2010 South African World Cup stadiums won’t be white elephants
Thursday, August 5th, 2010
The South African Government and sports bodies are reportedly working on new initiatives to prevent the country’s 2010 World Cup state-of-the-arts stadiums from turning into white elephants.
The premier league (PSL) has welcomed and strongly supports the initiative of staging soccer matches more for excitement than for profit. In the first step four soccer teams have agreed to Cape Town’s 66,000-seat Green Point Stadium hosting what they call Double Header Fridays, when at least once a month two matches are played at the same venue giving fans and spectators the advantage and joy of receiving two for the price of one match.
The low-cost entry tickets are sure to boost turnout as matches are being played at 6 pm and 8.30 pm. Organizers say the first such spectacle will be on Aug 27, 2010 and plan to accommodate at least 40,000 people at Green Point. The PSL hope the initiative will spread like wildfire to all the other new stadiums in the country before the end of the year.
At the same time organizers plan to alternate Fridays for soccer and Saturdays for rugby matches at these stadiums.
Currently South Africa has 10 brand new or revamped stadiums. These are
SOCCER CITY STADIUM…………………………………….…(JOHANNESBURG)……88,000 SEATS
MOSES MABHIDA STADIUM………………………………..…(DURBAN)………….…70,000 SEATS
GREEN POINT STADIUM……………………………………….(CAPE TOWN)……..….66,000 SEATS
ELLIS PARK STADIUM……………………………………………………..(JOHANNESBURG)..…62,000 SEATS
LOFTUS VERSFELD STADIUM.………………………………..(PRETORIA)…………..49,000 SEATS
NELSON MANDELA BAY STADIUM………………………….(PORT ELIZABETH)…46,000 SEATS
FREE STATE STADIUM………………………………………….(BLOEMFONTEIN)..….45,000 SEATS
ROYAL BAFOKENG STADIUM………………………………..(RUSTENBURG)………44,000 SEATS
MBOMBELA STADIUM………………………………………….(NELSPRUIT)…………..43,000 SEATS
PETER MOKHABA STADIUM………………………………….(POLOKWANE)…….…43,000 SEATS
