City of Enschede and FC Twente '65 reach an agreement on the extension of the Arke stadium
ENSCHEDE / BUSSUM, 8th of June 2007
Today the City Council of Enschede has approved the project for the extension of FC Twente's Arke stadium from 13,500 to 25,000 visitors. As part of an agreement between city and club, the club buys 11,000 sqm. land necessary for the extension. Furthermore the club will take over the 2,500 sqm. office complex located inside the existing stadium, from the city for € 4 million. The city in its turn will provide a € 20 million loan to the club to finance the extension.
This package of measures will allow the Dutch Eredivisie club to fully own their stadium -including the commercial areas- and construct a L-shaped second tier as a first stage to extend the capacity of the stadium. Stage 2 of the extension, which is foreseen after the infrastructure around the stadium will have been improved in the next 5 years, will allow the club to grow their stadium capacity to 30,000. After the third stage the stadium capacity will reach 40,000 in order to qualify as host stadium in the Netherlands' and Belgium's joint bid for the 2018 World Cup.
The first stage extension, with a total budget of € 50 million, is managed by The Stadium Consultancy who act as the client representative of FC Twente. TSC also developed the stadium concept, business plan and financial model, allowing the club to phase the extension of their stadium in 3 stages over the next decade(s). With the players', media, VIP and business areas moving to the new stand, the club is capable of significantly increasing their matchday income, justifying the investment to be made.
Construction of stage 1 of the extension is scheduled to start October '07 with the opening of the new stands upon start of the 2008/2009 season.