Somewhere there is still construction dust, somewhere the protective film has not yet been removed, but the SKA Arena has begun to come to life and fill with hockey. The stadium is 100% ready, it is being given final polishing and two weeks before the KHL All-Star Game a dress rehearsal is held here – a hockey game with fans, in which all the equipment is checked and adjusted. systems. The “Championship” correspondent visited the scene and saw everything with her own eyes.
“The percentage of preparation of the structure for the KHL All-Star Game? Colleagues are with us today at a test event, which is held so that our teams get to know each other deeply and feel their interaction. I know there will be a very rich program, one of the most beautiful discoveries we have seen.
I admit that we still have a lot of work to do together so that on December 9th there will be a performance that we are all looking forward to. Our teammates support us, they give us a lot of advice, they are by our side and I am absolutely sure that we will have a wonderful All-Star Game, very interesting content and the best players from our country and the KHL will come. They will like this facility,” stadium general director Dmitri Svatkovsky told reporters.
SKA Arena Figures
Preliminary cost: about 60 billion rubles Construction duration: 36 months Square: 182 thousand square meters. meter Ability: 21,540 spectators (hockey), up to 23,000 seats (other events)
The large structure receives the inscription “SKA Arena” below the roof. Many stadiums now use their names for commercial purposes, but there are no plans to change anything about that. The press secretary of the SKA Arena, Anton Kurevin, anticipating my question, spoke about the rumors about the reluctance of the SKA to move from the Ice Palace to a new stadium.
“No one plans to change the name of SKA Arena. Now everyone is waiting for a decision on when SKA will move here, but it is not time to announce it yet. Everyone is busy with their own tasks. SKA advances with its eighth consecutive victory, here everything is put in order and prepared for the All-Star Game. But there is a dialogue between the stadium and the club, and Alexander Ivanovich Medvedev, after visiting the stadium, praised it highly. From the point of view of the negotiation process, there are no difficulties, simply taking and moving the club to a new location is a really difficult process. There is no conflict,” Kurevin told the Championship.
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I could not personally see the locker rooms or other rooms under the stands, journalists were not allowed there. But there are simply a lot of things that are not ready yet. Considering that the home dressing room is the heart of the team, where everything must be perfect, it is naturally too early to organize a move for SKA.
SKA Arena will soon be ready to host events of any type and scale. “There is interest from event organizers, we are receiving requests from both sports federations and cultural events. Rock, pop and opera concerts can be held here, the acoustics allow for absolutely any show and event. Everything was done taking into account the wishes of the city, the public, potential customers and the organizers as much as possible.
In four hours, the arena can be transformed for any event. Tennis, basketball, figure skating and competitions in almost 20 sports can be held here. In addition to this, there are concerts, shows, screenings, whatever,” Kurevin told the Championship.
Even now, even when all the preparations for the opening have not been completed, everything seems surprisingly beautiful and convenient for the spectators. The stadium’s design is inspired by spatial motifs. Smooth white lines, soft corners, portholes on the doors – laconic retrofuturism. In the arena there are wide aisles, soft chairs, 21,540 seats for spectators, the first rows of the lower stands are an arm’s length away from the protective glass. In general, visibility from any location is promised to be good, with no blind spots.
Ice at the SKA Arena
Photo: Elena Kuznetsova/Championship
The distance between the rows is enough to accommodate the tallest. It definitely shouldn’t be narrow. Europe’s largest media cube, with an area of about 850 square meters, floats on the ice. Today we tested the All-Star Game graphics on it.
Multimedia cube at the SKA Arena
Photo: Elena Kuznetsova/Championship
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The vice-governor of St. Petersburg, Boris Piotrovsky, also visited the stadium. He believes that the new stadium will become an even more iconic venue than the SKK: “This day has come, we have been preparing for it for a long time. Finally, they once again demonstrated to the whole world that St. Petersburg is not only a cultural capital, but also a sports capital, with the most developed sports infrastructure. Today we are in the most modern hockey stadium in the world. Hundreds of exciting shows, matches, sports competitions, concerts and cultural events await us here in the coming years.
We are not just talking about a hockey stadium, but also about a new sports center. We are implementing major infrastructure projects, focusing on the president’s instructions to attract St. Petersburg residents to sports. All conditions have been created around the stadium for the practice of various sports.
We are talking about the future of our country, which begins today. Of course, we will remember the past, but our task is to evolve with the times, to make Russia a great country, and for this we must take bold measures. It’s fantastic that we have taken this step; Today, on the site of the old stadium, we see a new, modern and largest hockey stadium in the world. “I think it will be a much more iconic place than JCC.”
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SKA Arena – space! Exclusive to the main work in hockey history.
Today, 10 thousand spectators were scheduled to attend the match: these are the requests submitted by the residents of St. Petersburg. And on December 9, the SKA Arena will open its doors to KHL fans – tickets are actively selling out and the stadium is expected to be sold out.
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