Venues & Stadiums

29Aug By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Venues & Stadiums

Inter Miami and Messi’s new home: Miami Freedom Park stadium to open in 2025 

There’s big things happening on and off the pitch at Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise Inter Miami CF. As well as star signing Lionel Messi banging in the goals and the team winning the 2023 MLS Leagues Cup, the MLS club co-owned by David Beckham has announced that construction has now started on its new 25,000-seater stadium.  The Miami Freedom Park & Soccer Village, located near Miami International Airport, will be a 131-acre mixed-use development featuring the football-specific stadium, a public park and entertainment district. Scheduled to open in 2025, the timeline “aligns with the last year” of Messi’s current Inter Miami contract, which he signed in mid-July, MLS.com said.  Alongside football and athletic fields and a 58-acre public park, which will be the lar...

Read More

24May By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Events, Sports Business, Venues & Stadiums

49ers’ Levi’s Stadium to host NFL Super Bowl LX in 2026 

Levi's Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers, will host Super Bowl LX in 2026, the NFL has confirmed. Located in Santa Clara, in the San Francisco Bay Area, the stadium opened in 2014 and previously hosted Super Bowl 50 in 2016.  According to an independent study, Super Bowl 50 generated almost $250m for the Bay Area economy and the NFL is “thrilled to bring the Super Bowl back”, said NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. “We look forward to working with the 49ers and the Bay Area Host Committee to create an impactful Super Bowl LX in 2026 that showcases all the great things the region has to offer.” Al Guido, president of the San Francisco 49ers, added: “We are honoured to host the Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium once again, and to be stewards of one of the biggest sporting even...

Read More

14May By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Sports Business, Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

Wrexham to welcome new Football Museum for Wales in 2026

Football fans in Wrexham have been celebrating the team’s promotion back to the Football League – and soon they will be celebrating a major new football attraction in the north Wales city. Currently in its development stage and scheduled to open in 2026, the Football Museum for Wales (Amgueddfa Bêl-droed Cymru in the Welsh language) will be located in Wrexham and will “celebrate Welsh football, past and present, in all its diversity”, said VisitWales.com. From grassroots clubs to the national teams, it will also highlight Wrexham’s “historic achievements in the sport”.  ‘Museum of Two Halves’ Nicknamed the “Museum of Two Halves”, the project won’t just see the development of the Football Museum for Wales, but also a new Wrexham Museum in the current museum building on Regent...

Read More

28Apr By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Events, Sports Business, Venues & Stadiums

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to host EPCR rugby finals in 2024

European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) has confirmed that the 2024 Heineken Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup finals will be held at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England. The 2024 EPCR Finals Weekend will take place on Friday 24 May and Saturday 25 May. Home to Premier League football club Spurs, the multi-purpose venue, which was opened in April 2019, has become a prime destination for a wide range of major events including NFL, boxing and music concerts. The stadium has previously hosted major rugby fixtures including two Saracens Gallagher Premiership ties and a Barbarian FC vs. All Blacks XV match.  Dominic McKay, EPCR chairman, said: “It is quite simply one of the most exciting venues in the world and an incredibly appropriate stage for next year’s showpiec...

Read More

19Apr By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Sports Business, Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

‘Entertainment destination’: Man City’s big plans for the Etihad Stadium

Manchester City FC have submitted a planning application to create a year-round “entertainment and leisure destination” at the Etihad Stadium. The Premier League club’s proposals would see their home ground’s capacity increase to more than 60,000 as well as new facilities including a covered fan zone, club shop and museum, and 400-room hotel.  The planning application submitted to Manchester City Council comes after the club held a consultation with fans and the local community over the concepts and designs.  In a statement Man City said that the proposals represent more than “£300m investment into east Manchester through a major construction project that would take up to three years to complete, offering 2,600 jobs prioritised for people from Greater Manchester”. What’s inc...

Read More

1Aug By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

England, Events, London, Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

Watching the Lionesses win at Wembley: ‘the best atmosphere I’ve ever experienced’

In this blog post, Sports Tourism Media co-editor Mike Starling looks back on a glorious day out at Wembley Stadium for the Uefa Women’s Euro final between England and Germany... Just before she scored her winning goal, England hero Chloe Kelly looked towards us in the stands and urged the fans to roar the Lionesses on for the last minutes of the Uefa Women’s Euro final.  There was 110 minutes on the clock and seconds later Lauren Hemp swung in a corner which, after a goalmouth scramble, found Kelly who toe poked the ball home from close range. It may have been scrappy, but like Geoff Hurst’s hat-trick strike in 1966 and Gazza’s stunner against Scotland in 1996, Kelly’s Wembley goal is one that will go down in English football folklore. The forward’s now-iconic “taking-her-s...

Read More

31May By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

England, Holidays & Trips, Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

Review: National Football Museum in Manchester

One of the UK’s most popular sporting attractions is the National Football Museum in Manchester, England. This is definitely one turnstile worth passing through, for both lovers of the beautiful game and those who just love sport.  Located in Manchester’s city centre, within the modernist “Urbis” building, visitors will find four floors of permanent and temporary exhibitions, dedicated to the birthplace of the modern game. Sports Tourism Media were lucky to have a tour of one of the world's best sports museums, here’s what co-editor Ramy James Salameh had to say… What can you see at the National Football Museum? The museum showcases 2,500 items of memorabilia taking the visitor from the earliest origins of the game through to the present day. It also strives to reflect ...

Read More

3Jan By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Guides, Venues & Stadiums

A guide to the Silverstone Interactive Museum

Located in a huge 4,000m2 hangar at the home of British motor racing, the Silverstone Interactive Museum is a popular attraction for motorsport fans old and new.  Prince Harry and Sir Lewis Hamilton officially opened the Silverstone Interactive Museum in October 2019 and since then it has welcomed more than 120,000 visitors, including the Royal family, Formula 1 stars and A List celebrity guests.  What are the things to see and do? The Silverstone Interactive Museum is packed full of interactive shows, hands-on displays and unique cars and racing memorabilia. The indoor all-weather attraction features ten unique zones and more than 12 displays. Visitors can go behind-the-scenes in an interactive race day experience and finish with “The Ultimate Lap” in the museum’s spec...

Read More

27Nov By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Sports Business, Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

Accor Stadium: hotel group wins naming rights for Sydney’s Stadium Australia

Hotel and hospitality group Accor has signed a seven-year naming rights deal for Stadium Australia – the iconic venue in Sydney’s Olympic Park.   Now named the Accor Stadium, it was the centrepiece of the Sydney 2000 Olympic and Paralympic Games and has a capacity of 100,000 spectators for concerts and more than 80,000 for seated sporting events. The stadium has previously hosted major sporting events such as rugby league’s State of Origin, National Rugby League Grand Finals, Fifa World Cup qualifiers, rugby union’s Bledisloe Cup, and British & Irish Lions rugby Test matches. Natalie Ward, minister for sport of the New South Wales (NSW) Government, said: “NSW is open for business and we are thrilled our local fans, along with interstate and international visitors, will be able t...

Read More

26Nov By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Holidays & Trips, Sports Business, Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

Founding the esports ecosystem in Iceland

Sports Tourism Media jumped at the opportunity to interview Ólafur Steinarsson, founder of the Icelandic Esports Association. He has built the country’s esports industry from scratch in a sustainable and progressive way and Iceland has now become a global stage for world renowned esports events. This has been instrumental to Meet in Reykjavik’s growth strategy of attracting large scale global events to Iceland’s capital city. How do you aim to build esports sustainably, when your goal is for Iceland to be a top-five esports nation by 2025?When we talk about building a sustainable esports ecosystem in Iceland, we mean that it is self-sustained from a revenue standpoint and is able to generate talent and populate the local ecosystem with players willing and able to compete at the to...

Read More

9Aug By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Events, Holidays & Trips, Hotels & Resorts, Sports Business, Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

Olympic fever points the way to Paris 2024

Team GB secured 65 medals in Tokyo, an amazing haul during any normal Olympic Games, but truly historic when considering this achievement against the backdrop of COVID. Tokyo sits in the history books as Team GB's second-best overseas Olympics and may well be the springboard to greater things in three years time for Paris 2024! France officially becomes the proud host nation of the next Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games (the Games of the 33rd Olympiad), receiving the flag from Tokyo at its glittering Closing Ceremony yesterday. Set to take place exactly 100 years after France's last summer Games, Paris 2024 will be the largest event ever organised in the country, running from Friday 26 July until Sunday 11 August 2024. It promises to be an inclusive, interactive and sustainable c...

Read More

23Mar By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Sports Business, Venues & Stadiums

LaLiga and Rafa Nadal Academy sign three-year collaboration deal

Spanish football’s LaLiga and the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar have signed a collaboration agreement to share experience and knowledge and mutually reinforce the reputation of both brands nationally and internationally. The alliance, which covers the next three years, will see the football and tennis organisations offer two-way support and launch a series of joint projects and initiatives. Javier Tebas, LaLiga president, said: “Our alliance with the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar represents another step forward in our bid to expand the world of sport. Rafa and his team will help to promote the values that are fundamental to us and to give even greater visibility to the LaLiga brand.” Men’s tennis world No.3 Rafa Nadal added: “Since we opened the Academy in 2016, we’ve grown consis...

Read More

17Feb By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Sports Business, Venues & Stadiums

LaLiga Exhibition: Spanish football to be showcased on world tour

LaLiga will later this year launch LaLiga Exhibition - an interactive and immersive experience showcasing Spanish football’s top division and its clubs.  The exhibition will travel around the world, beginning in Latin America in the second half of 2021. The launch marks the next step in LaLiga’s commitment to support its clubs in their international expansion and to bring the competition closer to fans. Fans will have access to two experiential areas at LaLiga Exhibition. The first is a free access area, with no time limits, where they can enjoy a range of different games plus a hospitality area. The second is a closed tour, with specific time slots for each group of visitors, where they can experience the clubs’ changing rooms, the tunnel leading to the pitch, the pressroom and int...

Read More

13Oct By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Events, Holidays & Trips, Hotels & Resorts, Sports Business, Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

F1 Portuguese Grand Prix: motorsport fans get revved up for Algarve race

Motorsport fans could witness history at the next Formula 1 grand prix when it descends on the beautiful southern shoreline of the Algarve later this month.  Having equalled Michael Schumacher’s all-time record of 91 F1 victories by winning the Eifel GP at the Nürburgring, Lewis Hamilton could go one better with a win in Portugal and write a new chapter in the sport.  For that reason motorsport fans will be even more eager to say “I was there” if indeed Hamilton takes the checkered flag on 25 October.   This year the 2020 Portuguese GP takes place over 66 laps of the 4.684-kilometre Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão.  João Fernandes, president of Algarve Tourism, said: “Formula 1 has been absent from Portugal for 24 years and it is a prestigious int...

Read More

30Sep By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Holidays & Trips, Hotels & Resorts, Sports Business, Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

Sport + Travel Interview: Marco Koch – Olympic elite swimmer

It is not often you have the chance to pose questions to a European and World Champion swimmer, who is the former world record holder in the 200 meter breaststroke (short course). So here at Sports Tourism Media we are both excited and delighted to introduce Marco Koch, a German competitive swimmer, specialising in breaststroke events who has competed at the 2012 & 2016 Summer Olympics and took gold at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships in Kazan, Russia. Marco says "I'm in my comfort zone in the water as swimming is my passion. I enjoy every second. The water unfolds my full potential. It carries and leads me. Water gives me a great feeling." (marco-koch.org, 20 Jan 2018). We are grateful Marco has taken time out of a gruelling training regime to answer our questions… Newsletter...

Read More

1Sep By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Holidays & Trips, Hotels & Resorts, Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

‘Escapade Living’ brings motorsport to your living room window

It is somewhat of an understatement to say that 2020 has been and continues to be a year of seismic changes. The pandemic changed the world as we know it and whilst much pain – mental, physical and economic – continues to affect our lives, it has catalysed the need to for adaptability, innovation and resilience, especially within all areas of the travel sector. Clearly the travel industry that emerges at the end of this year will be very different from the one that entered it. But one thing the pandemic has turbocharged is the growing trend for ‘experiential travel’. Experiential travel – in which the traveller immerses themselves in a destination rather than superficially seeing it – is now coming of age in double time. The sports travel sector is of course at the very forefron...

Read More

3Aug By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Holidays & Trips, Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

Sport + Travel Interview: Riyad Ayyoub of the Royal Jordanian Falcons National Aerobatic Team

If you look into the skies above Jordan’s Red Sea resort of Aqaba you may well catch a glimpse of ‘The Royal Jordanian Falcons National Aerobatics Team’. Founded and established in 1976 at the behest of his Majesty the late King Hussein Bin Talal, himself an accomplished pilot. Soon after their formation, Riyad Ayyoub now the General Manager of the team, joined the Falcons back in 1985. Not only has he been part of their journey ever since, he has also witnessed the growth in tourism to this region of Jordan and certainly the realisation of its Sport Tourism potential. To view the current RJ Falcons team please go to https://rjfalcons.com/rjf-team/ Newsletter: sign up for updates from Sports Tourism Media What was your most memorable sporting holiday and why? I learnt to water-sk...

Read More

23May By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Guides, Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

Review: Fifa World Football Museum in Zurich

Switzerland is home to the headquarters for two of the biggest sporting organisations in the world – the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa).  Both support their own museums, which provide Lausanne and Zurich with two of the most incredible sports attractions anywhere in the world.  Sports Tourism Media's co-editor Ramy James Salameh visited the Fifa World Football Museum in Zurich and picks out the best things to see. Newsletter: sign up for updates from Sports Tourism Media Up for the cup Without doubt a spine-tingling moment is getting up close and personal with the Fifa World Cup trophy, which is a global “celebrity” in its own right.  Introduced in 1974, the Fifa World Cup trophy is made of ...

Read More

11May By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Sports Travel, Venues & Stadiums

CopenHill: Copenhagen’s mountain sports destination takes urban sustainability to new heights

By Sports Tourism Media co-editor Ramy Salameh Copenhagen aims to become carbon-neutral by 2025 - an impressive and challenging goal for any destination.  However, when one hears about some of the latest innovations taking place in the city, you come to understand how likely it is for that goal to be met.  The Danish capital is fuelling its reputation as one of the greenest cities on the planet through a growing portfolio of green initiatives and projects changing the urban landscape for the better. One example is CopenHill – an urban ski slope and epicentre for urban mountain sports which opened in October 2019.   It's located on Copenhagen’s peninsula of Refshaleøen, an old industrial area transformed into one of the city’s newest neighbourhoods with a trendy vibe.&nb...

Read More

11May By Sports Tourism NewsNo Comments

Guides, Holidays & Trips, Venues & Stadiums

The Sports Tourism Blog: a tour of The Olympic Museum in Lausanne

Lausanne is truly an Olympic city. Not only is it home to Olympic House, the International Olympic Committee's HQ which opened in June 2019, but also The Olympic Museum.  Referred to as TOM for short - there's no doubt that this is one of the best sports museums anywhere in the world. The permanent and temporary exhibitions provide a lasting sporting narrative and legacy for all citizens and creeds. It also provides for a unique events venue that has mass appeal across many industry sectors.  Sports Tourism News co-editor Ramy Salameh paid a visit to The Olympic Museum in Lausanne and here he picks out some of the best things to see. An Olympic journey  Even before you step through the entrance of the museum, your personal Olympic journey starts within the “Olympic Park” that sits eith...

Read More