Lviv – The maintenance of the Arena Lviv stadium will cost about UAH 20 million per year, the stadium's operations director, Oleksiy Zhukovin, has said.
He said that this year funds for the maintenance of the stadium were
envisaged in the state target program of preparations for Euro 2012, and
that in future the facility is to earn money not only from football,
but also on other activities.
“Our position is that the Arena cannot be unprofitable. But there’s
also a fundamental position that a football stadium should remain a
stadium,” Zhukovin said.
He said that the stadium’s administration had signed a contract FC
Hoverla-Zakarpattia (Uzhgorod) on the holding of Ukrainian Premier
League matches due to the fact that the club’s stadium is under repair.
“The rent for one game is UAH 160,000,” he said.
He also said that negotiations were continuing with FC Karpaty Lviv on holding Premier League matches at the Arena Lviv.
“Matches at our stadium are an element of marketing for Karpaty, as
the club will be able to attract more fans – up to 20,000 per match and,
consequently, new sponsors,” Zhukovin said.
At the same time, he declined to say at what stage the talks were.
In addition, he said that the facility would also be used to host
conferences, since it has conference facilities for up to 1,000 people.
It is also planned to create a kart club in the stadium’s parking lots –
the largest in western Ukraine. In addition, banquets and even weddings
could be held in the building of the stadium. The stadium’s restaurant
can accommodate up to 1,000 people.
Director of the Euro 2012 Department at Lviv City Council Oleh
Zasadny, in turn, noted that the city authorities planned to actively
develop the infrastructure around the new stadium. In particular, it is
planned to build a new sports palace near the stadium, which will host
the games of the European basketball championship in 2015. The stadium
and the surrounding area are also to be used as part of the Olympic Hope
2022 project. City officials are planning to offer land plots for
commercial building, in particular, for the construction of shopping
centers.
