Riga City Council on Wednesday decided to transfer more than 10 hectares of land in Lucavsala Island in Riga to the Latvian Football Federation for construction of a national football stadium there.
The land will be handed over to the federation for up to five years. During this period, the Football Federation must prepare documents required for construction of the stadium, and the municipality will then have to decide what to do next with the area.
The construction of the football stadium is strongly opposed by residents who rent land plots in Lucavsala for vegetable gardening.
Based on the latest estimates, the national football stadium project could cost around EUR 44 million, as the Latvian Football Federation’s President Vadims Lasenko told Saeima Sports Subcommittee earlier. Of this amount, EUR 12 million would be covered by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). Additional funding from other sources is needed to the tune of just under EUR 32 million. These estimates are based on the assumption that no additional funds will be needed to acquire the necessary land.
Once the project is completed, the facility could generate annual revenues of EUR 5 million, covering all the maintenance costs, said Lasenko. The Latvian Football Federation’s Vice-President and board member Olafs Pulks (New Unity), who is also a member of Riga City Council, added that the stadium would not require additional investment once operational.
Lucavsala has been picked as the most suitable location in Riga for building a national football stadium with a seating capacity of 16,000.
A visualization of the project by German architectural firm Fiebiger GMBH suggests that the total area of the multifunctional sports complex project could be close to 119,000 square meters, of which the stadium itself would occupy slightly more than 66,000 square meters.
According to the Latvian Football Federation’s estimates, the stadium would bring at least 40,000 more tourists to Latvia each year, which would contribute an additional EUR 35 million to the Latvian economy annually. The stadium could host more than 35 international football matches a year, as well as concerts and other events.
Latvia does not currently have a category four football stadium, which means that the national team may have to play some of its matches in another country, for example, Lithuania or Estonia.
Source: BNS
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