Mercury game arena
| Mercury game arena | |
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| The south side of the Düsseldorf Arena before the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 | |
| Earlier names | |
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Multifunctional arena Düsseldorf (project name) |
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| Data | |
| place | Arena-Strasse 1 40474 Düsseldorf
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| Coordinates | 51 ° 15 '41.9 " N , 6 ° 43' 59.4" E |
| owner | Multifunctional arena Immobiliengesellschaft mbH & Co. KG |
| operator | D.LIVE GmbH & Co. KG |
| opening | January 18, 2005 |
| First game | September 10, 2004 Fortuna Düsseldorf - Union Berlin 2-0 |
| surface | Natural grass |
| costs | 218 million euros |
| architect | JSK |
| capacity | 54,600 seats (of which 9,917 standing) 66,000 seats (concerts) |
| Capacity (internat.) | 51,500 seats |
| Societies) | |
| Events | |
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The Merkur Spiel-Arena ( spelling MERKUR SPIEL-ARENA ) is a football stadium with a closable roof in the Stockum district of the North Rhine-Westphalian state capital Düsseldorf . The football club Fortuna Düsseldorf welcomes its opponents to home games here. With over 54,600 seats for national soccer matches, the Merkur Spiel-Arena is the third largest soccer stadium in the state and the eighth largest in Germany . In Fortuna Düsseldorf's league games, however, the stadium can only hold around 52,000 people because of the safety precautions around the away block inside the stadium.
The stadium also hosts concerts, shows and other sporting events. The visitor capacity varies depending on the type of event and stage structure and can be expanded to up to 66,500 spectators for concerts.
Surname
In the planning phase, the project was called the Düsseldorf Multifunctional Arena . From the opening until June 2009, the airline LTU was the stadium's name sponsor . The venue was named LTU arena . Then the fashion company Esprit gave its name to the home of Fortuna and from then on they played in the ESPRIT arena . In July 2018, Düsseldorf Congress Sport & Event GmbH and the Gauselmann Group from the areas of amusement arcades , sports betting , gaming machines and casinos , agreed on a new sponsorship agreement. The contract has been effective since August 3, 2018 and the stadium is called MERKUR SPIEL-ARENA . The Gauselmann Group pays 3.5 million euros annually in the Bundesliga . In the event of Fortuna Düsseldorf's relegation to the 2nd Bundesliga , it would still be 2.75 million euros. The contract is for ten years. The redesign of the arena was completed by the start of the league on August 25, 2018 against FC Augsburg .
history
The structure was built between 2002 and 2004 in place of the previously existing Rheinstadion , but was moved slightly to the north. The stadium with a lockable roof has 54,600 seats. For concerts in which the interior can also be used, the capacity is up to 66,000 spectators, depending on the arrangement of the stage. The stadium heating is a special feature . With air heating, gas emitters and underfloor heating, the interior is heated to at least 15 ° C in winter.
Until June 30, 2009, the namesake and sponsor of the arena was the charter airline LTU, which had been based at Düsseldorf Airport since 1961 and then merged with Air Berlin . The contract between the arena operators and the holiday airline was signed on September 22, 2004. Since the LTU brand was abandoned in favor of a uniform market presence for the aviation group Air Berlin, the contract period was shortened by mutual agreement.
From July 1, 2009 to August 2, 2018, the stadium was called ESPRIT arena. The namesake and sponsor of the arena - the Esprit Group - has its European headquarters in neighboring Ratingen . In 2013 Esprit wanted to get out of the current contract early. However, the Düsseldorf Regional Court ruled on March 7, 2014 that the termination was ineffective and that Esprit would have to remain a name sponsor until the end of the 2019 contract period if a new sponsor was not found.
The home team is the Fortuna Düsseldorf football club. The American Football Club Rhein Fire also held this position until 2007 . In the second half of the 2008/09 Bundesliga season , Bayer 04 Leverkusen played their home games in the multifunctional arena, as their own stadium - the BayArena - was rebuilt during this time. The KFC Uerdingen 05 is currently playing its home games here, as the Krefeld club's own stadium is also being rebuilt.
In addition to being used as an event location, the complex is home to the Sports Office and the City Sports Association of the City of Düsseldorf. There are also additional offices and a 3-star hotel from the Tulip Inn brand , which opened in January 2007.
Location and surroundings
The arena is located in the Stockum district , in the northern part of the Düsseldorf city area. To the south and east is the area of the Düsseldorf trade fair . The Rhine is on the western side . To the west and north are the sports facilities of the Sportpark Nord, which is part of the multifunctional arena. The international airport (DUS) of the state capital of North Rhine-Westphalia is also nearby .
Planning and construction
The construction was decided at the end of 2001 by the Düsseldorf City Council at the instigation of the Düsseldorf CDU under the leadership of the Lord Mayor Joachim Erwin . The multifunctional arena was originally intended to host World Cup games from the 2006 soccer World Cup and was also planned for the 2012 Olympic Games. When the World Cup venues were allocated, however, Düsseldorf was not taken into account, and the application for the Olympic Games also failed in the German preselection.
The decision to build a new stadium led to criticism. It was criticized that no economic use was foreseeable, since Fortuna Düsseldorf, as the best-ranked soccer team in the city, only played fourth-class (Oberliga) at the time of construction and the arena was therefore initially out of the question as a soccer venue. In addition, suitable parking spaces for television cameras during television broadcasts were forgotten during the construction. There was no standing room during construction. However, these were later set up on the initiative of Fortuna Düsseldorf fans and can be converted into seats if necessary. The Rhein Fire football team was the only professional sports team to play its five home games per season in the arena. Due to the large number of similar arenas in the Rhine-Ruhr region, it was also doubted that it would be possible to get a larger number of stadium-filling concerts to Düsseldorf. Even for the theoretically possible use as an exhibition space for trade fair events, there were initially no practical applications.
The high costs of construction and operation were also criticized. Of the 218 million euros in construction costs, around 80 million were made available from public funds. A holding company and an operating company were established. The holding company leased the arena to the operating company, which is responsible for the operation and the events.
The construction work was carried out by Walter Bau AG from Augsburg . The operating company was also run by the company. ABB and the city of Düsseldorf are also involved . Walter Bau AG, however, went bankrupt in February 2005. The Krefeld entrepreneur Gerald Wagener became the majority owner of the operating company. The CDU parliamentary group in the city council decided in mid-2005 against the coalition partner FDP to increase the city's stake in the holding company from 60% to 100%. This initially led to a break in the coalition. As a sole shareholder, the city then terminated the lease with the operating company, in which it itself holds minority shares. The operating company had previously commissioned an audit, during which irregularities in the accounting were found. Since September 2005 the stadium has been operated by Düsseldorf Congress Sport & Event GmbH .
Events
Soccer
In the 2004/05 season, regional division Fortuna Düsseldorf played a total of four games in the arena. As a “pre-opening”, the first soccer game took place on September 10, 2004 in the venue, which at that time was still known as the multifunctional arena in Düsseldorf . In front of the largest number of spectators for the Regionalliga Nord (38,123), Fortuna Düsseldorf defeated 1. FC Union Berlin 2-0. The official inauguration as a sports facility took place on January 18, 2005, with a game in front of 44,583 spectators, which Fortuna Düsseldorf lost 1: 5 against FC Bayern Munich .
On February 9, 2005, the multifunctional arena was the venue for the international soccer match between Germany and Argentina (2: 2) in front of sold-out spectators. In the other regional league games of Fortuna against Wuppertaler SV Borussia and VfL Osnabrück, the number of spectators was around 15,000 and 10,000 respectively. The 3-0 win against FC St. Pauli saw 20,865 spectators in the arena. In the new 3rd division (2008/09 season) there were even 27,375 spectators in the 0-1 home defeat against 1. FC Union Berlin. Fortuna Düsseldorf has played most of its home games in the arena since the 2005/06 season. On the last day of the 2008/09 season it was sold out for the first time with 50,095 spectators, which is also the highest number of spectators in the 3rd division to date. Fortuna Düsseldorf was promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga with a win against Werder Bremen II .
The German Bundesliga club Bayer 04 Leverkusen played their home games here for the entire second half of the 2008/09 season due to the expansion of the BayArena . Clashes with the actual main user Fortuna Düsseldorf could be avoided. In the fan area for Fortuna fans and in the fan area for guest fans, a total of 10,000 standing places were set up during the 2010 summer break. This met a longstanding demand made by many football fans.
The KFC Uerdingen 05 plays its home games since the season 2019/20 in the Düsseldorf Arena, since the Grotenburg Stadium is being renovated. It should be available again in summer 2020. After delays in the renovation of the Grotenburg , the KFC will also have to spend the 2020/21 season in the arena.
In August 2020, the Düsseldorf Stadium will be one of four venues for the final tournament of the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League .
Games of the German national soccer team
The German national football team has played the following matches in the stadium since it opened in 2005:
| February 9, 2005, friendly match | |||
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Germany
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 Argentina
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2: 2 |
| February 7th 2007, friendly match | |||
| Germany |
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 Switzerland
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3: 1 |
| February 11th 2009, friendly match | |||
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Germany
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- |  Norway |
0: 1 |
| October 11, 2011, European Championship qualification | |||
| Germany |
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 Belgium
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3: 1 |
| 3rd September 2014, friendly match | |||
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Germany
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- | Argentina |
2: 4 |
| 23 March 2018, friendly match | |||
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Germany
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 Spain
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1: 1 |
American football
The Rhein Fire American football team existed in Düsseldorf between 1995 and 2007 . Until its demolition in 2002, it played its home games of the NFL Europe in the Rheinstadion. During the construction work for the new multifunctional arena, the team moved to the Gelsenkirchen Arena AufSchalke . After completion, at the end of 2004, the arena was once again home to Rhein Fire for the 2005, 2006 and 2007 seasons. With the league final World Bowl on June 11, 2005 and May 27, 2006, two highlights of this sport at European level took place in Düsseldorf.
With the termination of the financial support of the league, which had meanwhile been renamed NFL Europe , by the clubs of the American NFL , the league operations were discontinued in 2007. As a result, the Düsseldorf team, which recently had its offices in the arena, was also dissolved.
Only in April 2010 was another football game played in the ESPRIT arena. To that which entered German national team under the German Japan Bowl I against the Japanese team on.
Other Events
During the planning, special emphasis was placed on multifunctionality. The arena, for example, has a roof that can be closed and a heating system that enables an indoor temperature of at least 15 ° C even when the outside temperature is as low as −5 ° C. A direct connection to the RheinHalle (exhibition hall 6) enables the interior to be used as additional exhibition space for trade fairs. The facade made of aluminum tubes enables videos to be projected onto the outer shell. An underground car park with 1150 parking spaces and 7000 m² of office space are integrated directly into the building. A hotel of the Tulip chain with 288 rooms and a 2150 m² fitness area was opened in January 2007.
The stadium was opened as the LTU arena on January 7th and 8th, 2005 with two concerts by Herbert Grönemeyer . As part of World Youth Day 2005 , one of three opening services took place on August 16 in front of 60,000 pilgrims with Cardinal Karl Lehmann . The Düsseldorf punk rock group Die Toten Hosen played the final concert of the Friss oder Dies Tour in front of over 50,000 visitors. Concerts by Phil Collins and Marius Müller-Westernhagen followed . 2006 concerts of Depeche Mode , Madonna and Bon Jovi took place; In 2007, two concerts by Genesis and the Rolling Stones followed . In 2008 Bruce Springsteen and Linkin Park played and the TV total Stock Car Crash Challenge took place. The New Apostolic Church celebrated its European Youth Day from May 22nd to 24th, 2009 with 35,000 visitors .
From 2007 to 2010 the sensation took place in the hall . In 2010 and 2011 the Race of Champions was held in the ESPRIT arena. For these events, a race track was laid out inside the arena.
Rodger Waters performed the rock show The Wall Live (2010-13) in 2011 and 2013 in front of 35,000 spectators.
The second DEL Winter Game took place in January 2015 . Due to heavy rainfall and squalls, the match could not be held in the open air and took place with the roof closed in front of 51,125 spectators. This meant a new record attendance for a club-based ice hockey game in Europe.
An International Youth Day of the New Apostolic Church took place from May 30 to June 2, 2019.
The winter sports event ARAG BIG AIR Freestyle Festival in the arena was planned for January 3rd and 4th, 2020 . The appointment for 2020 was canceled due to an overlap with Fortuna .
Arena sports park
The Eurovision Song Contest took place here from May 10th to 14th, 2011, but the arena was renamed because ESPRIT was not one of the sponsors of the contest. The arena was named Düsseldorf Arena . For the time before and after, Fortuna Düsseldorf built a replacement stadium with 20,000 seats for three games . The mobile stadium with 12,454 seats and 7,714 standing places was built by the stadium construction company Nüssli from January 24th to February 25th 2011 for 2.8 million euros and dismantled shortly after the end of the contest. The inauguration took place on March 26, 2011 with the U17 international match between Germany and the Ukraine.
Development
The arena can be reached using a variety of modes of transport. The north passing A 44 leads on the one hand from the west over the airport bridge and on the other hand from the east, from the airport and the crossing A 52 , the car traffic to the large fair car parks north of the arena. The arena also has a parking garage with 1,500 parking spaces, which forms the base of the building. This is available to visitors with higher quality tickets.
The Arena / Messe Nord underground station was built in 2004 for local public transport . The name of the arena later became part of the name of the underground station, which is why it is currently called MERKUR SPIEL-ARENA / Messe Nord . It adjoins the arena structure directly to the south. From there it is possible to reach Düsseldorf city center via the U78 line . There are further bus stops in the immediate vicinity. To the east of the arena is the former central stop of the Düsseldorf Stadtbahn . However, the Sportpark Nord / Europaplatz underground station only serves as an additional stop today.
Bicycle traffic is handled on the west side. The cycle path that runs along the Rhine offers the opportunity to use the parking facility at the south entrance at the turning loop of the light rail.
Others
The seats in the interior are apparently unsorted in various bright colors. In fact, the distribution of the colored seat shells is based on a concept that specified an exact arrangement of the different colored seats. This has an optical effect that makes the stadium appear well occupied even when the television broadcast is not very busy. An annual municipal grant of between 11 and 18 million euros is required for the arena.
panorama
Web links
- Official website of the Merkur Spiel-Arena
- Mercury game arena. In: Structurae
- Arena leader
- Data and images of the Arena (English)
- Accounting chaos at the arena operator
- Concert list of the LTU arena , the ESPRIT arena and the Merkur Spiel-Arena (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Esprit-Arena will soon be called Merkur Spielarena: Fortuna Düsseldorf is hoping for advantages from the stadium deal. In: rp-online.de. Rheinische Post , July 13, 2018, accessed on July 13, 2018 .
- ↑ Stadium capacity ( memento of March 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), espritarena.de
- ^ LTU-Arena - data and facts , handelsblatt.com, article from January 18, 2005
- ^ Esprit new namesake in Düsseldorf , stadionwelt.de, article from March 16, 2009
- ↑ Katharina Bons: Esprit terminates the arena contract. Axel Springer AG, March 26, 2013, accessed on March 26, 2013 .
- ↑ Esprit must remain arena sponsor. RP online, March 7, 2014, accessed March 7, 2013 .
- ^ Christian Herrendorf: Düsseldorfer Stadion will soon be called "Merkur-Spielarena". In: wz.de. Westdeutsche Zeitung , July 13, 2018, accessed on February 28, 2020 .
- ↑ Permanent guest in the LTU Arena , kicker.de, article from March 4, 2008.
- ↑ Fortuna is second class! kicker.de
- ↑ Julian Koch: KFC Uerdingen is moving to Düsseldorf for the new season. In: liga3-online.de. February 28, 2019, accessed February 28, 2019 .
- ↑ KFC Uerdingen remains in Düsseldorf. In: stadionwelt.de. February 28, 2020, accessed February 28, 2020 .
- ^ UEFA Europa League in Düsseldorf. In: stadionwelt.de. June 17, 2020, accessed June 18, 2020 .
- ↑ Fix: The Race of Champions is coming to Düsseldorf , motorsport-total.com, article from April 23, 2010
- ↑ DEG wins Winter Game , sport1.de, article from January 10, 2015
- ↑ Frank Schuldt: International Youth Day planned for 2019. In: nak-west.de. New Apostolic Church West Germany, October 13, 2015, accessed on July 23, 2018 .
- ^ Website of the International Youth Day of the New Apostolic Church. In: ijt2019.org. New Apostolic Church International, accessed on July 23, 2018 .
- ↑ Football instead of winter sports - DFL rejects allegations. In: stadionwelt.de. July 16, 2019, accessed July 17, 2019 .
- ↑ Brief passes: Ballack stinks against Lahm, game canceled in league two , spiegel.de, article from December 16, 2010
- ↑ Nüssli: airberlin world, Düsseldorf 2011
- ↑ Three-game stadium in Rindenmulch ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , rp-online.de, article from March 28, 2011
- ↑ Why Cologne is better at concerts , rp-online.de, Rheinische Post , article from November 14, 2015
