Hampden to close for Commonwealth Games preparation

Artist's impression of the stadium
during the 2014 Commonwealth
Games

Hampden Park, home of Scottish football is to close for one year in the run-up and immediate aftermath of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

The announcement last week came as the city of Glasgow gears up for the event, which is seeing parts of the city regenerated for the return of the Commonwealth Games to Scotland.

The stadium's host club, Queens Park FC, will have to relocate their home fixtures from November 2013 until November 2014, allowing for the stadium to be renovated.

The stadium is the perfect venue for athletics, with its oval shape and track around the grass pitch.

But the track is not wide enough for an eight lane track and long jump/pole vault runs, so a temporary surface will be installed, raised at a level approximately two feet above the current track.

This will remove the front two rows of seats around the stadium, so capacity will be reduced slightly, but this is the only way that the ground can be adapted to hold a full athletics programme.

Queens Park will play their home games in the meantime at Airdrie United's Excelsior Stadium.

Qualifying fixtures for the 2014 World Cup will be completed by the time that the ground is to be closed, while there may be the need for any home qualifiers at the start of the France Euro 2016 tournament to be moved to other grounds, with Celtic Park or Ibrox being the most likely venues to be chosen.

RWC2015 venues shortlisted

Organisers of the RWC2015 to be held in England have announced the list of 17 potential venues under consideration to host the event.

Some of the most iconic stadia in Britain are among those named to host the 48 matches during the tournament, spread across 15 cities in England and Wales.

England Rugby 2015 (ER 2015) are the organising body, and have taken into consideration the need to sell 2.9 million tickets for the event, not only to UK-based fans, but also to the anticipated 400,000 fans who will visit the UK for the tournament.

The timing of the tournament, held from 18 September to 31 October 2015, conincides with the football season, so there is still alot of work to be done in the meantime to ensure that the competition can go ahead with the blessing of all the relevant authorities.

The Pool Draw takes place in London on 3 December 2012, and once the fixture schedule is known, ER 2015 expect to be able to name the final twelve venues in spring-time 2013.

The list of venues selected by ER 2015 is:

Kingsholm, Gloucester

Villa Park, Birmingham

Brighton Community Stadium, Brighton (Amex Stadium)

Ashton Gate, Bristol

Millennium Stadium, Cardiff

Coventry Stadium, Coventry (Ricoh Arena)

Pride Park, Derby

Kingsholm, Gloucester

Elland Road, Leeds

Leicester City Stadium, Leicester (King Power Stadium)

Olympic Stadium, London

Twickenham Stadium, London

Wembley Stadium, London

Old Trafford, Manchester

Stadiummk, Milton Keynes

St James’ Park, Newcastle

St Mary’s Stadium, Southampton

Stadium of Light, Sunderland

Welford Road, home of Leicester Tigers
Controversially removed from the
original list.

Perhaps one of the most controversial selections in the above list is that of the Leicester City Stadium, in place of Welford Road, home of Leicester Tigers.

Other grounds which had intitially been proposed, but which do not appear now, include Anfield and The Emirates.

Only two of the venues selected are traditional rugby grounds, and while traditionalists might argue that the competition should only be held in rugby grounds, it is hard to argue with the business case for taking rugby to football stadia, especially when there is a pressing need to maximise ticket sales, with an $80 million guarantee to the IRB to pay off.

NBA basketball returns to London

Fresh from hosting Olympic gymnastics this summer, the O2 Arena has been announced as the host venue for the return of NBA basketball to London.

Basketball at the O2 in 2007 - Chicago Bulls v Utah Jazz
Pic - The Telegraph

The New York Knicks will take on the Detroit Pistons on 17 January 2013, as the third regular season fixture to take place in London.

The O2 was the venue for the previous matches, as the Toronto Raptors took on the New Jersey Mets in March 2011.

This fixture is a part of the NBA's reach into Europe during the 2012/13 season. Berlin and Barcelona both play host to the Dallas Mavericks, while the Boston Celtics travel to Milan. The Mavericks and Celtics will take on local opposition, but the O2 event will be a regular season NBA fixture.

NBA commissioner David Stern said: "London was the epicentre of global sports this summer, and the Olympics were a tremendous showcase for basketball.

"Playing our third regular-season game in the city in three years and having historic franchises like the Knicks and Pistons serve as our ambassadors provide extraordinary opportunities to further the game's growth and development in the UK and throughout Europe."

The NBA have also taken regular season games to Mexico and Japan, with London being the only European venue for such an event.

The O2 has hosted basketball exhibition fixtures in the recent past, but this expansion of NBA's season confirms the sport's global appeal.

Welcome

Hi

2012 Aviva Premiership Final
Twickenham Stadium

Welcome to British Sports Venues blog. The London Olympic Games brought to the fore issues surrounding the sporting venue infrastructure, and that dreaded word 'legacy'.

As yet, it appears as though the issue of who will take over the tenancy of the Olympic Stadium will drag on for some time, and there will be plenty of news to report on that as the years go by.

In the meantime, the fantastic British decade of sport continues, with 2013 seeing the Rugby League World Cup return to the UK, Glasgow hosting the 2014 Commonwealth Games, RWC 2015 coming to England, the IAAF World Championships returning to the Olympic Stadium in 2017, as well as the UK continuing to host world class sporting events in speedway, gymnastics, cycling, rowing, badminton, squash, tennis, and many more besides.

Professional sports clubs continue to move ground, upgrade their existing stadia, and look at ways to maximise their income through renaming their home ground.

So there is plenty of news and information to report on.

Hopefully you will want to keep up to date with all this news. You can sign up for email alerts when we post new blogposts, or in the near future, we hope to be set up on Twitter.

In the meantime, enjoy your sport, wherever it is.