plus VAT, and covers admission to all home league games and any home games Arsenal play in the UEFA Champions League, FA Cup and Carling Cup. The most exclusive area in the stadium is known as the "Diamond Club" which is invite only and costs £25,000 up front plus £25,000 a year. Tickets here include use of a private lounge, a complimentary restaurant and bar, valet parking and concierge service. Members will also have the option of travelling to European away games on the players' aeroplane.

By taking advantage of the high demand to see them play and relative wealth of their London fanbase, Arsenal expect to make more money per season from their premium seating and corporate boxes than many of the smaller Premiership clubs make in gate receipts from their whole ground.

The pitch is 105 × 68 metres in size, making it the joint-largest pitch in the Premiership, while the total grassed area is 113 × 76 metres. It runs north-south, like Highbury, with the players' tunnel and the dugouts on the west side of the pitch, underneath the main TV camera position. The away fans are situated in the south-east corner of the lower tier. The away supporter configuration can be expanded from 1,500 seats to 4,500 seats behind the south goal in the lower tier, and a further 4,500 seats can be made available in the upper tier for away fans to bring the total to 9,000 supporters (the regulation 15% required for domestic cup competitions such as the FA Cup and Carling Cup).

The upper tier is contoured to leave open space in the corners of the ground, and the roof is significantly canted inwards. Both of these features are meant to provide as much airflow and sunlight to the pitch as possible. Arsenal have a reputation for having one of the best playing surfaces in the world, and the design of the new stadium took this into account. This does have the effect that supporters in the upper tier on one side of the ground are unable to see supporters in the upper tier opposite. In the north-west and south-east corners of the stadium are two giant screens suspended from the roof. The club are currently in the process of examining whether to add a third giant screen in the north-east corner of the stadium.

Various features in the stadium pay tribute to Arsenal's former home, Highbury; the club's offices are officially called Highbury House, and house the bust of Herbert Chapman that used to reside there. The clock from Highbury's Clock End is in the process of being resited in the Emirates Stadium, while the two bridges over the railway line by the stadium are called the Clock End and North Bank bridges, after the stands at Highbury.

It is the first stadium in England to be equipped with HDTV, after Arsenal signed a deal with Sony.

Name

It was announced on 5 October, 2004 that the Emirates Stadium will be known as such for at least the first 15 years after the club agreed a £100m sponsorship deal with Emirates Airline. This sum also includes payments for an eight-year shirt sponsorship by Emirates, starting in the 2006–07 season.

Some supporters continue to use the former road name "Ashburton Grove" for the new stadium, especially those that object to the concept of corporate sponsorship of stadium names. This discrepancy between official and unofficial names is similar to the manner in which Arsenal's former ground, Arsenal Stadium, is almost universally referred to as "Highbury" by supporters, the media and the club itself.

Due to UEFA regulations on stadium sponsors, during UEFA Champions League matches the stadium is not officially referred to as Emirates Stadium, as Emirates are not an official sponsor of the Champions League competition; other stadia, such as the Allianz Arena in Munich, have fallen foul of this rule before. UEFA either refer to the stadium as Ashburton Grove, or confusingly, Arsenal Stadium, which was the official name of the stadium at Highbury.

History

Detail of the roof and supports nearing completion in March 2006

The need for a new stadium

Arsenal started looking to develop a larger stadium during the later part of the 1990s, as their existing ground at Highbury had a capacity of 38,419 when it became all-seater in 1993, which was lower than the stadium capacities of almost every other European football club of comparable stature. There was little room for expansion as the East Stand backed directly onto the pavement of a public road and the other three backed onto housing; in addition the East Stand is a Grade II listed building. Arsenal had a season ticket waiting list which had been closed for some time with over 20,000 members, and were missing out on a great deal of potential revenue. However, finding a site for a new stadium in London was extremely difficult.

The club were willing to consider a location close to the M25 motorway if necessary, but had a strong preference for a location in the London Borough of Islington close to Highbury. At one stage they had considered moving to Wembley Stadium (Arsenal had played Champions League games at Wembley during the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 seasons) but in the end pulled out of the plans. When the Wembley revamp was given the go-ahead in 2002, there was speculation that Arsenal and Tottenham would move into the new stadium when it was finished, even though the club was pressing ahead with the Ashburton Grove project by this stage.

Ashburton Grove chosen

Eventually the club selected a site, an industrial estate at Ashburton Grove, which was just five hundred metres from Highbury as the crow flies. The plan was announced in November 1999, with a scheduled opening date of August 2003; this later slipped back to summer 2006 due to planning and financial difficulties. The Ashburton Grove site had many occupants, the most significant being Islington Council's recycling plant and the Royal Mail Holloway Delivery Office. In order to develop the site, it was necessary to buy out the existing occupants, and pay for their relocation (Arsenal purchased 10 acres (40,000 m²) of former railway land on Lough Road, off Caledonian Road, to house a new recycling plant, while the Royal Mail moved to Hamilton Park); this proved to be very expensive.

Local opposition

The Emirates Stadium under construction.

Despite Arsenal's presence in Islington for over 80 years there were several local resident and business groups opposed to the new stadium. Some of the occupiers required to move to allow construction of the stadium took legal action in July 2002 to attempt to block the stadium, which was ultimately unsuccessful. The stadium has had an effect on local politics with the stadium becoming a major issue in the local elections in May 2006. As a result the Liberal Democrats lost seats in several wards affected by the stadium and now depend on the casting vote of the Mayor for power. Opposition continued with the demands of the Metropolitan Police, who required that supporters' coaches are parked in the nearby Sobel Sports Centre rather than in the stadium's underground car park, and that access restrictions affecting 14 streets are imposed on match days. If not passed the stadium would not have received the Health and Safety Certificate needed to open; the road closures were eventually passed at a council meeting but will be reviewed after 5 games.

Construction

Interior of the stadium, near the end of construction.

Construction of the stadium began in February 2004. As well as the stadium itself, two bridges over the Northern City railway line connecting the stadium with Drayton Park were also built; these were completed in summer 2004. The stadium topped out in August 2005, and was completed ahead of schedule and on budget. The club has announced that all of the hospitality boxes have been taken, and by February 2006 90% of the club tier seats had been sold, by June 2006 the rest had been sold too. The first seat in the new stadium was ceremonially installed on 13 March 2006 by Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby. The stadium's floodlights were successfully tested for the first time on 25 June, and a day later the goalposts were erected.

First matches

File:Arsenal v Scouse, corner view frm Directors Box.jpg

Interior of the stadium, at the 3-0 victory over Liverpool F.C.

In order to obtain the licences the stadium needed to open, it first hosted three non-full capacity events. The first was a shareholder open day on July 18, the second an open training session for 20,000 selected club members held on 20 July. The third event on 22 July was the first match, as detailed below.

• The first match to be played at the stadium was a testimonial match for Dennis Bergkamp against his former club, Ajax. The match was attended by 54,000 people, and Arsenal won the match 2-1; Ajax's Klaas Jan Huntelaar scored the first ever goal at Emirates Stadium, before Thierry Henry scored Arsenal's first ever goal at the ground in the second half. Former Arsenal player Nwankwo Kanu, guesting for the home side, scored the winner.
• Arsenal's first competitive match at the stadium was an FA Premier League game against Aston Villa on August 19 2006 which had an attendance of 60,023. Aston Villa's Olof Mellberg scored the first competitive goal at the stadium, before Gilberto Silva scored Arsenal's first competitive goal there to level the match, which finished 1-1.
• The first European match there was Arsenal's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round second leg match on 23 August 2006 against Dinamo Zagreb. Dinamo's Eduardo da Silva opened the scoring before Fredrik Ljungberg and Mathieu Flamini scored late on for Arsenal to clinch a 2-1 win and their first competitive victory at Emirates Stadium.
• Arsenal's first Premiership win was on Saturday 23 September 2006, defeating Sheffield United 3-0; the goals were scored by William Gallas, Thierry Henry and a Phil Jagielka own goal.
• The first UEFA Champions League group stage match was played there on 26 September 2006; Arsenal won 2-0 against FC Porto, with goals scored by Thierry Henry and Alexander Hleb
• Emirates Stadium played host to its first international match, a friendly between Argentina and Brazil, on 3 September 2006; Brazil won 3-0 with two goals from Elano and one from Kaká.
• The first 'North London Derby' at the Emirates Stadium was played on December 2 2006 in a 3-0 win for Arsenal with Gilberto Silva scoring two and Emmanuel Adebayor scoring one.

As of December 2 2006 the highest attendance at Emirates Stadium has been 60,115, in Arsenal's 3-0 Premiership win against North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur on December 2 2006.

Official opening

The Emirates Stadium was officially opened by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh on Thursday October 26 2006; it had been intended that Queen Elizabeth II would officially open the stadium as well, but she suffered a back injury and was unable to attend on the day. The royal visit echoed the Prince of Wales' attendance at the official opening of Highbury's West Stand in 1932.

Finance

The £390 million cost of the project, boosted by the extra costs the club had to meet besides building the stadium itself, was a formidable obstacle, especially as Arsenal were not granted any public subsidy. Arsenal had difficulty obtaining finance for the project, and work ceased just after it had begun, before starting again when a £260m loan package was obtained from a consortium of banks.

Arsenal are also relying on additional sources of funding; the remainder of the Lough Road site is being used for new housing, as are the surplus areas around the stadium at Ashburton Grove. Highbury will also be converted into apartments after the club leaves. In total, more than 2,000 homes will be built at the three sites, and the club is counting on the profit from these developments to make a major contribution towards the costs of the new stadium. Other sources of finance include a £15m contribution towards the capital costs of the stadium's catering facilites from catering firm Delaware North, which has a 20-year exclusive contract to run the stadium's catering operation, and up-front payments from sponsorship deals with Nike and Emirates. Arsenal's chief executive commented that the new stadium is expected to increase Arsenal's turnover (income) from around £115 million to around £170 million, which will help the club to close the gap in turnover between themselves and Manchester United.

Nevertheless, the project has meant Arsenal have taken on a significant amount of debt. In August 2005 Arsenal announced plans to replace most of the bank debt with bonds. The proposed bond issue went ahead on 13 July 2006. The club issued £210 million worth of 13.5 year bonds with a spread of 52 basis points over UK government bonds and £50 million of 7.1 year bonds with a spread of 22 basis points over LIBOR. It was the first first publicly marketed, asset-backed bond issue by a European football club. On 31 May 2006 the club's net debt was £262.1 million, an increase of over £100m from the previous year.

Access

View of the South Bridge with the ARSENAL statue lettering in the foreground and the Emirates Stadium in the background.

The Emirates Stadium is served by a number of London Underground stations and bus routes. Arsenal tube station is the closest for the northern portion of the stadium. Holloway Road tube station is the closest to the southern portion, but will be exit-only on matchdays; it is currently estimated that £60 million is required to give the station the appropriate capacity to deal with the crowds, but only £7.5 million had been set aside in the planning permission for upgrading the station. Drayton Park station will continue to be shut on matchdays as the rail services to this station do not work at weekends or after 9pm.

The next nearest stations are Finsbury Park and Highbury and Islington, which are served by both Underground and First Capital Connect services. Both are approximately a 10 minute walk away. In addition there are numerous bus routes serving the area. Driving to the Emirates Stadium is not recommended; strict matchday parking restrictions will be in operation around the stadium. In addition, for one hour before kick off to one hour after the final whistle there will be a complete ban on vehicle movement on a number of the surrounding roads, with no exceptions.

Generally, the stadium opens to the general public two hours before kick off. For easy stadium access, the stadium is divided in to four colour-coded quadrants - Orange and Blue at the North end of the stadium, and Yellow and Green to the South. The club shop, named "The Armoury", and ticket offices are located near the Yellow Quadrant.

External links

• arsenal.com/thestadium — official website for the new stadium
• Ashburton Grove described by sportsvenue-technology.com

• Emirates Stadium article about design of stadium and surrounding area
• Fan Photos from Emirates Stadium
• [1] Arsenal F.C Offical Sponsors

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