Visit to the Allianz Arena

The Athletic Club delegation, made up of Board members; Fede Arruti and Iñaki Villanueva as well as the General Secretary; Juan Ignacio Añibarro, visited the Allianz Arena Stadium in Munich this morning. The delegation along with Services Manager, Monike Gerle and Uwe Stadler, who is responsible for the stadium’s maintenance, were present for a meeting that was of a technical nature. At the meeting the delegates were able to look over the stadium’s financial plan which was compiled in its day and, afterwards were able to analyze the pros and cons of each of the infrastructures that the stadium has to offer.

The delegates examined and were very impressed with the roofs, the materials they are made of and the complicated mechanisms required in order for them to function. From the delegates’ point of view, the evacuation routes, the entry points and the safety measures that prevent the throwing of objects onto the field had been “well-studied”. The Locker Rooms, which have double the space seeing that the field is used by both Bayern de Munich and Munich 1860, were also examined.

Board member, Fede Arruti points out that ‘the stadium’s information signs are very good, the same goes for the VIP boxes, however, the VIP seats that are near the boxes can be improved’. What’s more, ‘The football field has a nursery and several different restaurants. The shops do not face the exterior as it isn’t an urban stadium and is only used, with the exception of guided tours, on match days’.

Talking about the exterior Arruti would like to make mention of the car park facilities: ‘To start off with this aspect of the stadium is not so important for us, because San Mamés has got good public transport, the parking ratio here is of one parking space for every six spectators. In our case we think that we will only need one parking space for every 50 spectators’.

Regarding the rest of the infrastructures, the Press Room is somewhat lacking when it comes to the audio department, the commentators’ box is also unprotected and the cables can be seen, nevertheless the circuit that allows access to the rooms used by the Media is well designed.

The delegation will be visiting the Commerzbank Stadium in Frankfurt tomorrow, Wednesday, the grounds where Eintracht play.