Once again, the umpteenth summit on Tuesday in the town hall remained without results. Now we have to wait for two feasibility studies.
Less than 24 hours after tens of thousands of fans turned Graz’s city center black and white during the Sturm double celebration, Graz’s town hall was once again in the spotlight of football fans.
While captain Stefan Hierländer’s men signed the Golden Book on Monday, the stadium committee met in exactly the same place on Tuesday, namely in the meeting room of the city senate. There must be a solution to the endless stadium debate.
The meeting started at 5 p.m. and was attended by city boss Elke Kahr, KPÖ party colleague and city councilor for finance Manfred Eber and committee chairman Daniela Schlüsselberger (SPÖ), as well as representatives of Sturm and GAK and the stadium board.
After just over two hours it was clear: the Stadiontheater aan de Mur was undergoing the next expansion. A final solution was again not presented.
In fact, the lottery still contains the same variants that were on the table during the first stadium summit last summer. On the one hand, an expansion/renovation of the aging Liebenau Arena or the construction of a new stadium on a “greenfield site”.
Under the guidance of the city’s construction department, three locations in the south of Graz were presented on Tuesday for a possible new stadium. The building in Puntigam is in pole position here. For any new construction, 4,000 to 7,000 euros per seat was calculated – depending on capacity, this would entail costs of between 80 and 140 million euros, including land transfers. “The goal is for us to end up with two stadiums that are financially viable,” said Greens club chairman Karl Dreisiebner.
But nothing is fixed for a long time. And so the municipality must have two feasibility studies carried out: once for the expansion in Liebenau and then for a new stadium in Puntigam. “The feasibility study is usually completed in eight months – we have calculated around 50 months for the realization of both projects, although for the Puntigam location a possible EIA can of course be an additional time factor,” explains city planning director Bertram Werle.
The new stadium could be the large solution for both clubs with 25,000 seats, or the smaller (GAK) version for 10,000 to 15,000 spectators. “We need a fair solution that both clubs can ultimately live with as best as possible,” emphasizes city councilor Eber.
In any case, the installation of the security adjustments required by the GAK upgrade in Liebenau will begin as soon as possible.
Source: Krone
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