It is firmly anchored in the coalition agreement of Frankfurt's city government, yet it is currently leading to discussions in parliament: the planned construction of a multifunctional arena. The initiative "Pro Multifunktionsarena Frankfurt" therefore invited to a round of talks, where supporters of the project presented their view on the chances of the arena and also highlighted criticisms of those who doubt the need for such an arena. Panel guests were Markus Frank, head of the sports department, Jörg Schaub, managing director of the FrankfurtRhineMain business initiative, Dr. Gunnar Wöbke, managing partner of the Fraport Skyliners, Andreas Stracke, partner of the Löwen Frankfurt, and Bernd Breiter, managing director of BigCityBeats GmbH, as well as host Steffen Ball, initiator of the Initiative Pro Multifunction Arena Frankfurt.
The tenor of the round of talks was clear: The FrankfurtRhineMain metropolitan region needs the multifunctional arena - for a variety of reasons. "It creates new jobs, leads to a significant increase in tax revenue, would be the new home for top basketball of the Fraport Skyliners, home base for the Löwen Frankfurt and could bring world-class cultural events to Frankfurt," Markus Frank noted. He added that the arena was indispensable for Frankfurt to live up to its reputation as a European metropolis. "We need the arena to be able to further establish Frankfurt as a sports city, culture city, event city in Germany and Europe."
Jörg Schaub of the FrankfurtRhineMain business initiative stressed that the arena would be an enormous asset for Frankfurt as a business location: "Trade, gastronomy, hotels, tourism - important economic sectors in the region would benefit from it." Calculations assume more than 300 new jobs and an annual added value of 50 million euros. Business tax and parking revenues would be shared between the two cities, and the investors would have to finance the project themselves and operate it without subsidies.
The region's sports would also benefit most of all. "Top basketball in the Bundesliga and European League in front of more than 10,000 spectators - that is our claim. Without a new multifunctional arena, this project cannot be implemented in competition with the many modern first league locations in Germany," explained Dr. Gunnar Wöbke of the Fraport Skyliners. "For Frankfurt as a basketball location, there is no alternative to the construction of the new halls and it is essential for survival. The Skyliners want to become one of the best four basketball teams in Germany." For the Löwen Frankfurt as anchor tenant, a new venue would offer the elementary opportunity for further development in order to qualify for the DEL as quickly as possible and to establish themselves at the national top. "A multifunctional arena would also bring a large increase in spectators," Andreas Stracke is certain. "The almost 40-year-old Eissporthalle has not been ideal as a venue for a long time, and with the move to the new arena we would be able to stage ice hockey even better and offer a great spectacle.
It would also probably benefit our own junior team - the third largest junior ice hockey team in Germany - in terms of training times.
A multifunctional arena in Frankfurt is also of great importance for the event industry. Bernd Breiter of BigCityBeats explained that the existing halls such as the Festhalle, Ballsporthalle, Eissporthalle and Jahrhunderthalle would be too small in some cases. "We need to build the arena to further promote and develop the sports and cultural scene in Frankfurt and the region."
More info can also be found at: www.arena-frankfurt.de
